Might have mentioned the Mercedes 770K in California was the basis for a scene in the comedy film “Rat Race.” In the movie it was identified as Austrian German moustache man’s car.
King Faruk of Egypt forbade his subjects to own red cars, I didn't know this, but it maes sense, it was rumored that a certain future king of the US planned to forbid American from owning orange cars. I wish Mark would report on this historical issue.
@@elchapito4580 you also probably need to edit "Library of Congress Everyday Mysteries Motor Vehicles, Aeronautics, Astronautics" because they say Carl was the first to invent and patent a gasoline powered car. boy, you gonna be busy rewriting history
You didn’t mention the Mercedes that Hitler gave to Stalin before the war. It’s an interesting story on how they smuggled it out of the Soviet union in the 70s. They were going to mail it out piece by piece, but just drove it across the border-with the border guard thinking that it was a very important person driving.
It was not a gift to Stalin from Hitler, that story was a fabrication. It was hidden in Russia during the war and smuggled out, but the Stalin connection is false.
When Germany accidentally bombed the north strand in Dublin in WW2, Eamon DeValera complained to Germany and Hitler sent some cars in kit form to Ireland by way of apology. They were purchased by The O’Flaherty brothers, assembled and sold. They then through these connections secured the VW and Mercedes rights for Ireland and still to this day have the sole distribution rights for MB in Ireland. They even had an assembly plant in Dublin producing VW beetles and still operate their corporate offices from that same building. Edit - I should add here that the connections were the Irish government in post war Europe who had a good relationship with Germany.
John did you know about the book on the o flattery group. It was an in house publication about the group that was not on general release in the book shops. I wonder is it possible to buy a copy of this book anywhere
@@williambinions4205 hi William, I did hear of it and I worked for them at the time however I never received a copy. Interestingly I heard that story while sitting in a Mercedes gullwing in their private museum in the centre of the factory. Amazing collection of cars.
You should have gone more in dept about Franco`s car. It was used until he died in 1975 and even American Presidents had the opportunity to get a ride across Madrid on Hitlers chariot.
As an Egyptian who is very much involved in vintage and classic cars within my country, I thank you Mr Felton for this nice well researched and compiled work. Adding to your story about Farouk's 540K, it is now located in the UK after having spent a number of years after being restored in a musuem in South Africa. You will also have noticed that one image you shared in the video is of a 770 armoured grosser aswell, there were a couple of other 770s but non armoured nor convertibles owned by the Egyptian royal family. It is well known that Farouk enjoyed pissing off the British occupation at the time by showing up in official meetings with his Mercedes Benz, giving hints to his friendly relationship with the Nazi leadership at the time. Thank you Mark. Keep the amazing videos coming
He also gave King Ghazi I of Iraq two Mercedes cars, which are still in their original, and it was kept since the death of the King in 1939. I have seen both in Baghdad 2015. One of them is similar to the car of the Shah of Iran that you talked about
As a norwegian, I am ashamed to hear that we scrapped that mercedes, although I can fully understand why since everyone wanted to move on from the 5 year long Nazi occupation although had it remained today, it would definetly have been bought/set on public display once news came out. Another great video Mark! 🇳🇴
My grandfather, who was in his late teens when the war ended, often talked about how annoyed he was that pretty much everything owned by Germans were scrapped after the occupation ended. I distinctly remember him complaining about how they once took hundreds of perfectly good bikes and simply scrapped them because they had been used by German soldiers. He felt that they should have simply removed any Nazi symbols and given them to children instead, but the masses were in a destructive mood so they were all destroyed. I completely understand his frustrations, but I do find it a bit amusing that he was grumbling about this more than half a century after the fact.
Hi Dr. Felton! I'm a British-Iranian and a big fan of your WW2 videos. In this video there is a mistake about Shah of Iran. The Shah who received the gifted Merc from Hitler was Reza Shah ( emperor Reza) and not the last Shah of Iran that you showed his picture in this video ( emperor Muhammad Reza). In 1934 the last Shah was a teenager crown prince but it was his father, Reza Shah, who developed a relationship with Hitler and the Nazi Germany. Reza Shah started as a soldier and advanced to end up as a Shah so like all the old soldiers he was a horse enthusiast and never showed any special interest in cars. His son ( the last Shah) of course was a car enthusiast and owned a big collection of luxury and premium brands as well. Thanks for very informative videos.
Beside the fact that you are able to pull together all this information and photos, which would probably take someone else years, I am amazed you can pronounce all the different car owner's names from various languages so well. Kudos to you Mark Felton another great video.
Another interesting one to add: on his surprise visit to Finland on Mannerheim's birthday in 1942, among Hitler's presents were three Steyr 1500 A Kommandeurwagens. These were afterwards used by Mannerheim on his inspection trips to the front. Nowadays only one of the three survives, painted red, as it was repurposed and used as a fire truck by the Mäntsälä fire department in the 1950s. In that role it was reportedly aptly nicknamed "the hitler of Mäntsälä." :D
In the spirit of one-upmanship, my grandfather gifted me a Merkur Scorpio when I graduated high school. Before you ask, yes it had historic plates on it. It gave me several hundred miles of joy and likely tetanus.
I can't imagine the number of hours of research you do for each and every video Dr. Felton. I am impressed as always. I would like to one day shake your hand.
In 1973 when I was 21 years old, I had the opportunity to buy a Mercedes 550 SS Cabriolet for 50 thousand dollars. Unfortunately, as a 21 year old I didn't have that kind of money and 50k in 1973 could buy a house. It was the one that got away as it is worth a million or more dollars today. Such is life.
Mannerheim was not the leader of Finland, he was the commander of Finnish army. 100% different thing. The leader of the nation is seen on the video next to Mannerheim: president Ryti, in civilian outfit.
@@janelavie4115 Huh? Then I'm remembering it wrong. Maybe it was the parlament elections, that were the first peacetime ww2 something something... I remember reading about some Finnish elections, that were first in the ww2 end stages, from the Korkeajännitys info pages.
Portugal has a funny story about a 770. Our, at the time dictator, Salazar suffered a bomb attempt and in 1937 the Secret Police ordered, without consulting him, 2 Mercedes 770 Großer. When the cars arrived he refused to use them because he though it was a gift from Hitler.
I remember as a youngster, the WW2 vets of my family were very vocal about the Mercedes-Benz company, among others, were associated with nazism in their minds, therefore, never to be bought or celebrated in any way. I can see how after the war, the gifts were toxic, to those who survived.
@@dale5495 Bayer aspirin name was only spoken with venom in the voice, and that continued until their death. As a child, I didn't understand, as an adult (senior) learning about the history not taught in schools, I now understand the vets anger.
My grandfather made guests park any German car "out back" because he didn't want it seen in his driveway. Other than that, he was a super nice guy, and to be fair, he was a ww2 vet that lost friends and family in the war.
@@GoodForYou4504 YES! I heard that one also. The men and women who served saw things they never spoke of again, suffered losses that left an eternal hole, yet they returned to civilian life and tried to make things better for the rest of us. It is up to us to bear witness, their lives and sacrifices will not be forgotten.
Yours is an underrated comment. It would go like that "TTHHHIIISSS is a 1937 Mercedes-Benz 770K limousine and I'm going to show you its quirks and features. It has among his previous owners so "interesting" people. But now the word to Mark to explain the story of the car."
There some wrong information here. Reza Shah was not fond of cars and did not have a collection of vehicles, you are mixing it up with his son Mohammadreza who had a unique collection of cars. That 540K also has had its color changed and engine removed. The rest of the cars in Iran’s Automotive Museum aren’t just from shah’s personal collection but rather from other people’s too. I suggest you to delve deeper into this topic before settling with surface-level information found on the first page of Google.
Patiala's Maybach remained in the family till well after the war and India's independence. It was eventually gifted, as you noted, by the original recepient's son and successor HH Yadavinder Singh, to a prominent official and family friend one Mathija, who sold it a few years later and eventually it left the shores of India. Fascinating story.
Rolls-Royce Phantom II. 4.3 litre, 30 horsepower, six cylinder engine, with Stromberg downdraft carburettor, can go from zero to 100 kilometres an hour in 12.5 seconds. And I even like the color!
A bit problematic to call Mannerheim as the leader of Finland. He was the supreme commander of our armed forces but there was the president also, Risto Ryti, who was the only president of Finland not being the supreme commander. Mannerheim became president after Ryti´s resignation and in that position he had the both offices as Finnish presidents have. Then he made the peace mentioned.
Hitler also send armoured Mercdes to tsar Boris in Bulgaria. The car arrived at the train station in Sofia in spring of 1943. It was loaded on a separete carriage and was surounded by wooden box. The Mercedes went missing after the invasion of the soviets on 9th September 1944.
THis confuses two Shahs of Iran. Hitler's present was given to Reza Shah Pahlavi who ruled from 1925 until forced to abdicate by the British and USSR in 1941. His son Mohammed Reza Shah then took the throne, and he is the monarch depicted in this video.
A couple of years ago I picked up about 6 Entex plastic car models all of which were models of 40's era cars. Talking with the seller an older gentlemen he said he always liked the style of cars from that era. He went on to say that he once owned, a Horch, that was once owned by Reichsmarschall Herman Goring, he pulled down some photos to prove his ownership. I cannot remember entirely what he said but he bought it from a seller who left it parked in storage. It didn't run when he bought it but it took very little effort to get it back on the road. He very rarely drove it as it attracted a lot of attention and with it's history, notoriety. He eventually sold it to a collector.
as someone who loves cars, especially the 20-40's era, thank you for this. cant fathom that hitler literally gave away such cars , and probably on a regular basis. "hey, here, have a 770k"
The generosity of the Führer is proved beyond any doubt by gifts such as these that he gave ... to not only his own countrymen, but also other important dignitaries and rulers all over the world! Bravo!
The Mercedes Benz 770K in the Canadian War Museum in Ottawa was originally believed to have belonged to Hermann Goring but was subsequently determined to have one of Hitlers own cars.
It was restored in my neighborhood in Toronto, right across the street from my friend's house! (Of course, we were in high school at the time and had no idea until I read about it 10 years ago...). I know it's the same one because of the part you said about Goering! Thanks for verifying!
I loved the story about what Floyd Talbert who was then 1sgt of easy company of the 506th infantry part of the 101st airborne division (Band of brothers fame) did with one of Hitlers cars in may of 1945 when at the eagles nest. Talbert had obtained one of Hitler's 'bulletproof' staff cars but was ordered by higher ups to turn it over not before he conducted an experiment whether or not the windows were bulletproof. His experiment showed that armor-piercing ammo could break the glass.
@@tomhenry897 yeah probably up at a corps level. I think that is how far the request for the car went up to XVIII airborne corps or 1st Allied Airborne army which the 101st was part of so defiantly up at the top I suspect at 1st allied commander. Notably Lewis Breton who had a "party-loving streak"
Goering's Blue Goose Mercedes convertible was taken over by the 101st. There is a bullet mark in one window but it didn't penetrate. The info was that he shot it with a .45 pistol. I saw the car at a show in Michigan.
"Rolls Royce Phantom 2 and I even like the color!" said the Sultan of Hataye in "Indiana and the last crusade" (1989). Look, they were annoying little men, but they had cars and uniforms, beautiful ones.
I intend to buy an E-Klasse Mercedes vey soon. Maybe tomorrow. I am delighted to here that midnight blue is a favourite colour. I will have it in that.
Thank you Mark for mentioning Nepal. Since I am from Kathmandu < Nepal, i never had the knowledge that the Car was here in my city and the history behind it .
It's been amazing how much knowledge I've gained since discovering Your Channel! No matter the content, I'm reminded of how poorly my History Education was presented during my formative years. Having developed the habit of looking to see if You posted a new video every day has changed my daily routine! Thank You, once again, for Your efforts to educate the rest of us. You and Your Team are a Fantastic add to my day.
Wonderful documentary, but I can't believe you missed the most beautiful car of them all, the Mercedes-Benz 540K Spezial Roadster presented by Hitler to King Michael of Romania. One of the most spectacular cars I have ever seen. Saw it gleaming in a Coys of Kensington showroom around a 2005, and a passer-by told me the story. Later I found out that the Spezial Roadstser had been in the Soviet Union (where a huge proportion of supercharged Mercedes of the 1930s ended up). Reduced to a wreck, the car was given a 10,000 hour restoration by Kienle Automobiltechnik. For anyone interested in these cars, the "Mercedes-Benz: The Supercharged 8-Cylinder Cars of the 1930's", by Jan Melin, is the indispensible reference. The author even had the chance to meet Hermann Ahrens, designer of the special coachwork for these astonishing cars, in the late 80s
There is a 1939 770k at the southward car museum in new zealand it was possibly the car Hitler had intended to give to king Edward after the invasion of Britain.
Hi Mark, how are you? In 1934, the great Reza Shah Pahlavi who was the father of the last Shah of Iran Mohammed Reza, was in charge of that country. Mohammad Reza became the Shah in 1941 at the age of 21 after his father the great Reza Shah was forced to flee Iran when the British and the Soviet troops occupied the country. So Hitler's green mercedes was a gift to the great Reza Shah.
Ah Now I know how that old mercedes ended up in the Royalty of Nepal before getting to know it I always wondered that how did that mercedes which I saw in Museum of the Palace during my tour ended up there. Thanks for the Info Mr. Felton
Reminds me of the scene in "Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade" when a Nazi task force, who are searching for the Holy Grail, seek to bribe the sultan of the Republic of Hatay so that they (the task force) may trespass on an area of the land of the sultan/republic. At first the Nazis offer a trunk full of valuable "treasures" which the sultan has no interest in; instead, the sultan eyes one of the cars that the Nazis had arrived in, a Rolls-Royce Phantom II. The sultan, showing off his knowledge of automobile design, describes the vehicle to the head of the Nazi task force (a character named "Donovan") and ending his description with, "...And I even like the color." To which Donovan replies, "The keys are in the ignition."
When no one with money wanted to buy that car because of its history, they should've just gifted it to some random German peasant and told them to have fun with it.
Dr. Felton -- This episode sort of mirrors a scene from an "Indiana Jones" movie where a Moroccan prince is presented, as a bribe, an automobile such as these. At least it "worked" in the movie. 🤨
I love your stories, mr. Felton, but allow me to point out a small error this time. The car at 0:38 is not the first Mercedes. It's the first Benz. The Benz Patent-Motorwagen from 1885-86. The name Mercedes was first officially used on Daimler cars around 1901. Daimler and Benz merged in 1926.
Living in Portugal alentego region in an isolated farm and mansion working for a Spanish millionaire my job was to clean out the barns and garage's wharehouses ,clean up the vehicles and see which would start there must have been about 100 old vintage cars and jeeps,and trucks at the end of my work he showed me a garage with some old vintage cars 30,s and 40,s covered in tarpaulin one of them was a black or dark grey open top Mercedes with swastikas on the side,he told me he couldn't drive it as he smuggled it into the country from Africa
Oh I forgot to say it was in fantastic Condition and run ,I know the millionaire owned land and told me he had buisness,s in Mozambique so don't know if that where the car came from
The Shah of Iran deposed in 1979 did not take the throne until 1941, so it is unlikely that Hitler would have given him a Mercedes seven years earlier. Perhaps his father?
My grandgrandfather was working for Mercedes in 1920-30 also he was a founder of Yugoslavian auto moto sport. He said to my grandfather that he went on meeting when they were making car for the Hitler and Nazis. Nazis wanted to invest in BMW, but on the last meeting sobody said that Hitler should be driven in Mecedes.
To be fair, the autobahn kurier is the only of its kind based on the 500k that survives. There were two of the six that were based on the 540k and one of those survived and in recent years, won honors at the pebble beach concours de elegance.
Thanks a lot for your comment! Now I understand why in Wikipedia's article about National Car Museum of Iran it says that the Autobahn-Kurier is one of the three survivors.
My great uncle was 'forced' into the German army from Latvia. The family stories say he drove German Generals. He was shot in the shoulder. Then he lived in Los Angeles with my Grandparent for years while he got a retirement check from the Germans until he died! I don't know how l could ever check these stories out. His name was Arthurs Velitis.
Maybe about 10 years ago they had a Mercedes’ Benz like one of these with the original light covers for night driving at Larry Anderson shop in Berkeley, it was right out of a barn and was a pristina car seeing one of these in real life really puts perspective on how giant these things are. Very cool video thanks professo
What a great sponsor, i have never seen that, i hope i catches on! Yes the video was also your excellent quality…as usual. I never understood the concept of an armored convertible….. 👍👍😄
Go to tryfum.com/MARKFELTON and use code MARKFELTON to save an additional 10% off your order today.
Might have mentioned the Mercedes 770K in California was the basis for a scene in the comedy film “Rat Race.” In the movie it was identified as Austrian German moustache man’s car.
🙃🙃🙃🙂🙂
King Faruk of Egypt forbade his subjects to own red cars, I didn't know this, but it maes sense, it was rumored that a certain future king of the US planned to forbid American from owning orange cars. I wish Mark would report on this historical issue.
*Germany has NOT "invented the car". How about getting your facts right?*
@@elchapito4580 you also probably need to edit "Library of Congress Everyday Mysteries Motor Vehicles, Aeronautics, Astronautics" because they say Carl was the first to invent and patent a gasoline powered car. boy, you gonna be busy rewriting history
You didn’t mention the Mercedes that Hitler gave to Stalin before the war. It’s an interesting story on how they smuggled it out of the Soviet union in the 70s. They were going to mail it out piece by piece, but just drove it across the border-with the border guard thinking that it was a very important person driving.
I have a book where there is an article about that car and getting it out of Russia. "The Survivors" by Henry Rasmussen.
It was not a gift to Stalin from Hitler, that story was a fabrication. It was hidden in Russia during the war and smuggled out, but the Stalin connection is false.
Thank you for sharing this information. We had absolutely no idea about the smuggling of that vehicle. Happy New Year. God bless 🙏
@@lawrencelewis2592 yes, that’s where I got the information
That'd make a movie by itself
As a car fanatic and a person who very much enjoys WWII history, this episode was especially fascinating to me. Thank you Dr. Felton.
The first vehicle...that 500K...I couldn't breathe right there and yet they kept coming! I only want ONE, that's all.
@@georgemartin1436 Haha, agreed! The high of that 500K and the low of the one that was scrapped (I forget the model). This was a perfect episode.
@@georgemartin1436 My eyes went wide when I saw it!
Germans really do make the best cars
When Germany accidentally bombed the north strand in Dublin in WW2, Eamon DeValera complained to Germany and Hitler sent some cars in kit form to Ireland by way of apology. They were purchased by The O’Flaherty brothers, assembled and sold. They then through these connections secured the VW and Mercedes rights for Ireland and still to this day have the sole distribution rights for MB in Ireland. They even had an assembly plant in Dublin producing VW beetles and still operate their corporate offices from that same building. Edit - I should add here that the connections were the Irish government in post war Europe who had a good relationship with Germany.
Ummm
Fascinating!
Goodness never goes unrewarded ... even between Germany and Ireland!
John did you know about the book on the o flattery group. It was an in house publication about the group that was not on general release in the book shops. I wonder is it possible to buy a copy of this book anywhere
@@williambinions4205 hi William, I did hear of it and I worked for them at the time however I never received a copy. Interestingly I heard that story while sitting in a Mercedes gullwing in their private museum in the centre of the factory. Amazing collection of cars.
You should have gone more in dept about Franco`s car. It was used until he died in 1975 and even American Presidents had the opportunity to get a ride across Madrid on Hitlers chariot.
Wdym the old timer is slipping 😏
Francisco Franco was truly the 🐐
Now that would be very interesting!
This story would make a very interesting video. Thank you.
You should have eaten the hair out of Heydrichs car seat
As an Egyptian who is very much involved in vintage and classic cars within my country, I thank you Mr Felton for this nice well researched and compiled work. Adding to your story about Farouk's 540K, it is now located in the UK after having spent a number of years after being restored in a musuem in South Africa. You will also have noticed that one image you shared in the video is of a 770 armoured grosser aswell, there were a couple of other 770s but non armoured nor convertibles owned by the Egyptian royal family. It is well known that Farouk enjoyed pissing off the British occupation at the time by showing up in official meetings with his Mercedes Benz, giving hints to his friendly relationship with the Nazi leadership at the time. Thank you Mark. Keep the amazing videos coming
The king crashed the Merc. & he was severely injured near the city of Ismailia.
In a world of seemingly endless "history" based UA-cam channels, Mark hits it out of the park every single time.
In a word... Perfection.
VG
It’s been written in books, you just have to research it.
@@JohnJohn-zn8ibIf you want to keep history alive...this...is the way to do it for this non- reading internet obsessed generation...
He also gave King Ghazi I of Iraq two Mercedes cars, which are still in their original, and it was kept since the death of the King in 1939. I have seen both in Baghdad 2015. One of them is similar to the car of the Shah of Iran that you talked about
Does the government own them now?
Imagine if he said "and now a word from our sponsor. Mercedes Benz" 😂
As a norwegian, I am ashamed to hear that we scrapped that mercedes, although I can fully understand why since everyone wanted to move on from the 5 year long Nazi occupation although had it remained today, it would definetly have been bought/set on public display once news came out. Another great video Mark! 🇳🇴
The Norwegians should have neutral dropped it a few times and put it on UA-cam.
Maybe you can get a Lada as a consolation prize.
I have to think that it wasn't advertised as for sale outside of Norway or it would have sold.
I understand it was an automatic, but difficult to drive as it couldn't be put in neutral....
My grandfather, who was in his late teens when the war ended, often talked about how annoyed he was that pretty much everything owned by Germans were scrapped after the occupation ended. I distinctly remember him complaining about how they once took hundreds of perfectly good bikes and simply scrapped them because they had been used by German soldiers. He felt that they should have simply removed any Nazi symbols and given them to children instead, but the masses were in a destructive mood so they were all destroyed. I completely understand his frustrations, but I do find it a bit amusing that he was grumbling about this more than half a century after the fact.
I first misread “Hitler’s Gift Cards”. What an innovator!, I thought. 😅
No lie i did exact same thing lol
😂
Yes, I guess that would have been book tokens.
😅🤣 Same here!
Same 😅😅
Lol imagine a gift card from Hitler?
Hi Dr. Felton! I'm a British-Iranian and a big fan of your WW2 videos. In this video there is a mistake about Shah of Iran. The Shah who received the gifted Merc from Hitler was Reza Shah ( emperor Reza) and not the last Shah of Iran that you showed his picture in this video ( emperor Muhammad Reza). In 1934 the last Shah was a teenager crown prince but it was his father, Reza Shah, who developed a relationship with Hitler and the Nazi Germany. Reza Shah started as a soldier and advanced to end up as a Shah so like all the old soldiers he was a horse enthusiast and never showed any special interest in cars. His son ( the last Shah) of course was a car enthusiast and owned a big collection of luxury and premium brands as well. Thanks for very informative videos.
Another great tidbit of history, thank you for these videos Dr Mark Felton!
Beside the fact that you are able to pull together all this information and photos, which would probably take someone else years, I am amazed you can pronounce all the different car owner's names from various languages so well. Kudos to you Mark Felton another great video.
This has to be in the top 10 most interesting stories you've done! Most excellent Dr Felton most excellent.👏
Another interesting one to add: on his surprise visit to Finland on Mannerheim's birthday in 1942, among Hitler's presents were three Steyr 1500 A Kommandeurwagens. These were afterwards used by Mannerheim on his inspection trips to the front.
Nowadays only one of the three survives, painted red, as it was repurposed and used as a fire truck by the Mäntsälä fire department in the 1950s. In that role it was reportedly aptly nicknamed "the hitler of Mäntsälä." :D
This was his personal gift to Mannerheim.
Very interesting, would never ever have known this if you didn’t make this video. Mad isn’t it ? Thanks Mark !
In the spirit of one-upmanship, my grandfather gifted me a Merkur Scorpio when I graduated high school. Before you ask, yes it had historic plates on it. It gave me several hundred miles of joy and likely tetanus.
You must be entitled I actually bought my first vehicle from working for it a72 dodge demon you peasant.🙈🙉🙊
😂
My Mum gave me her Hillman Imp when I passed my driving test.
Ha, beat that if you can!😂😂😂
Was your grandfather named Adolf?
I saw the “American Hitler” car in Michigan in the early 1970s. It was presented at a shopping mall outside Detroit.
Absolutely fascinating, Dr. Felton. Thank you.
I can't imagine the number of hours of research you do for each and every video Dr. Felton. I am impressed as always. I would like to one day shake your hand.
Same here!!👍👍😀 Greetings from Helsinki, Finland 🇫🇮
@@filipohman7277 have you seen the trailer for the new movie coming out set in Finland during ww2? Sisu I believe it's called.
In 1973 when I was 21 years old, I had the opportunity to buy a Mercedes 550 SS Cabriolet for 50 thousand dollars. Unfortunately, as a 21 year old I didn't have that kind of money and 50k in 1973 could buy a house. It was the one that got away as it is worth a million or more dollars today. Such is life.
I stand corrected it was a 540K Cabriolet.
$50k in 1973 would have bought a very nice house.
''My father said there were two kinds of people in the world: givers and takers. The takers may eat better, but the givers sleep better.''
Hitler's car in Nepal is not often talked about. Thank You Mark Felton for giving us more information about it.
Mannerheim was not the leader of Finland, he was the commander of Finnish army. 100% different thing. The leader of the nation is seen on the video next to Mannerheim: president Ryti, in civilian outfit.
This. Mannerheim only became the president in 1945 as he won the election. One of the first peacetime elections on the later end of the WW2.
@@juhokuusisto9339Mannerheim became the president 1944. Chosen by the parliament, no public election it being still wartime.
@@janelavie4115 Huh? Then I'm remembering it wrong. Maybe it was the parlament elections, that were the first peacetime ww2 something something... I remember reading about some Finnish elections, that were first in the ww2 end stages, from the Korkeajännitys info pages.
Portugal has a funny story about a 770. Our, at the time dictator, Salazar suffered a bomb attempt and in 1937 the Secret Police ordered, without consulting him, 2 Mercedes 770 Großer. When the cars arrived he refused to use them because he though it was a gift from Hitler.
I remember as a youngster, the WW2 vets of my family were very vocal about the Mercedes-Benz company, among others, were associated with nazism in their minds, therefore, never to be bought or celebrated in any way. I can see how after the war, the gifts were toxic, to those who survived.
My grandfather didn't like the golfer Bernard Lugger
Same thing
@@dale5495 Bayer aspirin name was only spoken with venom in the voice, and that continued until their death. As a child, I didn't understand, as an adult (senior) learning about the history not taught in schools, I now understand the vets anger.
My grandfather made guests park any German car "out back" because he didn't want it seen in his driveway. Other than that, he was a super nice guy, and to be fair, he was a ww2 vet that lost friends and family in the war.
@@GoodForYou4504 YES! I heard that one also. The men and women who served saw things they never spoke of again, suffered losses that left an eternal hole, yet they returned to civilian life and tried to make things better for the rest of us. It is up to us to bear witness, their lives and sacrifices will not be forgotten.
Your videos never fail to impress me with the level of research into often obscure topics that are nonetheless quite fascinating.
Fingers crossed that Mark can do a follow-up episode where he and Doug Demuro review old Nazi cars together.
Doug is INCREDIBLY annoying, absolutely not
@@randoliof FACT
Yours is an underrated comment.
It would go like that
"TTHHHIIISSS is a 1937 Mercedes-Benz 770K limousine and I'm going to show you its quirks and features. It has among his previous owners so "interesting" people. But now the word to Mark to explain the story of the car."
@@alessandrorona6205 It would be even better if you replace the "limousine" part with "W150 Tourenwagen"
@@randoliof for you maybe but i wouldnt mind
There some wrong information here. Reza Shah was not fond of cars and did not have a collection of vehicles, you are mixing it up with his son Mohammadreza who had a unique collection of cars. That 540K also has had its color changed and engine removed. The rest of the cars in Iran’s Automotive Museum aren’t just from shah’s personal collection but rather from other people’s too. I suggest you to delve deeper into this topic before settling with surface-level information found on the first page of Google.
Patiala's Maybach remained in the family till well after the war and India's independence. It was eventually gifted, as you noted, by the original recepient's son and successor HH Yadavinder Singh, to a prominent official and family friend one Mathija, who sold it a few years later and eventually it left the shores of India. Fascinating story.
Rolls-Royce Phantom II. 4.3 litre, 30 horsepower, six cylinder engine, with Stromberg downdraft carburettor, can go from zero to 100 kilometres an hour in 12.5 seconds.
And I even like the color!
Nice Indy reference! (One goof in that scene though, why does ‘The Republic of Hatay’ have an emperor?)
Aahh! Just commented this myself! 😂
The keys are in the ignition, your Grace.
"You shall have camels, horses, an armed escort, provisions, desert vehicles and tanks."
Professor Felton is a hard worker
A bit problematic to call Mannerheim as the leader of Finland. He was the supreme commander of our armed forces but there was the president also, Risto Ryti, who was the only president of Finland not being the supreme commander. Mannerheim became president after Ryti´s resignation and in that position he had the both offices as Finnish presidents have. Then he made the peace mentioned.
Hitler also send armoured Mercdes to tsar Boris in Bulgaria. The car arrived at the train station in Sofia in spring of 1943. It was loaded on a separete carriage and was surounded by wooden box. The Mercedes went missing after the invasion of the soviets on 9th September 1944.
Dear Dr. Felton the picture of the "Shah" you presented was the crown prince of the time and the mercedes was gifted to his father Reza Shah.
THis confuses two Shahs of Iran. Hitler's present was given to Reza Shah Pahlavi who ruled from 1925 until forced to abdicate by the British and USSR in 1941. His son Mohammed Reza Shah then took the throne, and he is the monarch depicted in this video.
A couple of years ago I picked up about 6 Entex plastic car models all of which were models of 40's era cars. Talking with the seller an older gentlemen he said he always liked the style of cars from that era. He went on to say that he once owned, a Horch, that was once owned by Reichsmarschall Herman Goring, he pulled down some photos to prove his ownership. I cannot remember entirely what he said but he bought it from a seller who left it parked in storage. It didn't run when he bought it but it took very little effort to get it back on the road. He very rarely drove it as it attracted a lot of attention and with it's history, notoriety. He eventually sold it to a collector.
as someone who loves cars, especially the 20-40's era, thank you for this.
cant fathom that hitler literally gave away such cars , and probably on a regular basis.
"hey, here, have a 770k"
The generosity of the Führer is proved beyond any doubt by gifts such as these that he gave ... to not only his own countrymen, but also other important dignitaries and rulers all over the world!
Bravo!
All of the cars are magnificent . Thank You , Dr. Felton , for your research and presentation .
The Mercedes Benz 770K in the Canadian War Museum in Ottawa was originally believed to have belonged to Hermann Goring but was subsequently determined to have one of Hitlers own cars.
It was restored in my neighborhood in Toronto, right across the street from my friend's house! (Of course, we were in high school at the time and had no idea until I read about it 10 years ago...). I know it's the same one because of the part you said about Goering! Thanks for verifying!
thanks Dr. Felton!
I'm surprised Mussolini wasn't mentioned with a gifted car
0:37 Can't say that I'm crazy about the crumple zones in this model. To be fair, though, they totally nailed the concept of a sunroof.
I know you are kidding. But since it’s the very first car…not a lot to hit!
Hitler: You get a car! You get a car! Everyone gets a car!
The part about the gift car to Nepal had me ROFLMAO all things considered.
Yeah and no roads , my god ?
Felt a sharp pang upon hearing Quisling's 770K was scrapped.
Enjoy all your all your commentaries in your episodes, hopefully at a later date you can delve more into the cars thank you very much dr. Felton
I loved the story about what Floyd Talbert who was then 1sgt of easy company of the 506th infantry part of the 101st airborne division (Band of brothers fame) did with one of Hitlers cars in may of 1945 when at the eagles nest. Talbert had obtained one of Hitler's 'bulletproof' staff cars but was ordered by higher ups to turn it over not before he conducted an experiment whether or not the windows were bulletproof. His experiment showed that armor-piercing ammo could break the glass.
Bet someone was mad
@@tomhenry897 yeah probably up at a corps level. I think that is how far the request for the car went up to XVIII airborne corps or 1st Allied Airborne army which the 101st was part of so defiantly up at the top I suspect at 1st allied commander. Notably Lewis Breton who had a "party-loving streak"
Goering's Blue Goose Mercedes convertible was taken over by the 101st. There is a bullet mark in one window but it didn't penetrate. The info was that he shot it with a .45 pistol. I saw the car at a show in Michigan.
@@lawrencelewis2592 yeah mark did a video on that.
"Rolls Royce Phantom 2 and I even like the color!" said the Sultan of Hataye in "Indiana and the last crusade" (1989). Look, they were annoying little men, but they had cars and uniforms, beautiful ones.
Great scene!
That cream / green 500k was stunning to say the least. Oh my God what craftsmanship!❤
So, the clip in Indiana Jones Last Crusade when the Sultan gets the car has some truth to it how deplomatic relations where done.
however, in the film it is Walter Donovan's Rolls-Royce, not a MB
Excellent video, we had no idea about much of the information you provided. Happy New Year 🙏. God bless 🙏🎄
"Are you crazy! This is Hitler's car!"
Among the other cars not explicitly mentioned was a silver 540K Streamline Roadster gifted to King Ghazi of Iraq, currently in Technik Museum Speyer
I have to wonder if the Maharaja's death at a young age was a consequence of his friendship with Hitler?
Mark, as allways ! you are the BEST !!!
Nice work as always Felton
I intend to buy an E-Klasse Mercedes vey soon. Maybe tomorrow. I am delighted to here that midnight blue is a favourite colour. I will have it in that.
I half-expected to see Jay Leno make an appearance.
Thank you Mark for mentioning Nepal. Since I am from Kathmandu < Nepal, i never had the knowledge that the Car was here in my city and the history behind it .
It's been amazing how much knowledge I've gained since discovering Your Channel! No matter the content, I'm reminded of how poorly my History Education was presented during my formative years.
Having developed the habit of looking to see if You posted a new video every day has changed my daily routine! Thank You, once again, for Your efforts to educate the rest of us. You and Your Team are a Fantastic add to my day.
Wonderful documentary, but I can't believe you missed the most beautiful car of them all, the Mercedes-Benz 540K Spezial Roadster presented by Hitler to King Michael of Romania. One of the most spectacular cars I have ever seen. Saw it gleaming in a Coys of Kensington showroom around a 2005, and a passer-by told me the story. Later I found out that the Spezial Roadstser had been in the Soviet Union (where a huge proportion of supercharged Mercedes of the 1930s ended up). Reduced to a wreck, the car was given a 10,000 hour restoration by Kienle Automobiltechnik.
For anyone interested in these cars, the "Mercedes-Benz: The Supercharged 8-Cylinder Cars of the 1930's", by Jan Melin, is the indispensible reference. The author even had the chance to meet Hermann Ahrens, designer of the special coachwork for these astonishing cars, in the late 80s
There is a 1939 770k at the southward car museum in new zealand it was possibly the car Hitler had intended to give to king Edward after the invasion of Britain.
You are so goooooooood! I respect and appreciate. Thank you Mark Felton.
Really really enjoyed this video.
Hi Mark, how are you?
In 1934, the great Reza Shah Pahlavi who was the father of the last Shah of Iran Mohammed Reza, was in charge of that country. Mohammad Reza became the Shah in 1941 at the age of 21 after his father the great Reza Shah was forced to flee Iran when the British and the Soviet troops occupied the country.
So Hitler's green mercedes was a gift to the great Reza Shah.
The museum in Orange County says the vehicle “is believed to have carried Hitler…”. Now I know the truth thanks to Dr. Felton
Imagine being so despised that no one will touch your valuable property, and so it has to be destroyed.
Ah Now I know how that old mercedes ended up in the Royalty of Nepal before getting to know it I always wondered that how did that mercedes which I saw in Museum of the Palace during my tour ended up there. Thanks for the Info Mr. Felton
Easily one of the best channels on youtube. Many thanks Dr. Felton!!!
Reminds me of the scene in "Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade" when a Nazi task force, who are searching for the Holy Grail, seek to bribe the sultan of the Republic of Hatay so that they (the task force) may trespass on an area of the land of the sultan/republic. At first the Nazis offer a trunk full of valuable "treasures" which the sultan has no interest in; instead, the sultan eyes one of the cars that the Nazis had arrived in, a Rolls-Royce Phantom II. The sultan, showing off his knowledge of automobile design, describes the vehicle to the head of the Nazi task force (a character named "Donovan") and ending his description with, "...And I even like the color." To which Donovan replies, "The keys are in the ignition."
Hitler dishing out cars like Elvis. "Brand new Cadillac for you...and a brand new Cadillac for you!"
Oprah before Oprah, "You get a car. You get a car. You get a car!!!"
Amazing compipation
Thank you Mr Mark Felton
Thank you UA-cam
Mararadja Maybach: We went from a 'Zeppelin' open top car to a hard top. Well well mr. Felton, what went wrong here?!
Adolf Hitler and Elvis Presley - two celebrities who liked to give away luxury cars to the deserving. 😊
When no one with money wanted to buy that car because of its history, they should've just gifted it to some random German peasant and told them to have fun with it.
Dr. Felton -- This episode sort of mirrors a scene from an "Indiana Jones" movie where a Moroccan prince is presented, as a bribe, an automobile such as these. At least it "worked" in the movie. 🤨
I would take a Kia
Another great one! Thanks Mark!
Another great video, Thanks Mark
My God those are gorgeous cars
Spectacular automobiles from very troubled times Thank you again.
Franco really did him dirty after receiving that 6x6 monster of a car.
He should have given that one to Nepal.
To be fair spain wasn't in any position to support Germany the civil war weakened them
I love your stories, mr. Felton, but allow me to point out a small error this time. The car at 0:38 is not the first Mercedes. It's the first Benz. The Benz Patent-Motorwagen from 1885-86. The name Mercedes was first officially used on Daimler cars around 1901. Daimler and Benz merged in 1926.
Living in Portugal alentego region in an isolated farm and mansion working for a Spanish millionaire my job was to clean out the barns and garage's wharehouses ,clean up the vehicles and see which would start there must have been about 100 old vintage cars and jeeps,and trucks at the end of my work he showed me a garage with some old vintage cars 30,s and 40,s covered in tarpaulin one of them was a black or dark grey open top Mercedes with swastikas on the side,he told me he couldn't drive it as he smuggled it into the country from Africa
Oh I forgot to say it was in fantastic Condition and run ,I know the millionaire owned land and told me he had buisness,s in Mozambique so don't know if that where the car came from
I took a lot of photos of all the vehicle's but my phone was stolen in tarrifa
The Shah of Iran deposed in 1979 did not take the throne until 1941, so it is unlikely that Hitler would have given him a Mercedes seven years earlier. Perhaps his father?
My grandgrandfather was working for Mercedes in 1920-30 also he was a founder of Yugoslavian auto moto sport. He said to my grandfather that he went on meeting when they were making car for the Hitler and Nazis. Nazis wanted to invest in BMW, but on the last meeting sobody said that Hitler should be driven in Mecedes.
Now if a leader gives a Mercedes as a gift, it would be an insult.
"Mercedes? I have a fleet of them. What a cheap f$#%."
😂😂
To be fair, the autobahn kurier is the only of its kind based on the 500k that survives. There were two of the six that were based on the 540k and one of those survived and in recent years, won honors at the pebble beach concours de elegance.
Thanks a lot for your comment!
Now I understand why in Wikipedia's article about National Car Museum of Iran it says that the Autobahn-Kurier is one of the three survivors.
Thank you, as always
Thank you,Mark for another amazing episode.
P.s.i love your sponsors!
Awesome Work Dr.Felton!!! Greetings from Helsinki, Finland 🇫🇮
My great uncle was 'forced' into the German army from Latvia. The family stories say he drove German Generals. He was shot in the shoulder. Then he lived in Los Angeles with my Grandparent for years while he got a retirement check from the Germans until he died! I don't know how l could ever check these stories out. His name was Arthurs Velitis.
Remember, Rolls-Royce is never to be pluralized by itself. One may instead possess "a number of Rolls-Royce Motorcars".
As always great information.
Thanks Dr Felton.
There is another 540K Autobahn Kurier, bought by Dr Barraquer in the 30's and some years ago sold to Mr Keler, now in the U.S.
In the comments it was pointed out that the Shah's Autobahn-Kurier is 500K and there are two others but 540K
Another awesome video, as always!
Maybe about 10 years ago they had a Mercedes’ Benz like one of these with the original light covers for night driving at Larry Anderson shop in Berkeley, it was right out of a barn and was a pristina car seeing one of these in real life really puts perspective on how giant these things are. Very cool video thanks professo
What a great sponsor, i have never seen that, i hope i catches on! Yes the video was also your excellent quality…as usual. I never understood the concept of an armored convertible….. 👍👍😄