The 540K was shown at the 1936 Paris Motor Show. It was the high point of pre-war Mercedes grandeur: a flagship built to special order for royalty, industrialists and film stars. Under its very long hood sat a 5.4-litre straight-eight with a Roots-type supercharger. Flooring the throttle engaged the "Kompressor" with a distinctive wail, raising output from 115 hp to 180 hp on demand.
That was enough to make the 540K the fastest production car of its era, at nearly 110 mph. It had servo-assisted hydraulic brakes. Around 419 were built through 1939, with bodies of extraordinary beauty. The rarest and most sought-after are the 25 Special Roadsters, sweeping two-seaters that are now among the most valuable cars in the world; one sold for over $7 million.
The 540K remains the main symbol of Mercedes' golden age of the 1930s.