Boca Raton Company Plans To Auction Rare, Top Nazi's Mercedes Online
BOCA RATON (CBSMiami) – A South Florida-based car dealer plans to auction a car that was once owned by Reichsmarshall Hermann Göring, head of the German Air Force during the Third Reich, on eBay.
High Velocity Classics, Inc. claims that the 1941 Mercedes Benz 540K was found in 2013 in a North Carolina garage.
In a press release, the company said the car was "Commissioned by the top Nazi official in 1940, the car was ordered with special features including: a parade stand, a straight eight turbocharged engine which can power the car to speeds over one hundred miles per hour, a short wave radio for long-distance communications, sirens, and a special chassis which accommodates a raised rear seat."
The car is rare not only for the previous owner, but also because it was the last of its kind to be built.
Production of the 540K ceased in 1939, but this car was commissioned in 1940 and delivered in 1941 to Göring. Its history is meticulously documented: from its commission, to its capture by the United States' 7th Infantry outside of Hitler's Berghof during the final days of World War II, to its transfer to the United States, and its care in the hands of a North Carolina car collector for the past 60 years.
The car, according to the company, was parked outside of Hitler's Berghof on May 4, 1945 when the United States' 7th Infantry invaded Berchtesgaden, Germany.
The 7th Infantry captured Göring's Mercedes Benz, along with Hitler's Berghof and some high Nazi officials. Taken as a trophy, the car served as the personal staff vehicle of Colonel John A. Heintges, Commander of the 7th Infantry.
By the end of the U.S.'s occupation in Germany, the company stated that the car was sold as surplus to US Staff Sergeant Sam Hosier. Hosier brought the car back to Texas in the early 1950s. In 1955, Staff Sergeant Sam Hosier sold the car to a collector in North Carolina, who kept it virtually intact for the past 60 years.
High Velocity Classics claims the car was verified by Mercedes Benz and is one-of-a-kind with all of its original parts.
High Velocity Classics, Inc., along with European Cars of Boca, in Boca Raton, Florida, is restoring the car to Concours Quality.
This 1941 Mercedes Benz 540K Cabriolet B will be auctioned on eBay during the week of June 9, 2014.
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