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£8,101,715
1937 Mercedes-Benz 540 K Special Roadster
United States • 20 Aug 2022
Vehicle Details
AI Listing Summary
This 1937 Mercedes-Benz 540 K Special Roadster, chassis number 154075, is one of only three surviving long-tail, covered-spare examples. Originally owned by King Mohammed Zahir Shah of Afghanistan, it retains a high degree of originality, having been cosmetically refinished in the 1950s but never fully restored, and has had only five owners and less than 13,000 miles from new.
Condition
7
The car is described as being cosmetically refinished in the 1950s but never truly restored, retaining an astonishing degree of originality throughout. The car has minor cosmetic finishes applied in 1953. The odometer reflects 883 miles, indicating that this Special Roadster has yet to cover its 13,000th mile. The car remains, with the exception of the aforementioned cosmetic finishes, a largely untouched and undisturbed. It retains all of its original mechanical components and the factory Typenshield and Kommission tags, it is rolling on the period Dunlop tires on which it likely emerged from England and even bears the body number stamped in the original floorboards.
/ 10
Transmission:
[Transmission]
Chassis No:
154075
Odometer:
[Odometer Reading]
Reg Number:
[Reg Number]
RHD/LHD:
LHD
LONG-TAIL, HIGH-DOOR, COVERED SPARE: THE ULTIMATE 540 K All Sindelfingen body styles for the Mercedes-Benz 540 K evolved through generations and variations, and the Special Roadster was no exception.
Its original low-door style, essentially the same as the previous 500 K, was eventually succeeded by the so-called long-tail, high-door design.
This is the car that enthusiasts think of when envisioning the iconic 540 K Special Roadster: great flamboyant sweeps of subtly skirted fenders, their power accentuated by a set-back radiator, and doors that curve back past a concealed top into a flowing upturned tail.
It is as visually perfect a design as ever existed in the 1930s.
This is particularly true of the cars produced with a covered rear spare, hidden beneath a flush decklid with a very subtle, chrome-edged dorsal fin—a nod, perhaps, to French coachwork trends.
It is the covered-spare, long-tail, high-door design that forms, truly, the ultimate Special Roadster, and the ultimate exp...
Points of note
£1,239,567
Lowest Price (Since 2020)
£1,753,250
Median Price (Since 2020)
£8,101,715
Highest Price (Since 2020)
World Record
This vehicle has set a new record for the Mercedes-Benz (W29) 540K Special Roadster
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