tilomagnet

Voila, said car (the genuine one) in the 80ies prior to restoration. Current whereabouts unknown (at least to the public).

1. That 500K Roadster was privately owned until 1945. Was also the 1935 Berlin Motor show car. Owned (??!) by the Lyon collection then auctioned by RM ca. two years ago. 2. It is indeed a can of worms. About 90 % of today American owned European pre-war cars came to the US in the immediate years after WWII, not just MB, but also quite a few Horch, Maybach, Bugatti etc. There were virtually no pre-war US deliveries. They were brought by returning soldiers and MANY changed hands under what today would certainly be called suspicious circumstances. You get a good idea of that if you look at the cars in action chapter in Melin II, there are quite a few photos of supercharged MBs being used in mainland Europe just after WWII. 3. Im very interested what you find out about the full skirted E&R 500K Roadster. Ive heard conflicting reports what happened to the original.....has it disappeared, confirmed to have been destroyed? Keep us posted.

There are more than just 2 Saoutchik bodied Type S, more like 7-8 survivors and there may have been more build. As for Ferrari prices I agree - incredible price jumps within the last years. Ten years ago a 250 California Spyder was below $ 1 MM, now even regular steel bodied examples without racing history are pushing $5-6MM plus. There are rumours of a $50 MM GTO sale.....nuts, nobody will dare to drive a car worth that much. As for the auction prices of the 540K Roadster, well it only takes two collectors who really want that car right now to push prices up. Theres no really market price for those kind of one offs, so Im not surprised by the highly different sales prices. Prices for small series cars like the regular catalog Special Roadsters are a bit more predictable. But prices definately are going up for MB too thats for sure.

Agreed on the tyres. Having seen the car in person I have to say that it doesnt have the presence or otherwordly beauty of the classic long tail version but it is a beautiful car in its own right. Tyres aside the restoration job is first class, perfect finish without looking overrestored.

Here are some photos of S/N 408370, a third series Special Roadster. The first pic is one of only two pre WWII photos of this car that I know of. It was delivered to the Romanian Royal family and remained in the Soviet Union until the 1990ies. Found in a very sorry state it was restored by Kienle in Stuttgart. I saw this car when it had its first outing after the resto at the Ennstal Classic rallye in Austria about 10 years ago. I've been told that the original engine from this car became separated and later turned up in one of the Baltic countries. Today it retaines the original frame, matching engine, the original 5 speed gearbox and about half of the original bodywork, so despite the poor condition when it turned up, its still got a good amount of original Sindelfingen content.

Agreed. This car actually has nice patina of an older restoration. $1.3 sounds steep though considering it will cost a bit to get it mechanically sorted out.

Good call on the Jahore car, I do remember I read it showed up without its engine at the time, the car in the photos is missing at least the exhaust pipes so it may very well be that car. As for the photos of the 540K in NY you mentioned, care to post them? I have only seen the one in Melins book, the car is identified with S/N there and looks a bit beat up but certainly very original. Unfortunately it doesnt re-appear in the chapter dealing with the surviving cars so it may have been scrapped later but who knows.

This is a second (and final) catalogue version of the 540K Special Roadster, apparently pictured at the Vintage Car Store in Nyack, NY in the 60ies. Surprisingly theres a virtually identical car but in dark colors pictured in Melin II at the same location. Maybe this is the same car after a first restoration?! Quite a coincidence to see more than one of those rare birds in the same place in that timeframe....there are certainly no more than a handful of this version around today. Does someone know what became of this car?

Stole these from another forum ^^. Pics showing a quite derelict 540K Cab A RHD ~ 1936 apparently just after having been pulled from a barn in the UK ca. late 70ies - early 80ies. Maybe someone knows S/N?!

Duesys are far better documented than pre-war MBs as far as surviving examples. I'd guess that even of the supercharged 8s - i.e. 380, 500 & 540K - still one of two 'unknown' cars show up each year. Naturally, since many of these were delivered new in Germany and then stolen after WWII, quite a lot re-appeared after the fall of the iron curtain. Though some striking examples were smuggled out well before that point (as were the Auto Union racers for example).

The hype was a bit too much for this example IMO. Yes, It was restored from an unmolested, complete condition, but the provenance is not really any better than other comparable cars...after all they were all owned by extremely wealthy, powerful people then and now......the Warner car was quite a bargain when it sold shortly after 9/11. I dont think any Special Roadster will fetch $15 MM any time soon. There are just a couple too many still around and they come on the market quite frequently. The Autobahnkurier might be in that range if it ever gets sold publically.

Well, there were of course 'standard' configurations (Cab. A-C, Innenlenker, open tourers etc.), but if one could afford it, Sindelfingen would also build one-offs that had no resemblance to any catalog version. The fact that there are relatively few one off bodies speaks for the quality and beauty of the standard body styles. There were also demo cars that were shown on various car shows throughout Europe and I would assume the agencies in larger cities each had at least one Kompressor demo car. I think in Melin II there's a photo of one being on display at a Berlin dealer's showroom.

Very nice late Cab A. Love the patina and the "used" look. Cosmetically this could be turned into a real stunner with just a couple days of work. Just get rid of all the bling bling. But will probably need costly mechanical revision if it sat unused for a longer time.

Will the Von Krieger Mercedes-Benz 540K break the record for cars sold at public auction? - Resurrectedrestorations.com » Resurrectedrestorations.com Won't be cheap I guess. 1935 Mercedes-Benz 500 K Roadster confiscated in Germany from a car collector Have not seen this posted here yet.....this may get interesting in the future. Considering so many of these cars were originally delivered in Germany and then "got away" in the early post war years either to the US or the SU, some present owners in Germany that have acquired repatriated cars might get a little nervous. What will happen if the Krupp heirs decide they want Alfried`s Special Roadster back?!

Another interesting car, this is supposed to be a late 540K chassis with Voll und Ruhrbeck body (corresponding to a Sindelfingen Cab. C more or less), but with a 600 K engine. Now how a prototype engine found it's way into a chassis that was even delivered to another coachbuilder, this I have not seen properly explained anywhere. But stranger things have happened I guess. Opinions?

Of course impossible to say what engine is under the bonnet, but this is totally a 500K body, maybe they put an unsold or used body on a new chassis or updated a 500 K with the bigger engine?! I definately don't think the whole car was build up new in 1938.

Good point re: tyres. But yes, when it was offered they did claim it was armored, though it still might be possible that some of the plating was removed during restoration for the benefit of driveability?! Actually the whole point of "Aktion P" was to provide high ranking officials with armored cars after Heydrich had been assasinated in an 320 Cabriolet B or D in Prague in 1942. I think those cars all had the same "Innenlenker" (2 door sedan) body style and originally they all had been armored at least to some extent. You did mention you had photos of another car offered in CA, so does it look the same as what I posted? Maybe you could find those pics. Would definately be interesting.

Said car and the Prague car on the right

5 years ago sounds about right, it was offered by Thiesen in Hamburg, Germany who is one of the best known German classic dealers and has sold lots of supercharged MB over the years. No info about that car's history though. Never heard of a third car as of now. The Aktion P cars were all armored AFAIK. I think Melin mentions a virtually identical car that survived WWII in Sweden, but was scrapped in the '50ies. That was when the more attractively styled versions already became collectibles.

3 survivors? One is in a museum in Prague, another one was offered by a dealer a couple years ago in Germany. Where's the third one?

The metal covers on the spares are rarely seen on these cars. This will be a very nice example once the colors are toned down quite a bit, the red interior is just nasty.

Agreed. The coupe and the short tail stayed well below their estimates, but those were definately a bit on the optimistic side. almost $3 MM for a standard Cab. A (540K engine or not) is astounding though. Probably someone got outbid on the Specials and jumped on that one, so he wouldn't have to go home without a car lol.

2011 RM Auctions in Monterey - LIVE BLOG

It's not a Cab A, it's a "regular" long tail Special Roadster except that the two-tone scheme makes it look a bit more unusual. Oh, and the front bumper is different from the standard type for these cars and may have been added after delivery. They all have roll-up windows by the way. It's the car that got auctioned by RM yesterday@ $8.8 MM.....today it's silver with blue interior. As to Argentina, several K's got there in the pre-war years and sure enough this very car had been associated in the past with a certain person of German origin who lived there for a while in the post war days. I did even comment on that some posts above on this page. Of course as with most of these kind of claims it's utter bullshit.

here's a short video posted on RM's website containing a few shots of 154140 probably shortly after delivery: Videos Posted by RM Auctions: 1937 Mercedes-Benz 540 K Spezial Roadster - Monterey 2011 [HQ] | Facebook These are to date the only images I've seen of a SR originally delivered in a two tone scheme. It seems likely that the photo on page 164 of Melin II is of this car still on German plates probably shortly before being shipped overseas.