By Jay Hirsch
The 1936 Mercedes 500 K “Special” Roadster seen here began four decades ago in the boyhood dreams of a young Craig Hopkins. Craig loved fabulous coach built cars of the 1930s and those by Mercedes Benz in particular. One day Craig said he would have a 1930s Mercedes roadster and not a “kit car.”
In 2011 Craig saw an ad for a 500K/540K coachwork. The difference between a 500K and a 540K is the size of the engine, not a difference in bodies. The 500K was a 5-liter engine and the 540K was a 5.4 liter engine. The person who bought a 500K bought a chassis with the drivetrain for the car—motor, brakes, engine, transmission. This chassis was then sent to a coach builder of the customers choice or one that Mercedes worked with.
The body on this 500 was created by Cass Nawrocki, a Polish immigrant who escaped Communist Poland and settled in Detroit and was known world wide by Mercedes Benz devotees of the 500K and 540K. Nawrocki had the wooden bucks, templates, and the knowledge to fabricate entire bodies as they were in the 1930s.
Nawrocki had a body on which he was working when the client stopped sending the money owed for it. Craig saw an ad by Nawrocki for this body and, not really knowing what he was getting into, agreed to buy the unfinished body in 2011, even though he did not have a chassis to install it on or a motor to power it. As Craig would say, “I jumped into water, not really knowing how to swim” This was also the last body Nawrocki would make before retiring.
Craig then set out looking for a cabriolet which needed restoring to use that chasis for the roadster body by Nawrocki. If he could not find a 1934–1936 Mercedes cabriolet that needed restoring, he was thinking of putting the roadster body on a modern chassis with the benefit of new, modern mechanical components. About six months after agreeing with Nawrocki to complete the work on the roadster body, an original chassis and motor came up for auction. The original cabriolet body on this car was completely destroyed in WWII. The chassis needed much metal work and the engine had a hole in the block. All repairable if one had a blank check. But more importantly the roadster body would be on a 1936 chassis with an original motor. What started as boyhood fantasy began turning into a “teenager’s reality,” even if that teenage was no longer chronologically a teen.
Craig participated in the auction online as a phone bidder. Craig had a maximum amount set in his mind, and fortunately his maximum was the final and winning bid.
Now the 500K was really a step back in time to the 1930s. There were no manufacturer codes as to color, interior, etc. The owner bought the chassis and then decided on a body, the kind and color of interior, and the color of the car.
Craig turned body and chassis over to Mercedes restorer Jim Friswold of Oregon. Over the next six years “original parts” were searched for. As for body and trim parts, much had to be fabricated since the original roadster bodies were hand-made and no two were exactly alike. That glorious Mercedes radiator with its majestic Silver Star above it has 10,000 tubes. You do not buy that at Autozone. Some of the parts that people said “were for your car” turned out not to be. Jim Friswold and has crew of crafts people did much fabricating to original from copying other restored 500s they have done in the past. The dash and the dials are part of that work.
The final choices for the 500 were esthetic ones. Mercedes Dunklebordeaux (dark burgundy) was chosen for the paint, with tan leather and burgundy piping for the interior.
One of the subtle and unique features of this two-passenger, rumble-seat roadster is the disappearing top. Unlike most European convertible cars of the period, where the top rested above the body of the car, the 500K Spezial has its top neatly stowed away out of sight not interfering with the elegant and sporty lines of the roadster. The spare tire is also hidden from view with its metal cover.
As for the chassis and what powers the 500, the 500K Is 206.5 inches long, 62.5 inches high, and 75 inches wide, riding on a wheelbase of 129.5 inches and weighing in at 5,200 pounds. The inline 5-liter/306.3 cid engine is supercharged, propelling the car from 0-60 in 16.5 seconds with a top speed of 100 mph. In 1936 this was a muscle car! The four-speed manual transmission was center-floor-mounted. The four-wheel independent suspension had 7.50 x 17 tires to ride on. All 500s had advanced safety features for the era, in safety glass, hydraulic brakes, and a 12-volt electric system for the electric wipers, and electric traffic indicators (turn signals).
As for the “K” in 500K, that stands for the word “Kompressor,” which is German for supercharger. There were 58 Mercedes 500K roadsters built between 1934 and 1936. In 1937 Mercedes the 500K became a 540K a 5.4 liter engine.
This 500 has been at the Amelia Island Concours, Monterey Concours, the La Jolla California Concours, Hilton Head, and Keels and Wheels Concours in Houston •
