An extremely rare Mercedes-Benz 500 K Roadster from 1935 with a mysterious history has sold at auction for €5,290,000 (£4,457,354) at Bonham’s Chantilly Sale in France – accounting for nearly half the auction’s €9,389,258 (£7,911,382) total takings.
The Mercedes-Benz model 500K Roadster was powered by a 5,018cc overhead-valve straight-eight engine that featured the company's famous Roots-type supercharger system and allowed the car to reach speeds of up to 110mph. It was the first car in the world to feature coil springs and damping.
Bonhams
The model sold at Bonham’s Chantilly Sale is an example of the first of two types of 500K offered by Mercedes and encompasses many of the iconic design features of 1930s cars – rear mounted spare wheel, chrome trim, jewel-tone body colour (in this case deep ruby red) and leather interiors.
Bonhams
Bonhams estimates that there were only 29 of the specific Roadster model produced and this one was displayed at the Berlin Auto Show in 1935 before being bought by Hans Friedrich Prym. The Prym family’s metal component business, Prym, is Germany’s oldest family-owned business.
One night, the Mercedes disappeared from the Prym premises, only to reappear later in the 1970s in the collection of an American collector. On his death, the car changed hands several more times before being returned to the Prym family in 2012, who put it up for sale at Chantilly.
Other high-priced sales at Chantilly included three Horch models, a 1937 853 Spezialroadster, a 853B Sportcabriolet and a 780B Cabriolet as well as a 1956 Bentley Continental S1 Coupe.
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