A 1937 Mercedes-Benz 540K Special Roadster with one-off coachbuilt bodywork will certainly be one of the featured whole lots at Mecum’s 2023 Monterey Car Week auction, set up for August 17-19.
Created from 1936 to 1939, the 540K is identified by a 5.4-liter supercharged inline-8 creating 180 hp and also allowing a 110-mph full throttle– excellent things for the time. Power is sent out to the back wheels through a 4-speed guidebook transmission. The framework likewise flaunts four-wheel independent suspension and four-wheel servo-assisted hydraulic drum brakes, making it fairly innovative for the period.
1937 Mercedes-Benz 540K Special Roadster (picture through Mecum Auctions)In the 1930s high-end cars and trucks were frequently supplied as bare framework and then fitted with coachbuilt bodywork, yet the public auction listing keeps in mind that many 540K clients located the bodies offered by Mercedes suited them simply fine. Of the 760 540K(and also smaller-displacement 500K )vehicles developed, just 70 left the manufacturing facility in Sindelfingen, Germany, as bare framework, the public auction listing notes.
Stretching over this red roadster’s 128-inch wheelbase is coachwork from London company Mayfair Carriage Works Ltd. Equipped with righthand drive, this 540K was also delivered new to a client in London, before being sent out to a brand-new owner in Canada.
1937 Mercedes-Benz 540K Special Roadster(photo by means of Mecum Auctions)After going through a second Canadian owner, the automobile was brought back by the dad and also child group of Richard and Stephen Mertz of Detroit throughout 20 years. The vehicle was after that refurbished in the mid-1990s, and repainted into its present red shade. The 540K was the peak of prewar Mercedes deluxe autos, which’s shown in the pre-auction estimates of $3.5 million to $4.5 million. If that seems extreme, bear in mind that a 540K fastback sports car won Best of Show at the Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance simply two years ago.
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