Quiz Archive
About Quiz # 219 , the Mercedes-Benz 540K W24 'AP' (UPDATE: or is it W29?)
Luke Chennell, Eduardo, Rob Geelen, Ingo Jost, Gerard Lansink, Hans Rinsma, Harry Schley and Ted Wilmarth came up with the best answer but differed in details. This is the 1943/44 Mercedes-Benz 540k type W24 AP ('Aktion Protection') armoured car with bullet proof tyres. Some 20 of these armoured cars were built after an assault on Reinhard Heidrich in Prague in 1942. The cars were built on three unused 1939 540K chassis. Plus 17 original W24 cars were stripped to receive the new armoured coachwork. Several competitors mixed up the prewar cars with the very similar but armoured cars of 1943/44. According to Ingo Jost 3 of these AP chassis are still around: Chassis #408400 #408417 and #408372, this last one in distinguise as it has the coachwork of a Cabriolet A. Only Hans Rinsma was even more specific: "This interesting model is known as the Mercedes-Benz 540K Aktion P(for Panzer)W29-W129, in the summer of 1942 the German goverment ordered Daimler-Benz to built twenty 540K Armoured Innenlenkers, in order to this 18 second-hand 540K cars were confisticated and 2 brandnew chassis were used.All the confiscated bodies ( 6 Cabriolet A's, 6 Cabriolet B's and 6 Innenlenkers were scrapped. All sides , roof and floor : 2.3 mm steel, frontwidow 35mm , other windows : 30 mm safety glass, weight 2930 KG tyres 7.50-17 (Beschusssicher). The cars were used by Himmler, Kaltenbrunner, Goebels, Speer, Rosenberg, Backe, Seys-Inquart, Terboven, Koch Greiser, Abetz, Hans Frank and Karl H Frank. The 540K Aktion P from the last two man still exists today, car #408417 of K.H. Frank is in the Technical Museum of Prague, the other #408400 was used in Poland by Dr. Hans Frank and is restored and sold by the firm Thiesen in Germany in 2004." Almost a winner Hans Rinsma uses the denomination W29 - W 129 which is not corrrect according to factory specification which specificly says W24. So we stay with Ingo Jost as winnner of Quiz #219.
All that aside let's not forget about the dark times in which these cars appeared on the road. A 1939 version (the unarmored car) appears briefly in
Schindler's List... (Movie Car Database); thnx for that Luke Chennell! (photos Frans Vrijaldenhoven)
Car historian Frans Vrijaldenhoven from The Netherlands has an interest for unusual cars with unusual owners. For instance this Mercedes 540K that was owned by Dr. Arthur Seyss-Inquart, the Reichkommissar (Reich Commissioner) in The Netherlands during the German occupation from 1940 until 1945. The
armoured coupe with licence plate RK-2 disappeared directly after World War II and we don’t know what happened to it. What we do know is that it was a Model W24 AP (short for “Aktion Protektion”, the armoured version of the 540K) built from 1943 until 1944. The engine was a supercharged 8-cylinder in line with engine-number 408 387. The car weighed some 3100 serious kilograms and was fitted with 7.50-17 bullet-proof tires. Are there any of these armoured cars left? Has anyone ever seen this particular car and knows more about its history?
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Friday, 08 February 2008
Luke Chennell, Eduardo, Rob Geelen, Ingo Jost, Gerard Lansink, Hans Rinsma, Harry Schley and Ted Wilmarth came up with the best answer but differed in details. This is the 1943/44 Mercedes-Benz 540k type W24 AP ('Aktion Protection') armoured car with bullet proof tyres. Some 20 of these armoured cars were built after an assault on Reinhard Heidrich in Prague in 1942. The cars were built on three unused 1939 540K chassis. Plus 17 original W24 cars were stripped to receive the new armoured coachwork. Several competitors mixed up the prewar cars with the very similar but armoured cars of 1943/44. According to Ingo Jost 3 of these AP chassis are still around: Chassis #408400 #408417 and #408372, this last one in distinguise as it has the coachwork of a Cabriolet A. Only Hans Rinsma was even more specific: "This interesting model is known as the Mercedes-Benz 540K Aktion P(for Panzer)W29-W129, in the summer of 1942 the German goverment ordered Daimler-Benz to built twenty 540K Armoured Innenlenkers, in order to this 18 second-hand 540K cars were confisticated and 2 brandnew chassis were used.All the confiscated bodies ( 6 Cabriolet A's, 6 Cabriolet B's and 6 Innenlenkers were scrapped. All sides , roof and floor : 2.3 mm steel, frontwidow 35mm , other windows : 30 mm safety glass, weight 2930 KG tyres 7.50-17 (Beschusssicher). The cars were used by Himmler, Kaltenbrunner, Goebels, Speer, Rosenberg, Backe, Seys-Inquart, Terboven, Koch Greiser, Abetz, Hans Frank and Karl H Frank. The 540K Aktion P from the last two man still exists today, car #408417 of K.H. Frank is in the Technical Museum of Prague, the other #408400 was used in Poland by Dr. Hans Frank and is restored and sold by the firm Thiesen in Germany in 2004." Almost a winner Hans Rinsma uses the denomination W29 - W 129 which is not corrrect according to factory specification which specificly says W24. So we stay with Ingo Jost as winnner of Quiz #219. 
Comments
6 of those frames had had earlier cabriole A bodies before being refurbished.
If any of these six cabriole As had been built on a short wheelbase frame-Typ 540K kurz-the factory designation would be W29 and not W24
han
It's was very interesting to read your article about the 540 K (P)
One of my friends get me this morning some information about a 540 K (P)
the car is here in the US and needs some
Restoration.This car have an incredible history.Because this car disappeared after World war II.
I have to find out it's maybe this car was you looking for.
I live in Texas close to Dallas.
It's would be interesting to me to know
how much is the value about the car which is in your museum.
I'm looking forward to hearing from you.
Heinz