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!

The first diesel car in mass production in the world

At the 1936 automobile exhibition in Berlin, Mercedes Benz presented its 260 D to the general public for the first time a diesel car, as did competitor Hanomag, who presented the model record. However, it would take a few months before the race for the series production of the first diesel car in the world was decided: in 1937, 75 years ago, finally went to the 260 D at Mercedes in series, Hanomag's record was ready for production only a year later. In 1937 the Mercedes 260 D left the production line. The world's first diesel sedan was more economical than comparable gasoline and became the darling of taxi drivers. Mercedes benefits from this until today.

Externally, the Mercedes-Benz 260 D was not different from the gasoline model 230, which was built in 1936. Of course, things looked different under the imposing hood. The diesel had just under 2600 cubic centimeters and four cylinders. That was enough for 45 hp and a top speed of 97 kilometers per hour. The gasoline engine had less displacement, ten horsepower more, and he managed a then remarkable top speed of 110 kilometers per hour. For the diesel cut in the question of economy clearly better off: He came out with 9.5 liters of comparatively cheap diesel for 100 kilometers, while the gasoline engine swallowed 16 liters of fuel.

As a six-seat Pullman landaulet, the 260 D was then available for 7,900 Reichsmark, which cost 230 less with 7025 Reichsmark. However, this price difference is "made up for after six months of operation by the economic operation," wrote in September 1937, the journal "Motor and Sport".

The Mercedes SS-special convertible as a measuring car

When it opened in 1921, the AVUS was the first street in the world on which only vehicles were allowed to drive. In 1932 the ‘Motorway’ Cologne-Bonn was opened to traffic. Concrete plans for further motorways existed before the National Socialists took power in 1933. With a law dated June 27, 1933, Hitler made the planned motorway construction a task of the state. Mr. Willy Hof was responsible for the construction of those motorways. On November 24, 1933, Mr. Hof ordered a convertible with an SS chassis with 27/160 / 200PS (No. 36345, engine No. 72766) from Daimler-Benz AG. This chassis (already manufactured in 1931) was passed on to Erdmann & Rossi Berlin for bodywork.

Erdmann & Rossi (1898 - 1949) was a Berlin body construction company that became known in the first half of the 20th century primarily for its individual luxury bodies. Borrowings from aircraft construction, flowing lines, aerodynamic design, extremely high quality workmanship - Erdmann & Rossi were far ahead of their time at the time. The individual bodies were / are unique and world famous!

This extraordinary convertible was shown for the first time at the Berlin Motor Show in 1934. The colour was light grey. The rear with the two spare tires was very expressive. Therefore, the British and American visitors christened the Cabriolet ‘Penguin’. Streamline expert Professor Emil August Everling was instrumental in the design of the special convertible.

In 1934, Mr. Hof and his drivers travelled to northern Italy. At that time there were already motorway-like roads. These had to be measured and tested! The goal was to learn from Italy. The Cabriolet was equipped with appropriate measuring devices. It raced across the road at 200km / h in order to gain experience with cross winds. Due to the poor road conditions and the enormous speed, the tires often burst. In addition, the full coverage of the rear wheels did not allow ventilation and therefore cooling of the tires. This also caused the brakes to overheat. The biggest problem, however, was the extremely high speed! The other road users were not prepared for a car to come rushing from behind at such a speed. As a result, there were some accidents, which luckily went very lightly.

The special cabriolet was rebuilt several times by Erdmann & Rossi. It also received the warning colour 'orange'. In the last conversion stage, white stripes were even applied to the car. For this reason, the German engineers lovingly christened the car 'The Parrot'. After successfully completing the test drives in Italy, Mr. Hof undertook further test drives in Germany with the Cabriolet. He crashed with the SS special convertible on the Reichsautobahn between Frankfurt and Darmstadt. It was the same route on which Bernd Rosemeyer had a fatal accident in 1938.

Barn find: The Frejat body has been found again!

To build this model car, we did research over a period of almost two years. Again and again we were able to add a piece of the puzzle to the overall picture. It started when our oldest customer (now 99 years old) gave us a sale advertisment of the car from a magazine (US$300,000) in the summer of 2019. Then we researched on the internet, bought and translated a French magazine with an interesting article, we also phoned the University in Stockholm and bought and translated a Swedish language document and the book "Mercedes-Benz 1930-Talets Kompressorvagnar i Norden" - both by Jan Melin. Google Translator was a helpful partner for us. Last but not least, our oldest customer gave us another later sale ad from another magazine (US$ 485,000). The final piece of the research puzzle was in place: 
 
The original Mercedes Benz 540k car was shown at an exhibition in Brussels on 04 January 1939. On 07 July 1941, the car was registered in Stockholm for Count Fredrik Wachtmeister with the registration number "A 976". In the turmoil of war, the trace is lost until 1947. From the archives of the French coachbuilder Frejat (Pont-du-Chateau) come two black and white photos with this unique 'Art Déco pontoon body' and the registration number "9606 NH 6". At this time, the front headlights were still integrated into the wings. Since the car has only one exhaust, it can be assumed that the 500K engine no. 113675 was already installed at this time. This engine comes from a 500K-Mercedes Cabriolet C, which was sold to Switzerland in 1935. In the post-war period, whatever was available was used. Practical aspects beat perfection.
 
In 1947/1948, the Mercedes was sold to Venezuela. An American later bought the car there and brought it to the United States of America in 1954. In the 1960s, a doctor from Florida bought the Mercedes and sold it to the Drottningholm Collection in Sweden in 1989. Who replaced the integrated front headlights with separate front headlights - as implemented on our model - is not known. In 1992 the Mercedes was sold to an investment company. They replaced the Frejat body with a roadster body. This presumably seemed more lucrative! What happened to the Frejat body was not known until now. Until now, because suddenly we received an email: 

Hello Mr. Sabrautzky, I have just read the article on your model car. I bought the body (without chassis) about 7 years ago and it is still in my possession. You are welcome to contact me by phone. Many greetings from .......

I could hardly believe it, made a phone call, and was on my way a little later. The barn door opened and suddenly this expressive body was standing in front of me: equipped with different headlights, additional lights on the mudguards, in wine red, and without a radiator grille. The radiator grille is part of the chassis. A shiver ran down my spine. And it wasn't because of the grey-wet wind that was blowing that day. And suddenly a circle was closed. My journey was over. The new owner found an advertisement in Mobile.de about seven years ago. He is a master coachbuilder himself and immediately took the offered body into his heart. He drove to Landshut and bought this gem from the estate of an entrepreneur. At that time, he did not know that it was the Frejat body. He only found this out when he happened to come across our website www.autopioneer.de and read the story. The journey of the Frejat body will soon continue, as it is looking for a new owner. Seriously interested parties are welcome to contact me. Last but not least: I just got off the phone with my oldest customer. He was thrilled. There, too, a circle has been closed. 

Who would have thought that a model car would once again close a historical gap in automobile history? We succeeded in doing so with the Maybach SW 38 Heinrich Müller. And we succeeded with the two Opels: 1937 Opel Super 6 for Georg von Opel and 1937 Opel Blitz 1.5 - 23 COE. If this is not a terrific motivation to tackle the next model car, what is? Stay curious!

At the beginning of the 1970s, Mercedes-Benz built more than 30 test vehicles for research into future automotive safety systems as part of its in-house ESV (Experimental Safety Vehicle or in German: Experimental-Sicherheits-Fahrzeuge) program. They paved the way for a multitude of innovations, some of which could only be mass-produced years later. ESF 13, based on the W 114 series ("Stroke-Eight"), was the stylistically revised version of the ESF 5 and was presented at the 3rd International ESV Conference from May 30th to June 2nd, 1972 in Washington (USA). 

Small gifts maintain friendship

A completely unique car which was developed and built by the three famous German car manufactures Mercedes-Benz, Porsche and Volkswagen. It might be the only car ever which was developed together by those German manufactures. This desert-racer was a ‘toy’ for the crown prince Rezza Pahlavy, the son of Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, the last Shah of Iran, who fled his country 1979. Since then, the late Shah's cars have been considered part of the national heritage and are displayed in the National Car Museum of Iran at present.The museum is said to have around 1200 vehicles.

The MPV Tehran Type was a gift which was presented to the Royal Court by the Germany’s ambassador on behalf of the Chancellor Willy Brand. With four cylinders and an engine power of 80 horse power it has a top speed of 170 km/h. The last visit of Willy Brandt to Iran was 1972. The crown prince Rezza Pahlavy was born 31^st October 1960. This means that at the age of 12 he received the MPV Tehran Type with - as said before - the dimensions and shape of an F1 car, and this with a top speed of 170 km / h. It has two keys. One, made of silver, limits the powerful engine to a gentle 30 kilometres per hour. The other, in gold, allows the vehicle to speed at 170 kph.  However, his father was known for his nightly car races. A rogue who thinks bad. All this said, it was politically correct back then.

In today’s world of corporate governance and political correctness such a present is absolute impossible. Things have changed for the better!

Thrupp & Maberly completed the original all-aluminum bodied Mercedes on March 28, 1930. In the 1980s, the entrepreneur and Mercedes collector Rolf Meyer purchased the Mercedes and made many modification. Just to name a few: a lower windshield, a new soft top, a light blue and cream paint, and a cream interior. In 2003, Rolf Meyer's entire collection was auctioned off in Paris. Among the many rarities, this Mercedes-Benz 710SS by Thrupp & Maberly stood out. The convertible achieved an auction price of 843,288 euros. An interesting read is sales brochure Rolf Meyer Succession Rolf Meyer, Collection de Mercedes du Musée de Schiffdorf.