Butcher's Mercedes K ?

[Guest Silverghost]

Long ago I seem to remember a story about a Butcher in Germany who had stashed away a great Classic Custom Carriage-Built Mercedes ??? K ???

He supposedly bought it early in WW II from a wealthy Industrialisit who was fleeing Nazi Germany.

Does anyone know this story ?

It supposedly had a very striking & dynamic body design...

Is this story true ?

If so~

Are there any photos of this car ?

Where is it today ?

[Guest Silverghost]

Now I may be mixing this story up a bit~

In fact there may be two, or three similar story's about Mercedes 5?? K Special Roadsters out there ?

I seem to recall one that belonged to the famous Krupp Industrial family~

And still another that was owned by the Horner Organ & Harmonica Family ?

Possibly three cars in all ?

Someone in the know will set me straight I am sure !

[Dave Mellor NJ]

I don't know about those particular rumors, but a friend in my club tells about a soldier friend of his in post-war Germany who found and bought a custom body Mercedes (it could have been a Horch) and brought it home to Maryland where it sat for years in his garage until representatives from the factory tracked it down and gave him a ridiculous amount of money to buy it back. When he questioned about the tax liability they reassured him it would all be taken care of and it was.

[padgett]

And if that ain't true, it otta be.

[Guest JR Cars]

The Butcher's car was a 540K Special Roadster. Very famous car in the Mercedes and Concours circuits. Somewhere in my files is the history and specifics, but where??

[1937hd45]

Does anyone know how many 540K Special Roadsters were produced?

[TG57Roadmaster]

The Oldtimer's Gallery is usually reliable with such things, shows 406 built (without a roadster breakdown), and quotes Werner Oswald's M-B books. See the production table for a breakdown of the various M-B models.

It's always an informative site, but not updated in some time.

TG

Edited October 29, 2010 by TG57Roadmaster (see edit history)

[alsancle]

The butcher lived in England and the car was quite rusted when it came out of the garage. It was auctioned off by Sothebys or Christies in the 1980s.

Off the top of my head there were about 26 (I may be off a couple in either direction) of the "long tail" 500k/540k special roadsters made. Some had covered spares some did not. The 500 & 540 are visually indistinguishable in the long tail form.

[Guest Silverghost]

I believe there are two such cars extant today that were once owned by members of the famous Krupp & Horner familys that were sold during WWII .

Their owners were trying to flee Nazi Germany at this time.

As for the Butcher's car~

I believe I had that story mixed-up with the other two car's story.

I believe I remember that most of this Butcher's car body was later reconstructed .

[Seldenguy]

I was stationed at Camp Roeder in Salzburg, Austria in the mid fiftys. there was a Mercedes roadster in the parking lot of one of the quadrangles. It sat there for over a year in the weather much like western New York. I did look at it a couple of times. Memory says maybe a '28 to'30, open wheels,outside exhaust pipes. Might even had been a Grand Prix car. At the time I was Ford 'T' collector, but it did pique my interest. My position would allow me to bring a vehicle back to the states without charges so I went to the Provost Marshall to inquire and was told it had been found in a barn around Salzburg and belonged to a military man whom was trying to get it shipped to the U.S. He had already shipped home and when I left for the states the car was still parked outside the quadrangle. Often wondered what happened to this rather important car.--Bob

[alsancle]

For some reason it took me almost 15 minutes worth of work to finally find this. I'm slipping in my old age. This is in fact the famous butcher's car found in England. The car was actually a 500k but like I said before, they are impossible to tell apart.

[1937hd45]

Thanks for the photo! Back in the 1980's a twin to that car came into the shop behind us for an inspection, a PERFECT unrestored car. I often wonder where it is today, and hope it never got restored.

[alsancle]

Bob, you a probably talking about one of Dr. Bitgood's cars as he was in Conn and had a number of unrestored prewar Mercedes. It also could have been the Von Krieger 540k which up until about 10 years ago was 100% original. This car was also in Conn:

From the court case circa 1993: 23 F3d 60 Truck-a-Tune Inc v. C Re B | OpenJurist

Gisela Von Krieger, a United States citizen, died in 1989 in Switzerland. She was the owner of a 1936 Model 540K Mercedes Benz, which she had stored at the Homestead Inn in Greenwich, Connecticut, since 1959. She continued to pay the monthly storage fees after she moved to Europe in the early 1960s. When Dr. James Smith purchased the Homestead Inn, he transferred storage responsibilities for the car to a company he owned called, for reasons not disclosed by the record, Truck-a-Tune, Inc. The car, which apparently still bears a 1956 license plate, is claimed to be worth between 2 1/2 and 3 million dollars.

I'll find some pictures later today.

[1937hd45]

That sure sounds like the car I saw years ago, is it still tied up in legal mumbojumbo?

[alsancle]

The litigation was settled and the car was sold to the Herrington collection and then restored. I couldn't find it prior to it's restoration. I've seen the car in person before and after the restoration and it was very cool either way.

[1937hd45]

Great, just what the world needs, another silver Mercedes.

[alsancle]

Great, just what the world needs, another silver Mercedes.

The red of the 80s and 90s became silver in the 2000's, however, this is a very very nice car.

[Rusty_OToole]

What about the Grocer Mercedes? Lol.

[West Peterson]

uff dah. That was good.

I always thought it would be fun to "build" a Grosser Mercedes with a stylish delivery body on it with some great lettering on the side for some German vegetable market.

[TG57Roadmaster]

Larger

TG

[Guest De Soto Frank]

"Kartoffelwagen" ?

[Guest Mortispactum]

Here it is being unloaded last night for a car show in Florida.

It is restored and now in the private collection of a man from Michigan.

The version I heard of the story was that it was buried under the butcher's driveway to hide it and prevent it from being looted as he fled Nazi Germany.

[alsancle]

Here is your car parked at Meadowbrook. It was dark blue when it came out of Germany and was sold by RM.

[Guest Mortispactum]

Getting ready for the car show.