M24

Unveiled in Berlin in February 1934 as successor to the SS and SSK, the 500 K put an overhead-valve straight-eight onto the chassis the Typ 380 had proved. The Roots blower was engaged rather than permanent: 100 PS breathing normally, 160 PS once the driver pushed the pedal through its detent, which made boost a deliberate act rather than a state of tune. Paris in October 1936 brought the 540 K, the same engine opened to 5.4 liters and 180 PS blown, pulling two and a half tonnes to 170 km/h.

Only 342 of the 500 K and 419 of the standard 540 K were built, and the bodies mattered more than the numbers — a 1936 540 K Spezial-Roadster made $11.77 million at auction in 2012. The same engine had a second and far less romantic career. It hauled the three-axle G4 staff car, judged too expensive for the army at 57 built and used instead by the Nazi leadership for parades and annexations, and in 1943–44 it was buried in twenty armored 540 K saloons produced under the Reich Chancellery's Aktion P, cars so heavy they would manage only 80 km/h.