In 1955 a Mercedes-Benz 770 purported to have belonged to Adolph Hitler toured Montana. As a 10-year-old I saw it in Glasgow. I remember it being inside a tractor trailer rig. The space was cramped, so I didn’t get much of a look. I was curious and just starting to learn about Hitler and the war. It seemed like the car just another war trophy, like the German helmet one of my friends brought to class one day. I was disappointed that it wasn’t full of bullet holes.
Years later, I became both a history nut and a car buff. I sometimes wondered about the Hitler car. It seemed odd that it had simply disappeared from the Earth. Perhaps it had been some huckster’s way of making a buck off a sad chapter in world history.
I recently viewed a documentary about that very same car on Motor Trend TV. The episode was called “The Case of Hitler’s Mercedes” and was part of the Autobiography series.
Turns out the car is real, but the story was a bit flawed. In 1941, Hitler was trying to curry favor with Finnish military commander and future President Carl Gustaf Emil Mannerheim. He had the massive 10,000 lb. bullet-proof car built for Mannerheim. Then he personally inspected and delivered the car to Mannerheim in a secret meeting on Finish soil in 1942. (Hitler actually rode in the car that day.)
Hitler managed to get his alliance with the beleaguered Finns. They had just fought a war with Russia in the Winter of 1939-40 where they had lost some territory in spite of their heroic defense. The Finns felt compelled to enter into an unholy alliance with the Germans to regain their lost territory and prevent further Russian aggression.
with the custom Mercedes (Right). June 4, 1942
By the end of the war, Mannerhem was President of Finland and saw his Nazi parade car as a political liability. He sold it to someone in Sweden who sent it to America in 1948 to pay off a debt.
The new owner and his successor took the car on money-raising tour s for many years. Eventually, the car lost its public appeal. It was sold to a collector who stored it for decades. In 1984, Major General William Lyon bought the car. After a decades long restoration, it was then displayed at the Lyon Air Museum in Southern California. Ironically it was displayed with a six-wheel 1939 Mercedes-Benz Model G4 Offener Touring car which was frequently used by Hitler. (I am not sure where the Mannerheim car is now, as it is no longer listed on the museum website.)
From The Sidney Herald, June 9, 1955
Hitler’s Car Here Sunday, June 12
Adolph Hitler’s personal armored automobile, the “Great Mercedes,” built especially for the Nazi tyrant, is continuing a national tour of America, and will be presented in Sidney Sunday, June 12, 1955, sponsored by the Richland Post No. 12, American Legion.
Following the custom of dictators, Hitler demanded the biggest and best for himself. The actual cost of building this car is inestimable, as the Mercedes-Benz plant in Stuttgart, Germany, at that time, used slave labor. In size, it is a monstrosity, but mechanically, a beauty. It is twenty feet
long and weighs ten thousand pounds, which includes two thousand pounds of 1/2 inch steel armor plate, and 1 1/4 nch bullet proof glass windows and wind shield. The doors weigh 400 lbs. each. Cruising speed is 90 miles per hour, and with the super charger it will do better than 135 mph. The capacity of the fuel tank is 56 gallons and the car gets 3-4 miles per gallon of gasoline.
Compared to styles in this country today, the car is in the freak class, and must be seen to be appreciated. It was the pride and joy of “der Fuehrer” and was the official state car for special occasions, such as his entry into a newly conquered city. Since he stood to receive the “Heils,” it
was made with a convertible top, and with the right front seat, which he used, folding back out of the way. The floor boards on the right front side are higher than the boards on the rest of the car. This gave Hitler the appearance of being a taller man.
Fate has deemed that the very object of Hitler’s folly is
used by people he hoped to conquer, to raise funds for useful purposes, and not for conquest.
The exhibit will be located at Central and Main St. and open to the public from noon to 6 pm. Sunday. Proceeds to go for Jr. Legion baseball.
More on the Mannerheim car and it’s Hitler connection: Hitler’s car exerts grim fascination even if it just gave the Führer a lift to the airport | Second world war | The Guardian
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