1939 Mercedes-Benz 540K Spezial Cabriolet A

The 540 K convertible cabriolet was produced in three series by Mercedes-Benz, the first being a short-lived design, shared with the last examples of the 500 K, with long, subtly skirted front fenders. This was followed by a more modern and streamlined design with slightly higher doors and a low windshield. The third and final series had deeply skirted and rounded fenders and a short, taut tail.

This particular Mercedes-Benz 540 K Cabriolet A by Sindelfingen is a late-production example fitted with a five-speed transmission. It was delivered in September 1939 in Berlin, having been ordered under Kommission number 294682. When World War II came to a close, the car was in Brazil, where it wore a cream-shade paint scheme and had been owned for many years by Alfonso Coscone. Its next custodian was Franzoni Germano of São Paulo. The car remained in Brazil into the 1980s, and in the mid-1980s, it moved to the United States in the ownership of Tom W. Barrett III. Photographs of the car while in his ownership display the car with black fenders. By 1994 it had moved to California and into the care of its current custodianship, where it was refinished to the present color scheme. It has remained largely hidden away and unshown for over a quarter of a century.

It is believed that the car's restoration was largely cosmetic. It has lightly patinated leather upholstery, Bosch headlights and driving lights, matching taillights, chrome wire wheels, and 'trafficator'-style semaphore turn signals in the windshield frame.

By Daniel Vaughan | Dec 2022