1934 Mercedes-Benz 290 Cabriolet A by Sindelfingen
Offered by RM Auctions | London, U.K. | September 8-9, 2013
What I like about this sale is that there are a bunch of Mercedes-Benzes of intermediate prestige. Yes, 500K and 540K Benzes are wonderful but you never see 380s or 290s at these big, fancy auctions.
Thus, why I’m featuring this car instead of the 540K Special Roadster from the same sale. The Mercedes-Benz 290 was known internally as the W18 and it was available in two different wheelbases. This is the shorter one. The engine is a 2.9-liter straight-six making 60 horsepower. The wheel wells on this car seem to ride really high, giving this an almost-SUV-like appearance. It might be good off-road. It looks like a car that some Nazis would use to chase down Indiana Jones.
Only 3,566 short-chassis cars were built (which is a fairly high number compared to other cars of the era). The Cabriolet A (seen here) was the sportiest of the various body styles offered, but it was almost the most expensive. My favorite feature here is the dual rear-mount spares (I’m a sucker for those). This is a rare car with an older restoration that has had some use. It should still bring between $390,000-$465,000. Click here for more info and here for the rest of RM’s interesting London auction lineup.
Update: Sold $435,000.
S/N: 109942.