Lot 145, Featured at the Paris Auto Show Ex-Richard Croxton Adams, 1935 Mercedes-Benz 500 K Cabriolet. Coachwork by Carrosserie J. Saoutchik. Chassis no. 123696. Engine no. 102405.38 123696. Estimate €6 million - 7 million (£4.6 million - 5.4 million). Photo: Bonhams.

5,018cc OHV Supercharged Inline 8-Cylinder Engine
100bhp or 160bhp with Supercharger Engaged
4-Speed Manual Transmission
4-Wheel Independent Suspension 
4-Wheel Servo-Assisted Hydraulic Drum Brakes

Exquisite and rare coachwork by one of the world's most coveted coachbuilders
Sumptuous body with unique sculptural beltline - a signature Saoutchik design 
Unique one-off car with huge presence and 
Continuous history and chain of ownership

THE MERCEDES-BENZ 500 K

Designed for the network of high-speed Autobahns that was spreading across Germany in the 1930s, the Mercedes-Benz 500K represented the ultimate in automotive engineering in its day. The model was a development of the supercharged Kompressor line that had begun with the 380K of 1932. It was an exclusive and powerful chassis aimed at an equally exclusive and powerful clientele. Soon to become legend, the 500K was introduced in 1934 and only 354 chassis were built of all styles before the model was superseded by the 540K in 1936.

CARROSSERIE SAOUTCHIK

Having fled the pogroms in White Russia, Jacques Saoutchik arrived penniless in Paris in the winter of 1899. In 1906, he opened his carrosserie and quickly ascended from being a mere coachbuilder to becoming the purveyor of the most exquisite coachwork that money could buy. Customers were everything from the glittering socialites, artists, demimondes and couturiers, who populated the chic salons of Paris, to royalty and heads of state.

Jacques Saoutchik was a carpenter by trade, and Saoutchik bodies were noted for an almost excessive quality of workmanship and the beauty of the interior marquetry. After the First World War, Saoutchik developed and patented elegant convertible top mechanisms, including tops that disappeared completely into the bodywork. 

Paris in the mid-1930s was an endless pursuit of elegance, a merry-go-round of the rich and famous, where a body by Saoutchik was not merely seen as an expression of wealth and possessing the necessary social graces. The owner of luxury chassis equipped with a Saoutchik body signaled that mere good taste did not suffice. Arriving at Chez Maxim's or The Ritz in an automobile by Saoutchik meant instant acceptance at the highest levels of chic Parisian society.

THE MOTOR CAR OFFERED

Mercedes-Benz 500 K chassis 123696 was delivered just in time as a bare chassis to Mercedes-Benz Paris on 1 October 1935, where it was displayed at the Paris Salon which ran from 3 - 13 October. For the show, the factory had performed extra chroming, polishing and preparation of the chassis. Dr. Charles Crocker, out of a wealthy California banking family, attended the Salon with a friend, Mr. Lawrence Copley Thaw. In a friendly "duel" to outdo each another, Thaw bought a Rolls-Royce chassis, and Crocker bought the specially prepared 500 K chassis off the Mercedes-Benz stand.

Dr. Crocker then sent chassis 123696 to the Carrosserie J. Saoutchik, and it is reported in family correspondence that Jacques Saoutchik told Crocker that he would build a body for the Mercedes that would be "as handsomely received half a century from now as it will today." Dr. Crocker stayed in Europe to monitor the design and construction of the car, and then brought it to San Francisco, where it remained in the Crocker family until 1959.

Scott Newhall, Executive Editor of the San Francisco Chronicle, acquired it that year from the Crocker Estate and enjoyed the car over the next four years. In the mid-1960s, he sold 123696 to Robert Burkholder, a San Francisco investment executive, who often referred to it as the "magnificent vehicle". In early 1967, inventor and real estate investor Richard C. Adams acquired the car from Burkholder and brought it to San Diego, where it remained for the next 22 years. In the summer of 1989, this astonishing automobile was sold to the present owner from the Adams Estate. Although 123696 has been restored, the car remains complete and authentic, down to the exquisite Art Deco vanity set lodged in the instrument panel.

The style is signature Saoutchik. It is an important masterclass example of what Jacques was doing on his most flamboyant styles in 1935 - 1936, where the contrast color on the hood flowed into a free-form sculpture on the side of the car. The concept is congruent with a famous 1935 Saoutchik Hispano-Suiza K6 (chassis 15060) known as La Rognon, which featured a different but aesthetically similar sculptured beltline and side treatment. As opposed to the Hispano, the side sculpture on the Mercedes is further echoed and enhanced as painted scallops on the fender-sides and the striking side-mount casing. It is an artistic and playful expression of the carrosserie as a canvas where the coachbuilder can exercise his artistic vision. 

Idiosyncratic and dramatic, this rare survivor appeals to the sophisticated collector who can understand and appreciate how positively special the coachwork is. 123696 is a truly remarkable French car from the 1930s – an automobile which could only have come into being in Paris, the city of light and the epicenter of modern art at the time. The body is unlike anything else, it is mounted on an important specially prepared chassis and has not been shown for many years. 123696 will be a sensation, should the new owner choose to return the car to the limelight.

Bonhams. THE MERCEDES-BENZ SALE, 14:30 CET - STUTTGART, MERCEDES-BENZ MUSEUM

Featured at the Paris Auto Show Ex-Richard Croxton Adams, 1935 Mercedes-Benz 500 K Cabriolet. Coachwork by Carrosserie J. Saoutchik. Chassis no. 123696. Engine no. 102405.38 123696. Estimate €6 million - 7 million (£4.6 million - 5.4 million). Photo: Bonhams.