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Silberpfeilen over Holland.

Ah, the Silberpfeilen, the Auto Union and Mercedes racing cars. Unbeatable in their day and capable of top speeds of 250+mph in streamline trim. Icons of teutonic Über-power indeed. In fact they continue to overwhelm to this day. Go to Goodwood or the Großglockner Grand Prix to hear their thundering forces let loose. Visit Ingolstadt or Stuttgart to see the technical tour-de-force that they are in Audi’s and Mercedes’ works museums. In fact they never leave the comfort zone of these creators for long. That makes it intriguing that Mercedes-Benz has now loaned them for a display at the Louwman Museum in The Netherlands. Up until January 6 next year 5 of them (W25 and W25 streamliner; W125; W165 and W154) can be seen here. Ironic, in a way, as you will know their racing domination had a dark side: the cars were built with virtually unlimited funding from Hitler’s Third Reich. This while the Dutch museum is built near one of Holland’s most heavily bombed areas. So if you do pay a visit, you may wonder why the exposition has an English name 'Silver Arrows' - as if it was a squadron of stunt flyers -  in stead of the more appropriate German name.
(french advert from l'Illustration showing the "Flèches d'Argent" ; collection editor)

Update: See also the original Exhibition poster and First Day stamps (click) kindly provided to us by Detlef Kayser

Publiziert:
Dienstag Oktober 23rd, 2012
Unbekannt
24 Oktober 2012, 08:37
This motiv is not from the french L'Illustration but is the official colored poster
of the "Internationale Automobil- und Motorrad-Ausstellung Berlin 1939" held from febr. 17. to march 5. 1939. A copie of that poster is in my possession - sorry, can't scan it to show you!

editor: you are welcome to send a photo in stead of a scan. However the motiv showns was depicted in L'Illustration of February 18, 1939. Perfectly understood that this advert is a copy of the original poster.
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Unbekannt
24 Oktober 2012, 07:06
Yes these cars are developped under Hitlers regime, but they are not guilty of any crime. This "silver arrow namedropping" of Louwman and co shows their hypocracy. Die Silberpfeilen are a monument in car history and have got nothing to do with the human evil of the era. The Brits haven't scrapped the armour of Henry the 8th, did they? The French still adore Napoleon and would not think of destroying his artefacts and he was as bad as Hitler. It shows once again how important and false marketingreasons are.
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Unbekannt
24 Oktober 2012, 06:45
only 486 civilians killed ? See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/V-2 for the other 19,250
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Unbekannt
24 Oktober 2012, 01:20
Auto Union racing cars not Audi

editor: thanks for correction Robbie
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