Remember that infamous 1939 Mercedes-Benz 770K Grosser Offener Tourenwagen parade car we told you was up for auction a couple of months ago? The armored-plated one that was formerly owned by none other than Adolph Hitler?
Well, according to the Seattle Times, it was spotted recently in a neighborhood in Medina, Wash., a wealthy enclave home to the likes of Bill Gates and Jeff Bezos. It's the same Tourenwagen, license plate "1A 148 461," that went on the block back in January in Scottsdale at Worldwide Auctioneers.
The car didn't sell, having attracted a $7 million bid that didn't meet the anonymous seller's undisclosed minimum price, the Arizona Republic reported.
Jessi Sites, who lives in Medina, told the Times she spotted two men unloading the car from a truck. They started it, and she described it as loud. She has seen trucks unloading other collector cars in the same spot, which is near a school. The truck was also carrying another vehicle in the back, which was covered up.
One of the principals at Worldwide Auctioneers, Rod Egan, told the paper there was a deal pending for the limousine shortly after the Jan. 17 auction, but he couldn't disclose the buyer or sale price because of a nondisclosure agreement. "The end destination is not in this country," he said. "It's far, far away." It's possible the two men had unloaded it to drop off the second car being carried by the truck.
Equipped with a supercharged 7.7-liter inline-8-cylinder engine that makes 230 horsepower, the 770K is one of just 88 that were ever produced by Mercedes. Five are reportedly still around, three of them (including this one) in private ownership. An auction sale would've generated a 10 percent share for the Simon Wiesenthal Center to support Holocaust education. Many people believe the vehicle belongs in a museum.
It was commissioned for Hitler's chauffeur, SS officer Erich Kempka, and was used to ferry visiting dignitaries and for Nazi Party parades between 1939 and 1941. It was fitted with armor plating on the sides and bottom, with a bullet-resistant windshield, among other ghastly historical anomalies. And now, who knows when it might pop up again.
Related Video:
Hitler’s 1939 Mercedes 770K limo spotted in tony Seattle suburb originally appeared on Autoblog on Thu, 08 Mar 2018 16:35:00 EST.
