Auto Union Type D up close and personal ...
Dear Ultimatecarpage.com visitor,
At their annual Quail auction this year, Bonhams will offer the rare opportunity to acquire an original surviving 'Silver Arrow.' This Auto Union Type D is one of only three cars of this kind in existence and the only one that is not locked away in a collection. So it is not surprising that it is expected to sell for around $8 million in August.
Powered by a supercharged V12, the Type D was well ahead of its time with its mid-engined layout. Thanks to its DeDion rear axle, it did not suffer from the treacherous handling characteristics of its V16 engined predecessors. The car's handling was actually so good that it could match the much more powerful Mercedes-Benz W154 towards the end of 1938. The early part of that season had been dogged with problems and tragedy that were a little too much for the small team to handle. By signing Italian ace Tazio Nuvolari things quickly got better, resulting in two Grand Prix victories. At the 1939 Reims Grand Prix, Auto Union introduced a new twin-stage supercharged version of the car, which scored a convincing 1-2-6 victory. Unfortunately War intervened and we had to wait another 20 years before the mid-engined layout would take over in Grand Prix racing.
Today, some seventy years after its debut, the twin-stage Auto Union returned to what is left of the Reims track. On behalf of Bonhams, marque experts Crosthwaite and Gardiner took the car out for a couple of runs along the old pit-straight. This enabled us to get some rare action shots of the car as well as capture every little detail. Our work has been compiled in a breath-taking 24-shot gallery that illustrates a detailed history of the model.
1938 - 1939 Auto Union Type D - Images, Specifications and Information
Regards,
Wouter Melissen
If you should see a man walking down a crowded street talking aloud to himself, don't run in the opposite direction, but run towards him, because he's a poet. You have nothing to fear from the poet - but the truth.
(Ted Joans)