I've been doing a lot of research over the past year or so to help with my Jo-Han 1935 Mercedes 500K, and pictures are as rare as this one-off car itself. It was originally built by Mercedes as a gift for their #1 race driver, Rudi Caracciola. Then it was bought by Benito Mussolini as a gift for his nephew (whom he later had executed). It eventually passed into the hands of a zillionaire butcher named Rudi Klein, who had it restored in 1965. When it failed to start after a 1980 Newport Beach show, he put it into a garage at his exotic car salvage yard in South Central L.A., and it hasn't been seen since except by a couple of people. His eccentric heirs won't let anyone near it. The Mercedes Classic Center even offered to restore it for free, but they wouldn't agree. It is the subject of an article in the February issue of Town & Country magazine, which states that it now sits on flattened tires, covered with 30 years of grime, perhaps never to see the light of day again. It has been estimated that this could be the most valuable Mercedes in history.
The kit...
The original car as built for Caracciola...
The car as restored in 1965...
...and its current home in South Central L.A., next to some roadside taco stands.