The big puzzle around X-252
A very special Mercedes sports car was a 500K from 1935, which the super-rich Chinese Tan Tjoan Keng ordered at the Oegstgeester "Garage Rooyakkers". Tan came from a super-rich Chinese family who traded raw materials from Jakarta (Indonesia). Tan lived, among other places, in a house in Oegstgeest, a suburb of Leiden in southwest Holland, was multilingual and spoke among other languages also German.
This wonderful 500 K was manufactured in the bodywork in Sindelfingen under the direction of Hermann Ahrens. The 500K was referred to as a "special streamlined car", was luxuriously equipped and nothing was left to chance: the seats could be folded to reclining seats, and the opening windows behind the doors could be completely sunk into the body. The passenger had a pull-out tray under the dashboard. This was equipped with a reading lamp above the glove compartment, a kind of desk, ideal for reading maps at night.
The spare wheels were hidden under the streamlined wheel covers. The tank had a capacity of 180 litres (instead of the usual 110 litres). The 500K "special streamlined car" was equipped with two 12 volt batteries and additional storage space - one for stowing a rifle! The 500 K had two pendulum-direction-indicator on each side: one in the spare wheel cover, and the second just behind the small opening window behind the car door. Reflecors at the ends of the bumpers both at the front and at the back were further safety installations.
What has become of X-252?
In spring 1935, the 500K "Spezial Stromlinienwagen" was picked up by Tan in Stuttgart. Extensive travel could be traced until 1938. In 1949, "Garage Rooyakkers" in Oegstgeest, where Tan had ordered the 500 K, offered the 500K "Spezial Stromlinienwagen" in the Dutch magazine "De Auto" for 16,000 guilders. Since then, every trace is lost!
Do you have any knowledge about the whereabouts of this particular 500K "special streamlined car? If so, please let us know!
