1934 Mercedes-Benz 500 K Super-Rare Cars Are An Expensive Hobby

Cars are an expensive hobby, no matter how we look at it. Whether we’re talking about time-forgotten rides sitting in the woods for decades or super-classy rarities assembled nine decades ago, automobiles are a demanding pastime. But while anyone with the slightest desire to turn a wrench can find a dime-a-dozen budget-fitting basket case to entertain them, not the same can be said about seven-figure gems that require an admission fee for the luxury of glancing at them in person. The latter is valid for this super-rare Mercedes-Benz 500 K from 1934.
 

One million bucks is a lot of money for any car – although some examples with exquisite pedigree won’t even bother to squint at that meager change – but for one that’s not even original, it’s almost ridiculous. Unless there’s a story behind the whole affair, which is most definitely the case with this one-in-few Spezial Roadster.
 
That’s German for ‘Special Roadster,’ a car with profound historical significance for the most famous brand of prewar German motoring. The 500 K model debuted at the Berlin Motor Show in 1934 and caused quite a commotion with its 28,000 Deutsche marks (11,500 dollars) price.
 
Just to give you an idea of the outrage caused by the new Mercedes-Benz, note that a Cadillac V-16 Convertible Sedan started at 7,850 dollars. And we’re talking about the Standard of the World, the sixteen-cylinder luxury car that can rightfully be considered one of the greatest automobiles ever built.
 
But Mercedes-Benz wasn’t aiming at anyone in particular with the Special Roadster – it was just German pragmatism at its finest. The car came as a response to the complaints of gearheads who found that the previous Mercedes-Benz 380 K was slacking on the job when it came to horsepower.
 
With a 3.8-liter straight-eight and a double-vane Roots-type supercharger, the 380 K was good for 140 hp (when the Kompressor was running) and 90 hp during the normally aspirated routine. For a two-ton roadster, it was a bit on the low side.
 

One year after the 380 K premiered (at the same Berlin car show, but in 1933), Mercedes retorted with a more-liter variant of the eight-cylinder motor, again aided by the same supercharger. The power gains weren’t devastatingly big. The 500 K delivered 100 hp during regular operation and a maximum of 160 hp at full throttle. Confused? Blame the German engineers of the time, who took inspiration from the aircraft industry for their forced-induction solution.
 
The Roots supercharger (Kompressor in German, hence the ‘K’ in the nameplate) wasn’t running all the time. Due to an ingenious multi-plate clutch mechanism, the air squasher kicked in when the driver put his foot down. Literally, the compressor would engage on-demand when the accelerator pedal was pressed all the way down. Simultaneously, the free-flow of air into the carburetor was cut off, leaving the supercharger to feed the 5.1-liter overhead valve motor.
 
That wasn’t all: independent suspension throughout (swing-axle on the rear with hydraulic lever dampers and double-wishbone with coil springs over the front end) was borrowed from Mercedes’ successful racing program. The hydraulic brakes were another solution derived from the brand’s high-speed competition endeavors.
 
The pièce de resistance was, of course the drivetrain. Cast in one piece, the steel block-and-crankcase was topped by a steel cylinder head with an aluminum oil sump. The gearbox was a four-speed manual with a third gear in direct drive (1:1) and the top gear in overdrive. Shifting from third to fourth was semi-automatic (meaning the driver didn’t have to press the clutch pedal but only to move the lever into position.
 
When going down the road, the 500 K was quite a sight, but it was its supercharged score that made it stand out from everything else on the road (listen to it in the videos below). “A masterful car for the chosen few; the almost outrageous use of power makes for a unique driving experience.
 
Without the supercharger, this is a quiet, almost tame car that accelerates gently at low speeds. It can be driven leisurely in the city and on country roads, with hardly any hint of its power. But as soon as the supercharger is activated, it becomes a different vehicle, with breathtaking acceleration,” concluded British magazine The Autocar after testing a 500 K.
 

His words must have made a strong impression, as 342 models were built during the two-year production run of the 500 K. Of these, only 29 were 500 K Roadsters, and even fewer featured the exquisite long-tail Special Roadster design. How many survived the war and the chaos of the second half of the forties is still a subject of debate for historians, but here’s one.
 
The bad news: it’s not a survivor – the body was lost during the war (in unclear circumstances), but the engine and frame (105179) made it through and are still together. Ordered in 1934 by a dealer in The Hague, Netherlands, it was originally fitted with a Mercedes-Benz Cabriolet B body.
 
After years of storage, the car was bought by a rich collector from Denmark in the 1960s. The 500 K was a piece in the man’s museum (the venues of which were houses in the buyer’s private castle in Nysted). In the late 80s, prices for the rare Spezial Roadster began climbing, and the Dane ordered a coachbuilder to fit the 500 K with one such body.
 
The end result – see the gallery for details – was exceptional but incorrect. Nonetheless, the car sold in 2012, when the museum closed its doors permanently, for $363,500. The new owner initiated a no-expense-spared restoration that included realigning the chassis, overhauling the engine, and a new long-tail roadster body.
 
After seven years of work, the replica was ready for a new life. The car shows over 74,000 kilometers on its odometer (around 46,000 miles). It is now offered for sale on an online auction site. The current bid is one million dollars (well, $1,002,000, to be specific, but a one thousand-dollar increment per bid is spare change at this level) with five days left before closure.