In the 1930s, Mercedes-Benz dominated the market segment of the international luxury class with its eight-cylinder supercharged cars. The “Type 500 with supercharger”, 500 K for short, came out in 1934 as a sporty and elegant top model of the Mercedes-Benz passenger car range and was available in eight different body versions. The crowning glory of all variants was the especially elegant and luxurious Special Roadster. With a price tag of initially 26,000 and later 28,000 Reichsmark (which could also buy a villa at Wannsee), it was also the most expensive version of the 500 K, with only 29 units being produced. The 500 K and its successor, the 540 K, became legends not just because of their superior power delivery, but also because of their ravishingly beautiful, luxuriously finished coachwork bodies.
