1938 Mercedes-Benz 540K

Daimler and Benz merged in June of 1926, and among the assets was Ferdinand Porsche, who had joined Daimler in 1923. The Daimler-Benz workforce had around 20,000 employees but its output was limited, with production reaching roughly 2,000 cars a year. The Mannheim factory primarily produced mid-range automobiles, with a few custom-built luxury automobiles being constructed in Untertürkheim near Stuttgart.

At the Berlin Motor Show in February of 1933, the first new product from the Daimler-Benz merger was introduced, the Model 380. It had a fully independent suspension, and a supercharged SOHC straight-eight engine displacing 3,820cc. With elegant and luxurious coachwork fitted, the 380 quickly proved inadequate to carry the load. The performance issues were soon resolved with the introduction of the W29 500K, which re-introduced the 'K' Kompressor. The 500K, largely attributed to engineer Hans Nibel, remained in production through 1936 with 342 examples produced. Hans Nibel succeeded Ferdinand Porsche as Technical Director of Daimler-Benz AG in 1929 after Dr. Porsche's resignation from the company. Nibel was born in Bohemia in 1880 and studied at Munich Munich Technical College and joined Benz & Cie in 1904, becoming chief engineer in 1908. Among his accomplishments included championing shaft drive and creating the Blitzen Benz speed record car of 1910. He was instrumental in the creation of the powerful pre-World War I touring cars and for the postwar sports models. After the merger, his work was concentrated on advanced chassis engineering that would become the mainstay of Mercedes-Benz during the 1930s. He came up with a pushrod overhead valve design for the straight-eight engine, and the all-independent suspension on the Typ 380 was something he had pioneered on the Typ 170 sedan.

At the Paris Salon in October of 1936, Mercedes-Benz introduced the highly refined successor to the 500K, the 540K. Along with Hans Nibel, the car's engineering was the work of Hans Gustav Röhr, an accomplished inventor, former World War I fighter pilot, founder of Röhr-Werke AG, and Adler chief engineer. Röhr joined Daimler-Benz AG as technical director in 1935. Among his experimentations was front-wheel drive technology which, after his death in August of 1937 at the age of 42, his prototypes were destroyed.

The overhead-valve inline eight-cylinder engine had an updraft pressurized carburetor, a displacement size of 5,401cc, and a driver-activated, gear-driven Roots-Type supercharger. In naturally aspirated form it offered 115 horsepower; with the supercharger engaged, that figure rose of 180 hp. The engine was mated to a four-speed synchronized manual gearbox and there were power-assisted four-wheel drum brakes. The suspension was independent with coil springs in the front and swing-arms in the rear. With a top speed exceeding 100 mph, the 540K was among the fastest regular production automobiles in the world.

Along with its mesmerizing performance, it had style to match, with a long hood, a raked V-shaped radiator shell, sweeping fenders, chrome accents, and twin bright external exhaust pipes. The factory offered 11 cataloged body styles with coachwork performed at Sindelfingen, with each example being hand-built. They were thoughtfully design, well-appointed, and exactingly finished. They were styled and engineered by Hermann Ahrens for the various wheelbase lengths. The 2,980mm short chassis was fitted with the Cabriolet A two-passenger drophead coupe, of which 83 were built. These were two-seaters with blind rear quarters that had accommodations behind the front seats for luggage. Cabriolets B and C were four-seaters of 'four-window' and 'two-window' configuration, respectively, both on the 3,290mm wheelbase. Both the cabriolet B and cabriolet C had rear seating. The B had rear quarter windows and the C had blind quarters on the folding top. The 3,880mm long wheelbase platform was reserved for the convertible saloons, of which 12 were built. There were three separate four-door styles, the cabriolets D, E, and F, which accommodated up to seven passengers.

Production ended during the early 1940s after just 419 examples were built. The last is believed to have received its coachwork around 1943.

by Daniel Vaughan | Jun 2019