![]() | The Mercedes-Benz 500K and its successor, the 540K, were arguably the most noteworthy production models offered by the Stuttgart firm during the 1930s. The 540K was developed from the 500K and shared its independently suspended chassis, while the 540K was bored up to 5.4 litres of supercharged straight-eight power. |
![]() | The car featured the company’s famous Roots-type supercharger system where pressing the gas pedal to the end of its travel would simultaneously engage the compressor and close off the alternative atmospheric intake to the carburetor. |
![]() | The system had been thoroughly proven on the preceding series of Dr Ferdinand Porsche S-Type cars, and the 540K was the last supercharged production Mercedes-Benz for decades. | ![]() |
![]() | The 540K was launched in October 1936 with an engine that developed 115 bhp un-supercharged or 180 bhp with the compressor engaged. | ![]() |
![]() | With a top speed approaching 110 mph (177 km/h) the supercharged Mercedes was one of the very few 100-mph road cars available in the 1930s. 32 were built with 18 surviving today. The car made €2.25m |