The Mercedes-Benz 500K (W29) is a
grand touring car built by
Mercedes-Benz
Mercedes-Benz (), commonly referred to as Mercedes and sometimes as Benz, is a German luxury and commercial vehicle automotive brand established in 1926. Mercedes-Benz AG (a Mercedes-Benz Group subsidiary established in 2019) is headquartere ...
between 1934 and 1936. First exhibited at the 1934
Berlin Motor Show
The Berlin Motor Show originally started in 1897 in the German capital Berlin as the home of the International Motor Show (''Internationale Automobil-Ausstellung'', IAA) and ran until 1939. From 1951 the IAA eventually became established in Frankf ...
,
it carried the factory designation W29.
Distinguished from the
500 sedan by the "K" for ''Kompressor'' (German for
supercharger), only fitted to these performance cars, it succeeded the
Mercedes-Benz 380 introduced just the previous year. It offered both a larger, more powerful engine and more opulent
coachwork
A coachbuilder or body-maker is someone who manufactures bodies for passenger-carrying vehicles.Construction has always been a skilled trade requiring a relatively lightweight product with sufficient strength. The manufacture of necessarily ...
to meet customers' demands for greater luxury and performance.
Specifications
![1936 Mercedes-Benz 500 K Special Roadster](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/73/1936_Mercedes-Benz_500_K_Special_Roadster.jpg)
The 500K used the same
independent suspension as had been introduced on the 380, with a
double wishbone
A double wishbone suspension is an independent suspension design for automobiles using two (occasionally parallel) wishbone-shaped arms to locate the wheel. Each wishbone or arm has two mounting points to the chassis and one joint at the knuckl ...
front axle
An axle or axletree is a central shaft for a rotating wheel or gear. On wheeled vehicles, the axle may be fixed to the wheels, rotating with them, or fixed to the vehicle, with the wheels rotating around the axle. In the former case, bearin ...
, double-joint
swing axle
A swing axle is a simple type of independent (rear wheel) suspension designed and patented by Edmund Rumpler in 1903. This was a revolutionary invention in automotive suspension, allowing driven (powered) wheels to follow uneven road surfaces ...
at the rear, and separate wheel location,
coil spring
A selection of conical coil springs
The most common type of spring is the coil spring, which is made out of a long piece of metal that is wound around itself.
Coil springs were in use in Roman times, evidence of this can be found in bronze Fib ...
s and damping, a world first.
Consequently, it was a more comfortable and better handling car than Mercedes' previous
S/SS/SSK generation of
roadsters from the 1920s, and offered greater appeal to buyers, particularly the growing number of well-heeled female drivers of the time.
Pressing the
throttle
A throttle is the mechanism by which fluid flow is managed by constriction or obstruction.
An engine's power can be increased or decreased by the restriction of inlet gases (by the use of a throttle), but usually decreased. The term ''throttle'' ...
pedal fully engaged the
Roots supercharger
The Roots-type blower is a
positive displacement lobe pump which operates by pumping a fluid with a pair of meshing lobes resembling a set of stretched gears. Fluid is trapped in pockets surrounding the lobes and carried from the intake si ...
,
inducing the five
litre
The litre (international spelling) or liter (American English spelling) (SI symbols L and l, other symbol used: ℓ) is a metric unit of volume. It is equal to 1 cubic decimetre (dm3), 1000 cubic centimetres (cm3) or 0.001 cubic metre (m3 ...
straight-eight engine to produce up to and making the car capable of over , while consuming fuel at the rate of up to as it did so.
Three different
chassis and eight
bodies
Bodies may refer to:
* The plural of body
* ''Bodies'' (2004 TV series), BBC television programme
* Bodies (upcoming TV series), an upcoming British crime thriller limited series
* "Bodies" (''Law & Order''), 2003 episode of ''Law & Order''
* ...
were available for customers;
the two longer "B" and "C" four-seat
cabriolet
A convertible or cabriolet () is a passenger car that can be driven with or without a roof in place. The methods of retracting and storing the roof vary among eras and manufacturers.
A convertible car's design allows an open-air driving expe ...
versions rode on a
wheelbase
In both road and rail vehicles, the wheelbase is the horizontal distance between the centers of the front and rear wheels. For road vehicles with more than two axles (e.g. some trucks), the wheelbase is the distance between the steering (front ...
of , and would later be used on other
sedan and
touring car
Touring car and tourer are both terms for open cars (i.e. cars without a fixed roof).
"Touring car" is a style of open car built in the United States which seats four or more people. The style was popular from the early 1900s to the 1930s.
Th ...
models.
The short "A" chassis, with a wheelbase, underpinned the two-seater models: the ''Motorway Courier'', and the 1936 ''Special Roadster'' which offered the highest performance.
All models featured such advanced equipment as safety glass,
hydraulic brakes, and a 12-
volt
The volt (symbol: V) is the unit of electric potential, electric potential difference (voltage), and electromotive force in the International System of Units (SI). It is named after the Italian physicist Alessandro Volta (1745–1827).
Defin ...
electrical system sufficient to bear the load of the electric
windscreen wiper
A windscreen wiper, windshield wiper, wiper blade (American English), or simply wiper, is a device used to remove rain, snow, ice, washer fluid, water, or debris from a vehicle's front window. Almost all motor vehicles, including cars, truc ...
s,
door locks, and
indicators.
Production figures
![Mercedes-Benz_500K_“Autobahn_Kurier”_1934](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/56/Mercedes-Benz_500K_%E2%80%9CAutobahn_Kurier%E2%80%9D_1934.jpg)
Of the combined production of the 500K (342 cars), including 29 "Special Roadsters" during its two years in production, and the later 540K (419 cars) from Sindelfingen, the deliveries were:
* 70 chassis without body
* 28 open cars (''offener Tourenwagen'')
* 23 sedans with 4 doors (mainly 500K)
* 29 sedans with 2 doors (mainly 540K)
* 12 Coupés
* 6 Autobahn cruisers (''Autobahn-kurier'')
* 58 Roadsters
* 116 Cabriolets A
* 296 Cabriolets B
* 122 Cabriolets C
Gallery
File:Rétromobile 2017 - Mercedes-Benz 500 K - 1934 - 001.jpg, 1934 Mercedes-Benz 500K, at Rétromobile
Rétromobile is an annual classic auto show held in February in the French city of Paris. First held in 1976, the show is hosted at the Paris expo Porte de Versailles, a convention centre located between the Boulevards of the Marshals and the Bou ...
2017
File:Mercedes 500 K 1936.jpg, Mercedes-Benz 500K from the rear
File:Mercedes-Benz 500K salon.jpg, Mercedes-Benz 500K cockpit
File:Mercedes-Benz 500K Tehran.jpg, Mercedes-Benz 500K Autobahn cruiser at Iran Classic Car Museum that belonged to Reza Pahlavi, former Shah of Iran
File:1936_Mercedes-Benz_500K_Special_Roadster_(Louwman_Museum).jpg, 1936 Mercedes-Benz 500K Special Roadster at the Louwman Museum
The Louwman Museum is a museum for historic cars, coaches, and motorcycles in The Hague, Netherlands. It is situated on the Leidsestraatweg near the A44 highway. The museum's former names are "Nationaal Automobiel Museum" and "Louwman Collectio ...
in The Hague
The Hague ( ; nl, Den Haag or ) is a city and municipality of the Netherlands, situated on the west coast facing the North Sea. The Hague is the country's administrative centre and its seat of government, and while the official capital o ...
, Netherlands
)
, anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau")
, image_map =
, map_caption =
, subdivision_type = Sovereign state
, subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands
, established_title = Before independence
, established_date = Spanish Netherl ...
References
Notes
Bibliography
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External links
Mercedes-Benz Classic Center, Mercedes-Benz Classic Center USA presents the 500K Cabriolet at
Amelia Island Concours d'Elegance
The Amelia Island Concours d'Elegance is an automotive charitable event held each year during the second weekend in March at The Ritz-Carlton Amelia Island in Amelia Island, Florida. A ''The New York Times'' article about celebrity car ownership ...
Klassik-Oldtimer-Klatt presents the 500K Cabriolet
{{Mercedes-Benz vehicles before ww2
Mercedes-Benz vehicles, 500K
1930s cars
Rear-wheel-drive vehicles
Cars introduced in 1934