Description
In 1934, Mercedes-Benz presented the new W29 as the 500 K as the successor to the successful Typ S, SS, SSK and SSKL, which achieved many victories in motorsport. The new car was equipped with a five-liter eight-cylinder in-line engine with 100 hp, which briefly received 160 hp from a Roots compressor. Two years later the further developed 540 K appeared, the engine of which now had a capacity of 5,4 liters. For example, 115 hp without and 180 hp with a supercharger were available. Both the 500 K and the 540 K were offered in different body styles, for which Mercedes-Benz had developed two chassis lengths. In addition, in some sporty variants the engine and transmission were mounted further back to shift the center of gravity. A total of 760 examples of the W29 series left the production halls in Sindelfingen, of which 419 were the 540 Ks. This included exactly 83 vehicles of the 540 K with the two-seater Cabriolet A-body.
One of them with the chassis number 189392 was produced in the last third of the production series. In July 1938 the chassis was completed and sent to the body shop in Sindelfingen. However, completion there took until October 1939. As a right-hand drive version, this 540 K was originally going to the English market, but could not be exported there due to the outbreak of the Second World War and the resulting export bans. Mercedes-Benz therefore stored the car with other vehicles and was only able to sell it to Baron Gustaf Wrede through their dealer in Helsinki, Finland, in April 1941. He was an influential industrialist, engineer and businessman, who kept the Mercedes as his private car in the post-war era, as a 1946 photo shows. In 1947 he sold the car through the renowned dealer Gjestvang in Stockholm to Valdemar Stener, a Swedish racing driver. He clearly used the 540 K for some ice races and exchanged it for a Maserati in 1948.
The Mercedes-Benz 540 K was then shipped to the US, where it was offered for sale in an advertisement in the New York Times in 1954. At the time, father and son Kreissle (John senior and John junior) were looking for a pre-war Mercedes and had seen three different cars advertised at the same time. Ultimately, due to its low mileage and rare five-speed transmission, they chose 189392 and brought it to their garage in Sarasota, Florida. Even before this purchase, the two original spare wheels on the front fenders were replaced by a single one in the rear trunk. Father and son carried out minor restoration work and repainted the car from dark green to the still visible light gray. A former Mercedes employee in New York also gave the 540 K a new interior in the correct calfskin pattern. Both also traveled to Germany several times in search of necessary spare parts. They found, among other things, an original five-speed gearbox to replace the damaged original.
This 540 K Cabriolet A remained in the Kreissle family's possession for a total of 50 years. In the 2004s it was on loan from the South Florida Museum in Bradenton. Only in 50 was it sold to Herbert von Fragstein, an expert in pre-war Mercedes-Benz models. The car still bears the traces of the restoration carried out in the 50s with the associated patina, which can be seen, for example, in the gray paintwork. For more than 2008 years, no one has touched the condition of the interior, so the leather seats may wear their folds and indentations with dignity. An original Mercedes-Benz factory certificate from XNUMX and copies of the original production documents prove the authenticity of the car and the matching number of the engine.
