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Caracciola - Tripoli 1938


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#1 Michael Müller

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Posted 01 August 2002 - 13:53

Caracciola at Tripoli 1938, all stats say r/n 26. The photo below - one of the few coloured ones from the period - shows # 26, but there is no confirmation that it is Tripoli except the title and possibly the stone wall (sorry, made no remark about the source).

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But there's another picture (source Mercedes-Benz archive) claiming also to show Caracciola's W154 at Trripoli, and in my opinion this is Tripoli in fact, proven by the stone wall, and the Delahaye streamliner in the back. But the r/n in my opinion is never 26 ...!
Any explanation?

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#2 Vitesse2

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Posted 01 August 2002 - 14:33

Michael: I think you'll find that the number on the car has been covered up by the bonnet, which the mechanic has removed and leant up against the bodywork. :)

#3 Henri Greuter

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Posted 01 August 2002 - 14:48

Looks to me as being two different cars. I would think some of the louvres under the opened bonnet of the car in the B&W pic would be visible in the color shot too or is it just outside the frame of the pic?
If difgferent cars, M-B used practice cars on occasion and that might explain the difference?

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#4 Vitesse2

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Posted 01 August 2002 - 15:24

The louvres are further forward - you can't even see the bonnet edge on the top picture. Perhaps this will help: it's the grid for the 1938 French GP seen from above. Not sure if the cars had that extra air intake at Tripoli though.

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#5 Michael Müller

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Posted 01 August 2002 - 15:33

Vitesse is right of course ... :blush:

#6 Hans Etzrodt

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Posted 01 August 2002 - 17:09

The first two pictures were taken at Tripoli in 1938. That should not be a question.
Yes, Caracciola's car carried indeed racing number 26 at the Tripoli race.

Mercedes-Benz cars number 26, 44 and 46 all had a small air intake on the left top behind the hood (bonnet for U.K. folks), whereas the T car -the fourth Mercedes- had not. A little air scoop at the center front edge of the hood was common to all four cars.

#7 Stuntflyer

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Posted 01 December 2010 - 21:11

But the r/n in my opinion is never 26 ...!
Any explanation?

In my opinion the number is the same - 26. We just can see only a piece of inverted 6 on the bonnet the nose of which is up in the picture. :)

Edited by Stuntflyer, 01 December 2010 - 21:16.