Mercedes miscellany at Monterey

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Next week the Monterey area will be buzzing with motoring excitement. We hadn’t come across a Broad Arrow Auctions event before, but have to admit that the sale they’ve organized for 18 August at the Monterey Jet Center looks promising.

1939 Mercedes-Benz 540 K Sindelfingen Spezial Roadster

One car that is getting a lot of attention there is a 1939 Mercedes-Benz 540K with factory Spezial Roadster bodywork. The car was commissioned in that year by the Berlin fashion industrialist Rolf Horn and had a number of unusual features. Among these are the lack of running boards, aerodynamic wings as seen on Mercedes’ Autobahnkurier and cut-down doors perhaps not unlike Mercedes’ 150 Sport model. Shortly after being collected, the car was put aside as the war raged across Europe, only to be found again in 1946 on the eastern and Soviet-controlled side of Berlin. Soviet diplomats are said to have used the car until 1953, eventually ending up in Russia. From there it found its way to Sweden in 1967. Another 10 years later, the car made it over to the US, where it ended up in a museum in Las Vegas and at a number of concours events. It won’t be cheap, estimated at 7 to 8 million dollars, but then it’s quite a car!

1926 Mercedes-Benz 15/70/100 PS

At least as interesting ― we think ― but not quite as elegant, is another Mercedes-Benz: a 1926 model with 15/70/100 PS and a six-cylinder in-line engine with supercharger. Unlike the 540K Roadster, this is a real barn find, all the way from Japan. It was sold new to Tokyo and registered there in February 1927 in the name of the country’s Ministry of Finance. The papers to confirm this are with the car, although there are gaps in its subsequent history. The Mercedes’ original Pullman sedan body is said to have been converted into an ambulance during World War II and then into a hearse with a Buddhist shrine style bodywork! It was used as such until 1968 and was lost in the 1970s. But – hey-ho – it wasn’t! Now missing its ornate hearse rear coachwork, it has only recently been rediscovered. A car with quite a story and estimated at $200,000 to $250,000, just a fraction of the 540K. The auctioneer further ads: “This fascinating 'blown' Mercedes-Benz presents a unique subject for further study, and an exciting project for restoration, whether back to its original specification or to be used as the basis for a supercharged pre-war Mercedes ‘Special’.”

Words Jeroen Booij. Pictures courtesy of Broad Arrow Auctions.

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