At this year’s Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance, the Best of Show award, the most famous car trophy in the United States, was up for grabs. Usually, the winner is a Duesenberg or Talbot from before the war. This year, though, many cars from after the war, including a Porsche 901 prototype that Alois Ruf owned, were thought to be in the running. The winning car, a Mercedes-Benz 540K Special Roadster from 1937, was made before World War II. The 1937 Mercedes 540K is the 50th car to win the Best of Show award at Pebble Beach. Like most Pebble Beach Concours winners, the background of the 1937 Mercedes is fascinating. In the 1930s, King Shah of Afghanistan was the first to own it. During World War II, King Shah kept it safe in the Afghanistan embassy in Paris, where it stayed until 1948. King Shah then gave it to his daughter’s husband, who drove it around London for a while before selling it. The 540K changed hands a few times before Jim Patterson of Louisville, Kentucky, bought it today. Each of the 26 Mercedes 540K Special Roadsters has a supercharged 5.4-liter V8 engine with 180 horsepower. It possessed coil springs, a back swing-axle suspension, and independent double-wishbone front suspension, which was innovative for the time. The Mercedes-Benz 540K Special Roadster cost around $12,000 when it first came out, about $260,000 today. This car is worth a lot of money because it is rare, has a fascinating history, and won Best of Show at Pebble Beach. The Mercedes 540K Special Roadster is a beautiful and great car, but it would have been nice to see a vehicle from after the war win for a change (I was hoping Ruf’s Porsche 901 prototype would win). So, good luck to Jim Patterson and his beautiful Mercedes from the war.
