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.

Private Treaty Sales 2014 #2

About 2 months back, I did a write up on the 1^st Private Treaty Sales organised by Historic Motoring Ventures. Now, the 2^nd Private Treaty Sales for the year was held about two weeks back and of course my friend Jon and I decided to pay a visit to Bangsar Shopping Centre on what was a pleasant Sunday. When we reached there, we realised an orange Volkswagen Beetle parked at the entrance to the shopping centre. And so we made our way inside and there she stood, the Mercedes-Benz 500K (pic above). It was quite a surprise as this car was not included in the line-up initially but of course it got us all excited as the last I saw this car was at least 4 years back.

With a different line-up of cars this time compared to the earlier one in March, the cars on sale this time were no less eye-catchers compared to the earlier sale. Notable cars this time other than the Mercedes-Benz 500K were a very rare 1971 Mercedes-Benz 280SE Cabriolet, a 1980 Morgan Plus 8, another Mercedes-Benz 190SL roadster (a different car compared to the earlier sale), a rare 1956 Ford Thunderbird which happens to belong to a friend of mine and a 1982 Ferrari 308 of which I’ve done a write up on a similar car earlier in the year. The only Jaguar this time was a Jaguar XJS V12 Cabriolet of which I too have a similar model for sale (check out the ‘Cars for sale’ section) and the only Japanese car was a 80s Toyota Celica.

But this time around my favourite car had to be the Mercedes-Benz 500K with it’s sheer style and elegance. Some of the prices on the cars seemed reasonable with regards to its condition but some I thought were just a little too expensive. We will catch up on the Mercedes-Benz 500K soon as there’s already an article in the pipeline. All in all, it was a very excitement filled day especially with the presence of the Mercedes-Benz 500K... Well, here I’ll leave you with shots of some of the interesting cars taken by my ‘official’ photographer, Jon...