1936 540K Special Roadster Could Become Auction King

Ryan Joseph Ramos June 15, 2012

There have been few Mercedes-Benz 540 Special Roadster units produced, and if you auction one that comes with a rich history, then it’s no wonder that the auctioneers are thinking that there’s a possibility that this one might just clinch the record for the price paid for a vehicle at an auction.

The 1936 model year car used to be owned by a Prussian baroness, one Gisela Josephine von Krieger. It will be up for auction sometime in August, headed by Gooding and Co. in Monterey. According toDavid Gooding, founder and president of the classic car auctioneer, the vehicle was purchased brand-new by the baroness’s family, where the baroness herself used it. Even when she was running from Nazis, the car accompanied her.

This 540K Special Roadster has been restored, even though the body panels of the car were mostly good to go when it was discovered in 1992 at some warehouse in Connecticut.

The current record stands at $16,390,000—made by Gooding and Co.’s own auction of a 1957 Ferrari 250 Testa Rossa just last year. Well, you know what they say… records are made to be broken, and it’ll be all the more sweeter when you break your own record.