1937 Mercedes-Benz 540K Special Roadster

The 'Blue Goose'

On May 4, 1945, The US Army, C Company, 326th Engineers, 101st Airborne Division 'Screaming Eagles' liberated and took possession of this armored 1937 Mercedes Benz 540 K Spezial Roadster at Berchtesgaden in the Bavarian alps. The car had been custom made for Hermann Goring, Reichsmarschall of the Greater German Reich, President of the German Parliament, Commander of the German Air Force and President of the Preussian Council of State. Goring was also a WWI fighter pilot as commander of the Red Baron Squadron.

Major General Maxwell Taylor used this Mercedes as his command car in Germany until it was commissioned by the US Treasury Dept, in Washington DC to be displayed on a Victory war bond fund-raising tour across the USA. The bond tour was very successful. Some ten years later the car was auctioned away by the army in Maryland in 1956. It has been stowed away in a private collection since 1958.

This Mercedes Benz 540 K Spezial Roadster has been carefully preserved, with emphasis on keeping as much as possible original. There has been no body off. The engine and transmission have not been opened. The two bullet-marks from a 101'st soldiers rifle shots are still seen on this Trophy of War, shown as of its moment of liberation.