Mercedes W196 Tether Car

Never fuelled or raced, this magnificent W196 tether car is in remarkable, immaculate, original condition and modelled after Sterling Moss' 1955 Monaco Grand Prix race car. It has a fabulous painted wooden body with a metal pan/chassis and compression ignition engine.

By repute from the collection of Henri Chemin, a former racing driver and automotive executive, who had bought it from the collection of Adrien Maeght who kept it in his museum between 1980 and 1990.

Dimensions: 39 cm/15⅜ inches (length) x 13.25 cm/5¼ inches (width) x 10.5 cm/4⅛ inches (height).

Tether Cars are model racing cars powered by miniature internal combustion engines. The cars are attached to a central post by a steel cable in such a manner that they are able to repeatedly run around a circular track. Tether car racing started in California in the late 1930’s. The cars race individually and the winners are determined based on average speed of several laps.

Early engines (prior to the 1950s) had spark ignition systems. Later engines use compression ignition engines or glow plug ignition. A 'glow plug' engine, or glow engine, is a type of small internal combustion engine typically used in model aircraft, model cars and similar applications. Glow engine fuel generally consists of methanol with varying degrees of nitromethane content. Compression ignition engines run on diesel.