---
title: Mercedes-Benz 500 K · HICONIUM
description: "Three hundred and forty-two supercharged straight-eight chassis in three years, each bodied to order by Sindelfingen's Sonderwagenbau — the 500 K was the grandest German car of its age, and The Autocar called the open car 'a master car, for the very few'. The Spezial-Roadster on top of the range cost as much as a house."
canonical_url: https://hiconium.dev/vehicles/mercedesbenz/500-k
image: https://hiconium.dev/og/vehicle/mercedesbenz/500-k.png
---

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> On this page: [The price and the proof](#the-price-and-the-proof) · [Model readouts](#model-readouts) · [Documented sales](#documented-sales) · [The grandest expression of the supercharged era](#overview-heading) · [Technical specifications](#technical-specifications) · [The Kompressor eight](#the-kompressor-eight) · [Chassis and coachwork](#chassis-and-coachwork) · [The people behind the car](#the-people-behind-the-car) · [Hans Nibel](#hans-nibel) · [Max Sailer](#max-sailer) · [Hermann Ahrens](#hermann-ahrens) · [Friedrich Geiger](#friedrich-geiger) · [Rudolf Caracciola](#rudolf-caracciola) · [Member instruments](#member-instruments)

![A midnight-blue Mercedes-Benz 500 K Spezial-Roadster with chrome exhaust pipes, front three-quarter view on a deep midnight-blue field in soft evening light](https://hiconium.dev/images/cars/mercedesbenz-500-k/hero-wide-2560.jpg)

# 500 K

The master car

Three hundred and forty-two supercharged straight-eight chassis in three years, each bodied to order by Sindelfingen's Sonderwagenbau — the 500 K was the grandest German car of its age, and The Autocar called the open car 'a master car, for the very few'. The Spezial-Roadster on top of the range cost as much as a house.

1934 to 1936 · W 29 · Untertürkheim & Sindelfingen

## The price and the proof

Indicative road-car band $850K–$5.9M · 8 documented road sales · 8 recorded sales on file. Modeled values are not observed sales. Nothing here is investment advice.

Confidence: low. This is a thin market — about ten original 500 K sales in five years, and years can pass between Spezial-Roadsters. Closed coupés open the band under a million dollars, Normal Roadsters and open tourers trade at $1.2–1.7 million, Cabriolet A at $1.7–3.0 million, and original Spezial-Roadsters occupy the ceiling alone.

Figures in USD for original factory-bodied 500 K cars. The 540 K — including the famous $9.68M and $11.77M Spezial-Roadster results — is a separate model and excluded. Rebodied cars and replicas are separate sub-markets.

Authenticity is the entire game: workshops have rebodied saloons into 'Special Roadsters' since the 1950s, and those cars trade at $1.2–2.0 million against $5 million-plus for Sindelfingen originals. Mercedes-Benz Classic authenticates. The 2026 season showed softness — a Roadster hammered 54 per cent below its low estimate at Mecum Monterey.

Valuation method and source rules: [HICONIUM standards](https://hiconium.dev/standards). Observed auction results across the wider market: [Market terminal](https://hiconium.dev/market).

### Model readouts

7 documented anchors. model v1 · seed mercedesbenz-500-k. Compound annual growth is modeled price CAGR; S&P 500 is a price index without dividends. Forecast quantiles are not investment advice.

| Window | This car* | S&P 500 | Gold |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1Y | -56.6% | +18.8% | +21.9% |
| 5Y | -2.9% | +11.4% | +17.6% |
| 10Y | +1.9% | +13.3% | +11.8% |

| Series | Deepest drawdown | Window |
| --- | --- | --- |
| This car* | -83.7% | Sep 2016 → Jan 2026 · not recovered |
| S&P 500 | -20.3% | Dec 2021 → Oct 2022 · recovered Dec 2023 |
| Gold | -39.3% | Sep 2011 → Dec 2015 · recovered Jul 2020 |

| Horizon | P10 | P50 | P90 |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| +6M | $1'831'285 | $2'221'576 | $2'695'047 |
| +12M | $1'687'461 | $2'203'874 | $2'878'324 |
| +24M | $1'489'081 | $2'168'893 | $3'159'059 |

### Documented sales

8 recorded. Every public sale on this file, newest first. Amounts keep the recorded currency. Source links appear only when the catalog stores a public auction-lot URL.

| Date | Chassis / label | Class | House | Venue | Amount | Currency | Basis | Source |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 2026-08-14 | Mecum · Monterey · incl. buyer's premium | Road | Mecum | Monterey | $1'265'000 | USD | incl. buyer's premium | [https://www.conceptcarz.com/events/auctionResults/auctionResults.aspx?eventID=2420](https://www.conceptcarz.com/events/auctionResults/auctionResults.aspx?eventID=2420) |
| 2026-01-30 | Bonhams · Paris · incl. buyer's premium | Road | Bonhams | Paris | €862'500 | EUR | incl. buyer's premium | [https://cars.bonhams.com/auction/31696/lot/127/1934-mercedes-benz-500k-type-w29-coupe-chassis-no-u105394-engine-no-u105394/](https://cars.bonhams.com/auction/31696/lot/127/1934-mercedes-benz-500k-type-w29-coupe-chassis-no-u105394-engine-no-u105394/) |
| 2025-08-16 | RM Sotheby's · Monterey · incl. buyer's premium | Road | RM Sotheby's | Monterey | $5'340'000 | USD | incl. buyer's premium | [https://rmsothebys.com/auctions/mo25/lots/r0066-1935-mercedesbenz-500-k-special-roadster-by-sindelfingen/](https://rmsothebys.com/auctions/mo25/lots/r0066-1935-mercedesbenz-500-k-special-roadster-by-sindelfingen/) |
| 2024-10-26 | RM Sotheby's · Los Angeles · incl. buyer's premium | Road | RM Sotheby's | Los Angeles | $4'130'000 | USD | incl. buyer's premium | [https://rmsothebys.com/auctions/rk24/lots/r0242-1935-mercedesbenz-500-k-caracciola-special-coupe-by-sindelfingen/](https://rmsothebys.com/auctions/rk24/lots/r0242-1935-mercedesbenz-500-k-caracciola-special-coupe-by-sindelfingen/) |
| 2023-08-18 | RM Sotheby's · Monterey · incl. buyer's premium | Road | RM Sotheby's | Monterey | $1'655'000 | USD | incl. buyer's premium | [https://rmsothebys.com/auctions/mo23/lots/r0167-1935-mercedesbenz-500-k-normal-roadster-by-sindelfingen/](https://rmsothebys.com/auctions/mo23/lots/r0167-1935-mercedesbenz-500-k-normal-roadster-by-sindelfingen/) |
| 2016-09-03 | Bonhams · Château de Chantilly · incl. buyer's premium | Road | Bonhams | Château de Chantilly | €5'290'000 | EUR | incl. buyer's premium | [https://cars.bonhams.com/auction/23603/lot/16/mercedes-benz-500-k-roadster-1935/](https://cars.bonhams.com/auction/23603/lot/16/mercedes-benz-500-k-roadster-1935/) |
| 2016-08-20 | RM Sotheby's · Monterey · incl. buyer's premium | Road | RM Sotheby's | Monterey | $1'870'000 | USD | incl. buyer's premium | [https://rmsothebys.com/auctions/mo16/lots/r107-1934-mercedesbenz-500-k-cabriolet-a-by-sindelfingen/](https://rmsothebys.com/auctions/mo16/lots/r107-1934-mercedesbenz-500-k-cabriolet-a-by-sindelfingen/) |
| 2011-08-20 | RM Sotheby's · Monterey · incl. buyer's premium | Road | RM Sotheby's | Monterey | $3'767'500 | USD | incl. buyer's premium | [https://rmsothebys.com/auctions/mo11/lots/r247-1935-mercedesbenz-500-k-roadster-by-sindelfingen/](https://rmsothebys.com/auctions/mo11/lots/r247-1935-mercedesbenz-500-k-roadster-by-sindelfingen/) |

RM Sotheby's, Bonhams and Mecum figures include buyer's premium. Guide figures are date-stamped snapshots (Hagerty and classic.com, August 2026), not appraisals. Production prints as 342 (factory) or 354 (Bonhams year-split) — prefer the factory figure.

## The grandest expression of the supercharged era

The Type 380 of 1933 was judged underpowered almost on arrival — Sindelfingen's coachwork had grown heavier than its blown eight could carry with dignity. Development of a five-litre successor began in January 1933, before the 380 had even reached the Berlin show. A year later the 500 K appeared at the 1934 Berlin exhibition as a single streamlined Autobahn-Kurier, and the sales force called it the highlight of the show. Hans Nibel, whose all-independent chassis underpinned it, died of a heart attack that November; Max Sailer took over the design office on the first day of 1935.

The formula was aristocratic: a pressed-steel frame with coil-sprung independent suspension at both ends, hydraulic servo brakes, 12-volt electrics — and the M 24 straight-eight whose Roots compressor engaged only at kickdown, lifting 100 PS to 160. Untertürkheim built 342 chassis in three years; nearly all crossed to Sindelfingen, where Hermann Ahrens's Sonderwagenbau bodied them to order in eight catalogued styles. The bare chassis cost RM 15'500, most bodies RM 22'000, and Friedrich Geiger's Spezial-Roadster rose from RM 26'000 to 28'000 — house money, spent on a car.

In autumn 1936 the 5.4-litre 540 K took over, and the compact '500 K' label only became common once a sibling needed distinguishing. The market has since sorted the family with brutal clarity: original Sindelfingen cars trade from under a million dollars for closed coupés to $5.3 million and beyond for the seven surviving short-tail Spezial-Roadsters, while postwar rebodies and replicas — a cottage industry since the 1950s — trade at a permanent discount that only factory authentication resolves.

| Highlight | Detail |
| --- | --- |
| Power by kickdown | The Roots blower does not run continuously: press the accelerator past full throttle and a clutch pack engages the compressor, closes the atmospheric intake and lifts the eight from 100 to 160 PS. The howl that came with it was half the theatre. Daimler had used the layout since the S-cars of the 1920s; the 500 K civilised it for the Autobahn age. |
| A body shop for the very few | Wilhelm Haspel created the Sindelfingen Sonderwagenbau in 1932 and hired Hermann Ahrens from Horch to run it — every 500 K body was built to order, price list or not. Friedrich Geiger, later the 300 SL's stylist, drew the Spezial-Roadster. At RM 28'000 it cost as much as a detached house in a prime location, the Museum notes. |
| One car at the Berlin show | The 500 K debuted at the Berlin motor show in March 1934 as a single streamlined Autobahn-Kurier — sales circulars called it the 'Clou der Ausstellung', the highlight of the show. The Type 380 still filled the stand; its replacement was implied, not announced. Hans Nibel, the chassis's engineer, died that November in the car's first production year. |
| Two ceilings, two currencies | The 500 K record is genuinely double-booked: €5.29 million at Bonhams Chantilly in 2016 for the Berlin-show Prym roadster, and $5.34 million at RM Monterey in 2025 for an ex-Perkins Spezial-Roadster. The nine-figure headlines that outrank both — $9.68 million in 2011, $11.77 million in 2012 — are 540 Ks, and this catalog keeps them strictly out of 500 K market data. |

| Label | Value |
| --- | --- |
| Built | 342 chassis, 1934–36 |
| Coachwork | Sindelfingen Sonderwagenbau, to order |
| Survivors | 7 original short-tail Spezial-Roadsters |
| Engineering | Hans Nibel † 1934 · Max Sailer |
| Styling | Hermann Ahrens · Friedrich Geiger |

## Technical specifications

### The Kompressor eight

| Label | Value | Note |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Engine | M 24 I straight-eight, 5'018 cc | updraught twin carburettor with a switchable Roots blower upstream — floor the throttle and a clutch pack engages the compressor; it is not continuously blown |
| Output | 100 PS unblown, 160 PS at 3'400 rpm | any 180-hp print on a 500 K lot is the later 540 K rating leaking in |
| Gearbox | 4-speed with Schnellgang fourth | a clutchless overdrive top gear — the true five-speed belongs to the 1939 540 K |
| Performance | 160 km/h factory | 27 litres per 100 km, a 110-litre tank; The Autocar in 1936 measured its awe rather than its numbers |

### Chassis and coachwork

| Label | Value | Note |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Suspension | All-independent, coils all round | Nibel's double wishbones ahead, double-coil swing axle behind — inherited from the Type 380 and patented by Daimler-Benz |
| Brakes | Hydraulic, vacuum servo | roughly 370-mm drums, 12-volt electrics, central lubrication — sold as an owner-driver's car for the new Autobahn |
| Chassis | 3'290-mm wheelbase, 2'300 kg kerb | short 2'980-mm frame under some bodies; the 2'700-kg figure often quoted is gross weight, not kerb |
| Bodies | Eight catalogued styles, built to order | Cabriolet A/B/C, Tourenwagen, coupés, roadsters and the streamlined Autobahn-Kurier — the Spezial-Roadster the most expensive of all |

## The people behind the car

### Hans Nibel

Technical director · Daimler-Benz

Porsche's successor from 1929; the 380's all-independent coil-sprung chassis that the 500 K inherited is his. Died at Stuttgart station in November 1934, in the car's first production year.

### Max Sailer

Head of design office from 1935 · Daimler-Benz

The former works driver oversaw the house through the 540 K changeover and the supercharged era's maturity.

### Hermann Ahrens

Head of Sonderwagenbau · Daimler-Benz Sindelfingen

Hired from Horch in 1932 by plant director Wilhelm Haspel to run the special-body shop; every 380, 500 K, 540 K and Großer Mercedes body was built under his direction.

### [Friedrich Geiger](https://hiconium.dev/people/friedrich-geiger)

Spezial-Roadster stylist · Daimler-Benz Sindelfingen

Drew the most expensive 500 K body as a young man on Ahrens's team — twenty years later he shaped the 300 SL.

### Rudolf Caracciola

Works driver · Daimler-Benz

His one-off closed Special Coupé, chassis 113718, surfaced unrestored in the Rudi Klein junkyard collection and brought $4.13 million in 2024.

## Member instruments

A HICON Bid is a confidential expression of buying interest on this file. It is not a binding purchase, and HICONIUM holds no funds. [Sign in](https://hiconium.dev/sign-in) to place one. Garage files for an owned chassis are member records and are not listed here. [How membership works](https://hiconium.dev/membership).