1938 Mercedes Benz 540 K Cabriolet A

Daimler-Benz’s order number 262498 was supplied with this car, chassis number 169396. It was one of at least two cars in this series delivered to Mercedes-Benz of Paris at that time, the next consecutive chassis 169397 (sold by Bonhams in 2005) also being delivered new through this agency. According to copies of the factory records, it was completed early in 1938 and transferred to Paris on March 20, 1938. We are not aware of records of its original purchaser at this time, but it is understood that like its sister car, shortly after the war the 540 was brought to the U.S. by an Army officer, Colonel William H. Kendall of Sarasota, Florida. Col. Kendall kept the car until 1970, when it passed to a friend of his, arch car sleuth Paul Karassik, the person credited with extracting two Auto Union Grand Prix cars from the Ukraine in the late 1980s. Karassik would keep the Mercedes for more than 40 years, the custodianship by these two long-term keepers therefore account for the vast majority of its life.