A superb and rare photo of Juan Miguel Fangio in the amazing fuel injected desmodromic Mercedes W196 Formula One race car (number 18) during the 1955 Italian Grand Prix, which was ridden at the circuit of Monza on the 11TH  of September 1955. The amazing Stirling Moss, Fangio’s fellow Mercedes team member, is seen behind Fangio in the W196 with number 16. Moss finished the race in 2ND position, making it a magnificent 1-2 victory for the Mercedes W196!

Fangio would not only win the race, he went on to become Formula One World Champion in 1955! Stirling Moss finished the 1955 F1 World Championship in 2ND place.

The Mercedes-Benz W196 was the Formula 1 entry of Mercedes-Benz in the 1954 Formula One season and 1955 Formula One season, winning 9 of 12 races at the hands of Juan Manuel Fangio and Stirling Moss. Its delayed debut on the 1954 French Grand Prix brought the streamlined "Type Monza" body for the high speed track at Reims-Gueux (and later Monza), and scored a 1-2 victory with Fangio and Karl Kling plus a fastest lap with youngster Hans Herrmann.

Another remarkable first was the use of Desmodromic valves and fuel injection, based on previous experience collected with the engines of the Messerschmitt Bf 109 fighters. As the streamlined body was not situable for twistier tracks, causing a defeat at its second race at Silverstone, a proper open-wheel-version was introduced at the Nürburgring. Fangio, who had already won the first two GPs of 1954 with a Maserati, won this and the two following GPs, securing his 2nd World Championship. In late October, at the 1954 Spanish Grand Prix, the low-mounted Mercedes air-intake was clogged with leaves. The race was lost, and the air-intake moved to the top of the hood.

In the 1955 Formula One season, which was shortened after the 1955 Le Mans disaster, the Mercedes managed to win all but one race, the 1955 Monaco Grand Prix, were Hans Herrmann crashed in practice, and the other 3 cars did not finish. At his 1955 British Grand Prix home event, Stirling Moss finished 0.2 seconds ahead of Fangio for his first GP win. For sportscar races of the 1955 World Sportscar Championship season, the Mercedes-Benz 300 SLR was derived from it.

 After winning all world championships it competed in, Mercedes withdrew from motorsport at the end of the 1955 season as a result of the 1955 Le Mans disaster.

 Argentinean Juan Manuel Fangio dominated the first decade of Formula One racing.  He won five World Championship titles — a record which stood for 46 years.  During his career he rode for 4 different teams: Alfa Romeo, Ferrari, Mercedes-Benz and Maserati.  This was a feat that has not been repeated since. For these achievements, and because of the time they were accomplished, he is considered by many as the "greatest driver of all time". Fangio was born on San Juan's day in 1911 in Balcarce, Argentina to Italian parents from the small central Italian village of Castiglione Messer Marino, near Chieti. He began his racing career in Argentina in 1934, driving a Ford Model T, which he had rebuilt. During his time racing in Argentina, he drove Chevrolet cars and was Argentine National Champion in 1940 and 1941. He first came to Europe to race in 1949, funded by the Argentinean Automobile Club and the Argentinean government. Juan Manuel Fangio, unlike most later Formula One drivers, started his racing career at a mature age and was the oldest driver in many of his races. During his career, drivers raced almost without protective equipment. The notable rivals he had to face consisted of the likes of Alberto Ascari, Giuseppe Farina and Stirling Moss.

 Initially Fangio was not particularly successful until racing an Alfa Romeo in 1950. He finished second in the world championship in 1950 and won his first title in 1951. He was competing well in 1952 in a Maserati until a serious accident at Monza, Italy ended his season with a neck injury. Fangio soon returned to win La Carrera Panamericana, the 2000-mile Mexican road race the following year in a Lancia D24. In 1954 he raced with Maserati until Mercedes-Benz entered competition in mid-season. Winning eight out of twelve races (six out of eight in the championship) in that year, he continued to race again with Mercedes—driving the superb W196 Monoposto—in 1955 (in a dream team that included Stirling Moss). At the end of the second successful season (which was overshadowed by the 1955 Le Mans disaster in which more than 80 spectators were killed) Mercedes withdrew from racing. In 1956 Fangio moved to Ferrari, replacing Alberto Ascari, who had been killed in an accident, to win his fourth title. He finished first in three races and second in all the other championship races. In 1957 he returned to Maserati and won his fifth title, notable for an extraordinary performance to secure his final win at the Nürburgring in Germany. After his series of back-to-back championships he retired in 1958, following the French Grand Prix. He won 24 World Championship Grands Prix from 51 starts, the best winning percentage in the sport's history. In 1990, he was inducted into the International Motorsports Hall of Fame. According to the official Formula One website, "Many consider him to be the greatest driver of all time." Many later drivers, such as Jim Clark, Alain Prost, Ayrton Senna and Michael Schumacher, have been compared with Fangio.

 The magnificent Stirling Moss, who raced from 1948 to 1962, won 194 of the 497 races he entered, including 16 Formula One Grands Prix. He once told an interviewer that he had participated in 525 races overall, as many as 62 in a single year, in 84 different cars. Like many drivers of the era, he competed in several formulae – sometimes on the same day. He was a true pioneer in the British Formula One racing scene and placed second in the Drivers' Championship four times in a row from 1955 to 1958. Moss's first Formula One win was in 1955 at his home race, the British Grand Prix at Aintree, driving the superb Mercedes-Benz W196 Single Seater for a convincing German 1-2-3-4 win, with Karl Kling and Piero Taruffi in the international driver line-up. It was the only race where he finished in front of Juan Manuel Fangio, his teammate, friend, mentor and arch rival at Mercedes. It is sometimes debated whether Fangio, one of the all-time great gentlemen of sport, yielded the lead at the last corner to let Moss win in front of his home crowd. Moss himself asked Fangio repeatedly, "Did you let me win?" and Fangio always replied, "No. You were just better than me that day". One of his most famous drives was in the 1955 Mille Miglia, the Italian 1597 km open-road endurance race, which he won in the record time of 10 hours and 8 minutes, finishing almost half an hour ahead of teammate Fangio in second place. His navigator in the Mercedes-Benz 300 SLR #722 (indicating the time of the start) was journalist Denis Jenkinson. As navigator, he supported Moss with notes about details of the long road trip, then an innovative technique. This assistance helped Moss compete against drivers who had a lot of local knowledge of the route. Jenkinson later wrote extensively about the experience.

 In 1957 Moss won on the longest circuit to ever hold a Grand Prix, the daunting 25 kilometre Pescara Circuit, again demonstrating his skills at high speed, long distance driving. He beat Fangio, who started on pole, by a little over 3 minutes over the course of a gruelling 3 hour race. Moss believed the manner in which the battle was fought was as important as the outcome. This sporting attitude cost him the 1958 World Championship. When rival Mike Hawthorn was threatened with a penalty in a Portugal race, Moss defended Hawthorn's actions. Hawthorn went on to beat Moss by one point, even though he had only won one race that year to Moss's four, making Hawthorn Britain's first World Champion. Moss was as gifted at the wheel of a sports car as he was in a Grand Prix car. For three consecutive years (1958–1960) he won the grueling 1000 km race at Germany's Nürburgring, the first two years in an Aston Martin (where he won almost single-handedly) and the third in the memorable "birdcage" Maserati. For the 1961 F1 season, which was run under 1.5-litre rules, Enzo Ferrari rolled out his state-of-the-art Ferrari 156, also known as Sharknose. Moss was stuck with an underpowered Coventry-Climax-powered Lotus, but managed to win the 1961 Monaco Grand Prix by 3.6 seconds, and later also the partially wet 1961 German Grand Prix. In 1962, Moss was badly injured in a crash at Goodwood while driving a Lotus. The accident put him in a coma and partially paralyzed the left side of his body. He recovered but decided to retire from racing after a private test session the next year. He made a brief comeback in the British Touring Car Championship in 1980 with Audi, and in recent years has continued to race in historic cars. During his career, Moss drove a private Jaguar, and raced for Maserati, Vanwall, Cooper, and Lotus, as well as Mercedes-Benz. He preferred to race British cars stating "Better to lose honorably in a British car than win in a foreign one".

 This is a very nice and very rare non period photo that reflects a wonderful era of Mercedes ‘s automotive history in a wonderful way.  This is your rare chance to own this photo, therefore it is printed in a nice large format of ca. 8" x 12" (ca. 20 x 30 cm).  It makes it perfectly suitable for framing.

Shipping costs will only be $ 7.00 regardless of how many photos you buy.   For 5 or more photos, shipping is free!

 (Note: A. Herl, Inc. does not appear on photo, for ebay purposes only)

No copyright expressed or implied. Sold as collectable item only. We are clearing out our archives that we have gathered from various sources.

All items always sent well protected in PVC clear files and board backed envelopes.

We have photographs that came from professional collections and/or were bought from the original photographer or press studio! They are all of professional and excellent quality.

After many decades of professionally collecting photographs and posters we are clearing out our archives. They make the perfect gift and are perfectly suited for framing. They will look gorgeous unframed and will be a true asset nicely framed with a border. They are a gorgeous and great asset in every home, workshop, workplace, restaurant, bar or club!

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