1936 Mercedes-Benz 540K Sport Cabriolet A

This 1936 Mercedes-Benz 540 K Cabriolet A wears coachwork by Sindelfingen with a set-back radiator shell, flowing front fenders, wire wheels, dual rear-mounted spare tires, and a low single-piece windshield. It is believed that thirty-three examples were this early-style Cabriolet A, and one of perhaps five surviving examples that are interim-production cars.

After leaving Sindelfingen, the car traveled to the UK and into the care of the Rose & Company, Ltd., of London, England. It had a right-hand-drive configuration and its original British-based owner was Mr. Cockburn, for whom the car was registered as EMH 303. In the early 1950s, it was sent to the United States, and as early as 1954 it was in the custodianship of John B. Davidson of Fort Lauderdale, Florida. Mr. Davidson had the car painted gold with black features and with an unusual and distinctive 'sweep panel' design through the hood. Mr. Davidson offered the car for sale in 1959, with an unknown history for the next two decades, resuming in the late 1970s when it was in the care of Earl Blakely, who sold it in 1978 to Dr. Terry Bennett of New Hampshire. A decade later, the car was sold to the Swedish property tycoon Hans Thulin. When the Thulin collection was dispersed in 1991, the 540 K returned stateside, and soon thereafter was refinished to its present appearance and joined the present collection, where it has now remained for three decades.

The car's current livery is black with red wire wheels wrapped with blackwall tires, and red leather upholstery.

By Daniel Vaughan | Dec 2022