Mercedes-Benz Sport Sedan · 500 K / 540 K

W29

Kompressor road rockets — the 500 K and 540 K.

Production
1934–1939
Built
661
Body
Sport
Chassis
W29
Mercedes-Benz Sport Sedan (W29)

Supercharger engagement transformed the 500 K and 540 K from stately tourers into something altogether more urgent — the Kompressor Spezial-Roadsters that remain among the most coveted pre-war Mercedes ever built.

Beneath the long bonnets sat straight-eight engines with Roots-type superchargers, the 500 K arriving in 1934 and the 540 K refining the formula from 1936 with greater displacement and output. Sindelfingen coachwork ranged from formal cabriolets to the dramatic Spezial-Roadster bodies drawn under Friedrich Geiger — each chassis a canvas for bespoke craftsmanship rather than mass production.

Between 1934 and 1939 Mercedes-Benz built 661 cars on the W29 chassis: 342 as the 500 K and 319 as the 540 K. They were never numerous, but their influence on Mercedes styling and supercharged performance mythology far outlasted the handful that survive.

W29 interior
Cabin details of the W29, as preserved in period photography.

Every model.

2 distinct series across 1934–1939 — each identified by its chassis and engine numbers from period factory data.

ModellModelljahreBaumusterMotorGetriebeGesamt
Type 500 K1934–19362924 I342
Type 540 K1936–19392924 II319

* Die veröffentlichte Produktionszahl umfasst alle Serien dieses Modells; die Quelle schlüsselt sie nicht weiter auf.

W29 side profile
Studio profile of the W29 — the proportions that defined this chassis.
W29 rear three-quarter view
Rear three-quarter view of the W29.

Engines.

The M24 as fitted to the W29.

M24

Inline-8
  • 24 I 5.0 L · 5,018 cc

    162 PS

    119 kW · 160 hp bei 3,400 U/min

  • 24 II 5.4 L · 5,401 cc

    182 PS

    134 kW · 180 hp bei 3,400 U/min

    431 N·m

    318 lb·ft bei 2,200 U/min