Chassis number 408371, a late-production chassis with five-speed transmission, was the only Mercedes-Benz 540 K produced with a body to this design.

Based upon the standard Cabriolet A, it incorporates numerous special styling features, including the raked vee’d windshield of the famed Special Roadster, emphasizing the length of the hood, and a low, sloping tail.

The interior provided seating for two comfortable adults and a third aft, under a rather low top to suit the rake of the windshield.

It all came together in an attractively harmonious whole.

According to Daimler-Benz archives, the special Cabriolet A was delivered to a client in Paris on 29 April 1939 under Kommission number 311463.

However, it made its way to the United States by the early post-war era.

Photos on file, showing the fenders had been modified as was typical of the early post-war era, indicate the car appeared at Indianapolis in 1947, alongside Don Lee’s Mercedes-Benz W154 racing car; at Watkins Glen, prior...