1934 Eifelrennen

[Corktree]

This was posted at some point in the past:

Originally Posted by Vitesse

The white/silver paint-scraping story has just one source: the often unreliable memoirs of Alfred Neubauer, so not even contemporary to the event. No press reports at the time mention it. It's just a pity that MB didn't turn up at AVUS in 1934: this was where the AUs raced for the first time, as always in bare metal. Early pictures of the W25 seem to show it as white and the paint scraping allegedly happened at the Eifelrennen: yet a short time later, Barré Lyndon describes the MBs at Montlhéry as white!

Not sure if there much interest here in this, but....

First, the W 25 was at AVUS and quite apparently in silver.... They suffered fuel feed problems and were withdrawn prior to the race.

Second, I think that there is still an element of serious doubt as to whether any of the W 25 were ever white -- with the possible exception of the prototype W 25, chassis 86120/1.

Third, after attending a symposium in Stuttgart earlier this week on this very matter, it is obvious that Something Happened, the only question being precisely just what that was.... Seriously, it seems that after some discussion that an important aspect of this tale was the finish of the car, not necessarily the paint, was the factor giving rise to this story.

Fourth, after listening to and speaking with Herr Harvey Rowe, author of the articles in Quick which were turned, willy-nilly and much chopped up and altered which much omitted into the 1958 Neubauer book, I have a different and better perspective on Don Alfredo and his tales....

Fifth, the frustration of what one reads in the contemporary literature was discussed with Doug Nye adding several more examples to the already long list.... However, once you begn to take them as a whole and sort out the seemingly endless contradictions, a picture begins to emerge.... of a silver car....

Sixth, while the symposium did not reach any -- overtly -- hard and fast conclusions, but that MB included Eberhard Reuss among those invited meant that it was not going to be a white-wash -- groan....

Doug Nye and I ended up sitting next to each other and had many exchanges, knowing glances, and sidebar discussions during the symposium. We tended to be largely in agreement that there seems to be some basis for the story, but not prehaps the one usually cited.

Here are some links to the Motor-Klassik site's coverage of the event:

Kratzer im Lack - Experten diskutieren Mercedes-Legende

See Bild 8

As always, "Pity the Poor Historian!"

Regards,

H. Donald Capps