Mercedes-Benz – 500 K (1935)

Many facts about the early years of this impressive grand touring car with its powerful, supercharged eight-cylinder engine are still well known even today. For example, the fact that on 8th May 1935, the Berlin Mercedes-Benz dealer delivered the rolling chassis to coachbuilder Erdmann & Rossi – Jos. Neuss in Berlin-Halensee. In 1933, Erdmann & Rossi had already taken over prestigious coach stylist Jos. Neuss and had subsequently established an excellent reputation as an automobile couturier among the elite of high society.

Reinhard Henschel, son of the owner of the locomotives, vehicles and armaments company Henschel & Sohn in Kassel, placed the order for this motor car graced with a glamorous bodywork styled as a 4–5-seater Sport-Cabriolet. In 1945, the Soviet Army transferred the convertible as a trophy of war to Moscow, where it spent the following years chauffeuring a KGB General around. During the 1980s, the car came to light in a Russian garage, albeit in a seriously dilapidated condition. The complex restoration in Lithuania and Germany lasted from 1987 until 2009. The car has been licensed for road use since 2011.