Pure Silver... [PIC]

By the 1930s, Mercedes and AutoUnion stopped racing in their national colors (white) finding that ditching paint for polished aluminum saved significant weight. Hence, the birth of the iconic "Silver Arrows" that dominated the racing world until the tragic event of the 1955 LeMans race. For beauty in its simplicity, The Mercedes-Benz W125 was the first successful car in this lineage. Making its debut in the 1937 Tripoli Grand Prix, and winning, the W125 took advantage of the current "No Limit" to engine displacement (oddly, there was only a 750kg weight limitation). The car was powered by a 5.6 L DOHC supercharged straight 8 producing anywhere from 560 to 640hp through a new synchromesh 4 speed transmission. From there, the W125s were finally beating AutoUnion on a regular basis. This #12 model was the winning car of the German Grand Prix driven by Rudolf Caracciola with second place also         going to a W125.The reign of the W125 did not last long, however as 1938 saw displacement limitations that necessitated a completely new car for GP competition. There's such beauty in the simple dedicated design of this car enhanced by the was the light interacts with the polished metal. Certainly the later silver arrows in the 300 series had more esthetic sculptural bodies, but I love the purity of this car.

Here it is on its way to the 1937 German Grand Prix: