1938 Mercedes-Benz 540K Streamliner Coupe

Long forgotten among Mercedes-Benz's prewar racing effort is this 1938 Mercedes-Benz 540K Streamliner, originally built for a high-speed endurance race between Berlin and Rome that never occurred due to the time's political climate. It was developed by the 'Sonderwagenbau' department in Sindelfingen under the leadership of Hermann Ahrens. It perfectly illustrates the innovative power of the Mercedes-Benz brand and its expertise in the development of one-off vehicles capable of satisfying the most stringent standards of design comfort, quality and customer experience. The 540 K Streamliner was systematically designed to optimize aerodynamic performance for long distance driving at continuously high speeds. It was sculpted from front to rear to allow for minimum air drag. It has a curved windshield and low roof line tapering to a point in the middle of the back and merging from there into the horizontal line of the softly curved rear section with fully integrated headlights. In 2014, following a restoration by Mercedes-Benz Classic, it produced the incredible drag coefficient of 0.36 in the wind tunnel a significantly lower value than the approximate 0.57 associated with a standard 540 K Coupe body.

The car was then given to the German branch of Dunlop in Hanau for high-speed tire testing on the relatively empty autobahns. Due to limited fuel availability during World War II Dunlop converted the car to run on liquefied petroleum gas and it survived otherwise untouched in their garages until 1945. Shortly after the end of the war it was 'rescued' by a US Army soldier who painted it a olive color before it was returned to Dunlop and de-registered in 1948. Soon after that it was returned to Daimler-Benz and its body was removed and scrapped, while the chassis, rear axle and some remaining body parts put into storage. It was delivered to the Mercedes-Benz Museum in 1950 and there it rested, largely overlooked by historians, for more than half a century. The car's resurrection began in 2011; the unique experimental coupe has been brought back to life by Mercedes-Benz Classic using the car's original blueprints. The first time it was shown in public since its restoration completion was at the 2014 Pebble Beach Concours d'Elegance.