Mercedes-Benz 500K Roadster

One of the marvels Mercedes-Benz built in the 1930s was this car I’m writing about now, the Mercedes-Benz 500K Roadster also known as the W29. The Mercedes 500K was certainly a one of it’s kind automobile to be produced back in the day when automobile technology was still in it’s infancy stage. The ‘500’ is to denote it’s 5.0 litre 8 cylinder engine and the ‘K’ stands for ‘Kompressor’ in German which means supercharger. Mercedes-Benz was always known to over-engineer their cars and that’s what made their cars ahead of it’s time.

This particular model was a relatively unknown model in current times but that was until a Malaysian collector decided to purchase, restore and bring back one. It is believed that there are currently only 3 units around the world from it’s original production number of less than 400 units. This car was basically stripped to the bone and had almost entirely new components manufactured and fitted according to it’s original factory specifications by it’s restorer in Germany hence it’s excellent condition. It had gone through a two-year documented restoration process which cost around RM 1 million.

I first saw this beauty at an auto show in 2010 and the most recent being a few months back at the 'Private Treaty Sales 2014 # 2' and I must say when it came to detail it did not look as good as it was four years ago when it was in immaculate condition but nevertheless it look fantastic. It also has a matching license plate to go with the model of the car. As for the design and era of the car, I have a friend who said it reminded her of those old cars for the movie ‘Chitty Chitty Bang Bang’, if you are an oldie you would know this movie... :)

Coming to it’s value, this particular 500K was once said to be valued at RM 24 million.. hhmmm.. If you were thinking of getting one, you got to make sure you have that sort of financing. Well below are some recent shots of the car taken by Jon at the recent sale, so do sit back and be amazed by this marvel of engineering by Mercedes-Benz.