Mercedes Benz 540K

[Jim Gibbons]

I have a few Mercedes Benz 540K models in the queue. One of them is the Testors/Italeri Cabriolet B. It's actually my favorite body style of the 540Ks; not so flamboyant as the other versions. It's the "practical" 540K. I'm considering building it as the one that is in the movie "Sound of Music." Laugh if you must, but I like old musicals. The movie car is a bit boring colorwise (black all around,) but it'll make a neat kit, and I'll include the appropriate 1938-39 Austrian license plates.

My question to you knowledgeable classic car folks, is do you know what happened to that particular car, and does it appear now as it did 46 years ago? You might have access to old auction files, etc. I did numerous web searches and came up empty. It's not a deal killer; if I can't find pics of that particular car, I'll "fudge" the actual dash finish, etc. There's a few pics of it, and I can always get the movie to narrow down a few particulars. Here's a few pics of the movie car. Thanks in advance for any info I might receive. As an aside, I've had a nearly lifelong thing going for Charmian Carr, who played Liesl. Sigh. May she forever be 16 going on 17. The least I can do is to build a model of the car she rode in!

[Jim Gibbons]

After posting this topic, I had to dredge up my Renwal 540K. Yes, Renwal 1/48 models qualify as those kits you love to hate. I love them. Here's some pics:

I wish some of them were still available.

[Mike Kucaba]

You might try searching the movie on IMD? I was curious about the mansion in the Godfather,and the compound in Godfather II and found leads to links on both.

[Jim Gibbons]

I have to add another question to you knowledgeable folks; I've been studying the movie pictures, and the bumper "pads" if that's what they were, seem to be missing on the movie car. Does anyone know if they were an option or not? I suspect that the car used for the movie got a quick "restoration" to the point that if the pads were dry rotted and removed, foil or a quick refinish was used to cover things. I've never seen a 540K pic with featureless bumpers. I guess I'm going to have to do some serious sanding if I want to replicate the movie car.

[Jim Gibbons]

You might try searching the movie on IMD? I was curious about the mansion in the Godfather,and the compound in Godfather II and found leads to links on both.

That's where I got the movie pics of the 540K. I was watching the movie on Easter Sunday, and there's one scene that gives a decent view of the seats. My first impression was that they were deep brown/maroon, but that could also be the film print's color profile. What the heck; I'll build it as close as I can.

[Junkman]

The number plate of the car as pictured is pre-war, issued between 1930 and 1939, so it is consistent with the age of the car and could well be its original license. The D was issued by Salzburg, which is consistent with the filming location at Lake Wolfgang, which is in the Salzburg district. But since the film was made in 1965, this would indicate that the car was either not registered when the filming was done, and hadn't been since at least 1947, when the new Austrian licensing system was introduced, or the contemporary license plate was removed and substituted with a pre-war one for the filming.

The Austrian licensing system between 1930 and 1939 worked as follows:

* A Wien (Vienna)

* B Niederösterreich (Lower Austria)

* C Oberösterreich (Upper Austria)

* D Salzburg

* E Tirol (Tyrol)

* F Kärnten (Carinthia)

* H Steiermark (Styria - native home of Arnold Schwarzenegger)

* K Graz

* L Linz

* M Burgenland

* V Wien (Vienna again. 'V' was assigned in 1938, but rendered obsolete almost immediately due to the German annexation. Very few 'V' plates were hence ever issued).

* W Vorarlberg (Rhaetian Alps)

So it's 'D' for Salzburg, followed by the number indicating the licensing authority. 8 is Strobl, which again is consistent with the filming location in and around St. Wolfgang. This car was apparently registered new in the area. The rest of the license is then a sequential three-digit number unique for the car.

As for the condition of the car, please keep in mind:

- Very few cars survived the war. Most had been recruited by the Wehrmacht and were subsequently destroyed or damaged beyond repairability. That includes many high end cars like a 540K. Furthermore, lots of the surviving high-end cars were then purchased by members of the allied forces and brought abroad. Old luxury cars were the last thing required by a starved post-war population and often changed hands merely for provisions. How this particular car escaped both those fates is a total mystery to me.

- There was no real classic car movement in the Sixties and before. These cars had no real value and whoever tinkered around with them was considered an eccentric.

- There was no spare parts availability. No industry catered for the classic car enthusiast yet. Original parts had mostly been used up by the war effort. Hence, a lot was improvised or replaced with makeshift or non-authentic parts, so most vintage cars would not be accurate in all details.

The whereabouts of this particular car are obscure. At the time of the filming, it belonged to a local funeral director who let the filming crew use it without charging them a Schilling. The car was later sold to local builder/contractor Matula and I remember seeing the car frequently as a kid. Mr. Matula had an extensive Mercedes collection and also owned a Riva motorboat on Lake Wolfgang. When I moved away from the area in the early Eighties, he still owned the car. The construction company still exists, but I doubt the old man is still alive. I have no idea what his successors did with his car collection. One thing is for sure though. Nobody would have scrapped a car like this from the Eighties onwards.

Edited April 26, 2011 by Junkman

[Junkman]

Also note that the car is right-hand-drive. Up until the German annexation in 1938, when right hand traffic was universally introduced, this was not consistent in Austria. Some of the federal states had right hand traffic, some not. Salzburg was left hand traffic.

[sjordan2]

I have a book with Mercedes factory photos, some of which you'll see below for the Cabriolet B. It shows that 540K bumpers came in many different shapes, with and without rubber bumper pads (though most of the shots I've seen have them). A great source for nice 5450K shots in general is at http://www.schlegelmilch.com/archive/index.php

You'll need to register there (free) to get the most out of the images. Just select make and model from the menu to get a gallery of the car you want to see.

One thing I might add is a bit of detail that most modelers overlook: Mercedes wire wheels typically had usually 6 wheel weight cylinders evenly distributed around the rims, with the tire valve in 7th position. This detail really dresses up a model.

I also noted that the movie car has a flagpole on the right fender, which I assume was for state functions, ID of the rank of the passenger, maybe a Nazi flag, parades, etc.

Edited April 26, 2011 by sjordan2

[sjordan2]

Here's a clean but not very detailed build of the Italeri kit. I noted that the movie car has a straighter front bumper and no horns on the headlight mounting bar. He also didn't bother to paint the hubcaps properly. Hmmm - it also appears the model is RHD, like the movie car.

Edited April 26, 2011 by sjordan2

[Junkman]

I also noted that the movie car has a flagpole on the right fender, which I assume was for state functions, ID of the rank of the passenger, maybe a Nazi flag, parades, etc.

A car like this would most probably have been owned by a very high ranking public figure or an authority. Austria was a bitterly poor country following WW1 until well into the Fifties, so in the late Thirties there were few private people outside the industrial centres who were in the financial position to buy a 540K. The car was most certainly used for official purposes and those were inevitably Nazi between 1938 and 1945.

[Jim Gibbons]

I KNEW that this was the right place for information. Christian, that's very cool that you saw the car in person. I had done some research on prewar Austrian license plates and knew some of the area letter codes, but I appreciate the additional info.

Skip, thanks for the link. Yes, I plan to paint the wheel weights! Only the Germans would do that kind of over-engineering. The model you posted, I had also found the link. He did a clean build, but as you said, neglected some important detailing. I guess I'll scratchbuilt the bumpers to reflect the movie car. I will also include the flagpole.

My original intent was to finish it in a two tone similar to the CMC 540K diecasts. However, on Sunday, I watched "Sound of Music" again, and this time paid attention to the cars. When I saw the movie 540K was RHD, as is the kit, that started me thinking. Now all I need is a resin Von Trapp family!

[Junkman]

Now all I need is a resin Von Trapp family!

There you go :

http://ep.yimg.com/ca/I/timespacetoys_2150_66682119

[sjordan2]

PS- In most cases, the wheel weights should be an aluminum color. Some of them seem to be visible in your movie stills.

This is a 1933 710 SS wheel (which actually shows 7 weights plus the valve stem)

This is for a rolls Phantom II, where they were also noticeable on exposed wire wheels, though they typically used far fewer and by this time were often hidden by full wheel covers to limit dust and mud on the wires.

Edited April 26, 2011 by sjordan2

[Harry P.]

Seven weight stacks and the valve stem centered between two of them.

[sjordan2]

Can you imagine what a job it must have been to determine how many slugs to load in each one of them?

[Harry P.]

Can you imagine what a job it must have been to determine how many slugs to load in each one of them?

That would be the German mechanic's problem, not the owner...

[sjordan2]

That would be the German mechanic's problem, not the owner...

Of course, the owner has to PAY the German mechanic...Let's see..how many Rentenmarks (or more valuable loaves of bread) would that be?

Edited April 26, 2011 by sjordan2