Like several other Full Classic marques, the supercharged eight-cylinder Mercedes-Benz models of the late 1930s were almost entirely fitted with coachwork by the manufacturer’s own Sindelfingen coachworks.

Factory coachwork was successful in being both attractive and well-built, thus in the case of the 540 K model, of which 419 chassis were constructed, only 29 of those were sold as bare chassis to be clothed by outside coachbuilders; perhaps only nine or so of those received bodies by British coachbuilders.

One of those surviving British-bodied Mercedes is the rather extraordinary automobile offered here.

THE LANCEFIELD 540 K European coachbuilders of the Classic Era were peerless in the construction of weathertight, soundly insulated convertible tops, which did a superb job of protecting passengers from the elements with the downside of forming rather ungainly “stacks” at the rear of the car.

That such stacks were so common did not mean that the coachbuilders did not seek ways ar...