The Concours d’Élégance at Pebble Beach is not an automotive event like any other. Thousands of car enthusiasts gather at the famous golf course in California to celebrate the automobile in all its glory, but above all, its history, its heritage and its engineering and design highlights.
Antique car owners from all over the world enter each other’s equally unique models in a bid to win the prestigious prize Best of Show, the one that represents the cream of the crop in terms of vintage cars. This year, the award went to the 1937 Mercedes-Benz 540K Special Roadster, a sublime representation of the pre-war era of the German automotive industry.
Fulfill all criteria
Several criteria allow a car to win this prestigious prize, such as the rarity of the example, its impact in the automotive industry, its physical and mechanical condition and, of course, its ability to seduce the judges with its beauty.
We can therefore understand the Concours d’Elegance evaluation team to have named this Mercedes-Benz as the most magnificent of the classics at Pebble Beach, because there are only 3 examples left of this model taken straight from the time. automotive classic.
This one, which was restored by RM Auto Restoration in Canada, is still equipped with its original mechanics, displays only 13,000 miles (21,000 km) on the odometer. Owner Mr. Jim Patterson, a collector from Louisville, Kentucky and Palm Beach, Florida, says his team worked really hard to make it perfect. He would have bought the car in 2022 at the RM Sotheby’s auction. “I bought it because it is very rare” – said its owner on stage when receiving the award.
Following a tradition in Pebble Beach for a few years, the period between the two world wars remains the one which is the most glorious in the eyes of collectors because of the rarity of examples, but also of an incomparable period of design. This 540K, equipped with a six-cylinder engine supercharged by a compressor called Kompressor at the manufacturer, was at the same time powerful, elegant and very luxurious. It had sold in very small quantities to very wealthy owners. Its design, inspired by the principle Modern Streamline, is timeless. Its configuration Longtail with its hidden spare wheel make it an even rarer model and majestic.
We congratulate its owner for this fabulous prize, not to mention the other models selected for the prize, namely the 1930 Mercedes-Benz 710 SS Special Roadster, the 1932 Alfa Romeo 8C 2300 Corto Fiogoni convertible and the 1939 Delahaye 165 Figoni et Falaschi convertible.
