Legendary Silver Arrow Makes Historic Track Run

Mercedes-Benz continued to celebrate its 75th anniversary of the Silver Arrows after the largest historical display of these historical race cars in the United States at Pebble Beach in mid-August. This time, the German carmaker took a 1939 W 154 Silver Arrow at Lime Rock during the Labor Day weekend to take a historic track run for the first time in 70 years.

The Collier Collection, owner of the W 154, along with Paul Russell and Company, Crosthwaite & Gardiner and the Mercedes-Benz Classic Center in Germany and Irvine, California, have gone a long way until they've managed to restore the legendary Silver Arrow.

"The restoration of this W 154 is considered one of our proudest achievements," said L. Scott George, President and Curator of the Collier Collection, in a statement for the press. "To finally hear the engine start was an amazing sound and an intensely gratifying experience."

The Mercedes-Benz W 154 has not run on a track since September 3, 1939, when Manfred von Brauchitsch finished second and set a record fastest race-lap in the Yugoslavian (Belgrad) Grand Prix in this exact race car.

In 1938, the W 154 won six of the season's nine Grand Prix races and one year later it featured a revised body on the existing 1938 chassis. The car was heavily modified for the 1939 season to include increased fuel capacity, redesigned brake drums, and a new radiator which gave the W 154 a smaller nose.

During the season, the car underwent several other modifications, including an engine upgrade that enabled the carburetor to be programmable with extra jets that opened at specific throttle settings. The 1939 Mercedes-Benz Silver Arrow won five of the season's seven races.