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They are very nice looking cars. I think Kruse sold one at Hershey during their last auction a couple of years ago.

A different time. The emphasis on not touching anything is a fairly recent trend.

He bought it at the auction.

An ad for luggage with what looks like a 380 or 500k Cab B.

Although I'm a Stutz guy there are those that feel the Mercer was superior to the Stutz and it is reflected in the values presently. However, without apples to apples, i.e. two known from the beginning correct cars coming to market at the same time it is hard to say exactly what the difference is.

I agree - very cool car but expensive restoration. If you follow the link he has a bunch more pictures. If I recall correctly this car was a barn find that RM auctioned off a few years ago. Believe it or not I think John has cleaned it up quite a bit.

As a general rule, the words "considering selling" in a for sale ad tend to scare everyone away.

Do you need the whole assembly or just the inner shaft? I have a complete 27 AA setup including box that may work for you.

Johnny Pasccuci has this one for sale. He says Brunn made 12 in 1938.

Very cool - I hope it's still around.

I can't help you with the Bearcat specifically, but I can comment on the general market. Except for the most special cars, i.e. those that would be valued well of 1 million dollars the market is down across the board.

Right side of a 540k engine compartment. You can distinguish the 540k vs. 500k by the intake and exhaust manifolds. The exhaust is on top for the 540k. The main thing people look at is the silencer (air cleaner) but I've seen 540k engines with factory 500k silencers on them.

+1 on the red/tan/whitewalls. I think I posted a bunch back on page 2 or 3 of this thread. Every Mercedes restored in the 1980s was done in these colors. I will say that Mercedes did in fact deliver a few cars this way. I've seen the invoice for a 500k Cab "A" that was specified red with a red chassis and chrome wires.

Somewhere I have pictures of it but they are early 60s. I agree with your thesis that the wings were a period mod as I have never seen a period picture with fenders like that. The heavier fenders did not look quite right and I would be surprised to find out they were sindelfingen. I do not know the history at all and would be interested to find out more about this car.

I agree. I would link it but the way the website is setup there is no way to do it.

It is weird because they went away and then came back again. The external links were valid and the host site was up at the time. Puzzling. I figured maybe there was a copyright on them and I didn't notice.

A 1933 380 Roadster for sale. Note the difference in the dash from the 500/540k. A 380 is basically the same as a 500k but 25% smaller all around. The biggest external difference is the absence of the pipes coming out of the hood.

A 1937 320N Cabriolet "A" for sale. This is the short chassis version of the 320 (hence the "N").

This Special Roadster is pictured at Hershey in 1965 on page 237 of Melin Volume II. It was restored with a set of more conventional special roadster type front fenders. In fact the picture in in the book happens to be credited to Dave Mitchell.

I'm with West on that one. Perhaps I'm still trying to get over my dad putting them on everything including the lawnmower back in the 60s and 70s.

Jason, it was taken at Hershey in 1962. Good eye on the Packard.

Yeah, that is weird. I've had that happen before and I've assumed it's moderators removing them for some reason. I've taken care to not to link copyrighted material so I don't know what is going on. The "current" picture of the Windovers which was removed was a link and not my photo. I will repost the Erdmann-Rossi roadster as that is my photo.

You are right - there were very few. Mytropia Motors of NY (the sole American MB dealer) sold approx 30 total cars between 1936 and the start of WWII. I do not know how many were sold prior to 1936 or were brought over by their owners. Also, 500k Special Roadsters were even more scarce then 540k ones. According to Melin, total 500k roadster production, special & Normale was 29 which is close to 540k Special only. Given that Bob Day lived in Bel Air California and bought the car in 1937 I would say they are the same car.

That is a great car. Were you able to get it running?

I agree with everything you said Dave. Yes, I believe it is Bob Friggen's car while it was owned by Bob Day of California. It was also on the cover of Road and Track in the 1951. I knew he sold his Duesenberg but did not realize the 500k was gone. He new Bob Day when he was a kid and was eventually able to buy the car from him. The new owner would be the 4th owner of the car since 1935.