tilomagnet

The add says 1.6MM Euro which is more than $2MM....

I dont think this is the case at all....the massive price increase of the last ~ 10 years had already been driven by collectors who are way younger than the MB prewar cars. That is a bit different from the Ferrari market where you see the rich guys of today buying the dream cars of their youth. I dont think the interest in the S/SS/SSK/500/540K series will ever wane as long as there is gasoline available to drive them around, they are truly timeless classics. You cant say interest is fading because of standard Cab A doesnt bring $3MM on the block....There seems to be a market correction right now which is not a bad thing. After all there is just a limited amount of buyers in the $1MM + segment.

Hopelessly overpriced....RHD probably makes it a harder sell also. Unfortunately this car seems to be shopped around between dealers for 5+ years, lets hope it doesnt end up as chassis & engine donor for another Spezial Roadster project.

Yes, that Tourenwagen was dark blue and came from long time storage ~ 10 years ago prior to resto....but the result is indeed spectacular. It looked a bit dull ín the dark colour.

Wow the Saoutchik 500K is stunning. I didnt know until now that it still existed...theres a period pic in Melin II but I've never known it was a survivor. I could imagine this will fetch $ 5-7MM.

Thats a lot of money, but actually not an outrageous price in today's market. And (from the RM decription) this seems to be definately one of the very best examples. I actually didnt know of this particular car before, wasnt shown around much as of now I guess.

Not all of these are the real deal (SSK, 540K Special Roadster) but the collection is still one of the best worldwide. Most of these cars are in "driver" condition, no concours bling bling. But much better than the cars in the Molsheim Bugatti museum.

These are hand built cars, they arent meant to be perfect with 0.001 mm tolerance.

What was the original body style on this chassis and where did it end up?

This came out of the Riga car museum several years ago. Rough (by western standards) restoration. From the same series as the PB 2003 winner. I think it went for ~ $3MM, not a steal, but this can be made into an absolute stunner when finished nicely. Whats the current status? Im sure a complete resto is planned right?

Looking forward to the Special Roadster pics, these are MUCH rarer than the MBs, less striking maybe but still some of the most beautiful German coachwork designs of the late 30s. The Special Roadsters were offered by the factory but made by independent coachbuilders, Gläser and Erdmann & Rossi. That striking Cabriolet from Robert Lee's collection is a one off by Voll & Ruhrbeck. This is a Special Roadster on a 853 chassis by E&R. One of a small series ~ 6 built. Won PB in 2003. The 855 Gläser SR on display at the Audi museum Ingolstadt. Interestingly this came from Rudi Klein's infamous LA exotic junkyard, but unlike the Carraciola 500K this somehow got away and is now on permanent loan in Germany. Another 855 SR, very similar to the above example but supposedly by Erdmann & Rossi. With a Texan collector at Pebble sometime in the late 90ies.

Not an SS chassis though.

This is about as credible as the numerous Hitler's car stories......the body might be German made but doesnt look typical Sindelfingen style to me. 600K?? Highly highly doubtful. They never went into actual production and theres no source whatsoever mentioning a 600K Special Roadster prototype which wouldnt make sense anyway since this was a rare body style and the few photos of those prototypes depict Cab B and limousine bodies which were far more common.

Got mine last week also and thats exactly what I thought. Personally I find it weak that didnt go out and at least take a few pics of some lesser known cars that arent shown at Pebble every other year! A couple photo sets come straight from RM catalogs. IMHO anyone with Melin and Oswald at home plus sourcing the additional pics could have published this book....

I think there has never been any solid evidence this car really had anything else than a 540 engine. Same with 600K prototypes being delivered to high ranking military etc. IIRC Melin claims there is no trace of a 580K in the DB archives at all.More of a phantom car.

Has anyone ever heard of a trace of the infamous "580K" (doubtful) Roadster of NSKK boss Hühnlein?! I guess the car hasnt been seen since 1945 but is there some confirmation that it has been destroyed?

Whats the content of his unpublished books? Yes the market is not that big for these kind of books, but there was also zero publicity for his Vol I & II. I didnt even know they existed until I got internet. There were no reviews or basically any mention here in Germany. Its hard to sell many books when nobody knows about them...

IMHO in general styling mostly improved from 500K to 540K. Only exception is 500K Cab. A which is IMO better looking than the later 540K version with spares in the front wings (I dont consider the long tail SR a 500K style as that was offered throughout the transistion period). Otherwise the 540K body catalog versions where much more flamboyant and stylish.

Do you happen to know where the 2nd survivor is? Ive certainly never seen any photos of a 2nd car. Is Jan Melin still around? Someone should point him to the forum!!

A lot of supercharged MB went through their hands and theyve been in business for decades. The Tourenwagen was sold about 8 years ago and I think went straight to the US owner who did the resto. Also not everything they have gets advertised publicly.

The 540K was offered by a German classics dealer (I think Thiesen in Hamburg) in then unrestored condition a couple years ago.

I think that particular car if a one-off but there were certainly more 540 Tourenwagen...some were also more similar to the older 500K style. Yes these pics are all of the same car.

That one-off (?) 540K Tourenwagen is one of the best efforts of Sindelfingen coachbuilding outside the Special Roadster, Autobahnkurier etc territory. This was a nicely preserved original pre resto but somehow you cant argue with the result. The new color is very appropriate and brings out the lines better than the original.

Whats the source for the Saddam story? The car pictured above is the replica that was made when the original was under resto....supposedly built on a genuine chassis. I think the genuine car looked the same way after the resto, with spats and spare tired refitted and painted silver. German plate, city of Heilbronn (near Mannheim/Heidelberg) s/n 123732. 1935 500K not 540.

I agree. Today with so many replicas with super glossy finish driving around, photos like those showing the originals well used seem like the real deal.