Adolf Hitler’s car is one of the most famous automobiles on the planet. The vehicle termed the “Devil’s Mercedes” has moved around a lot after his death. Adolf Hitler famously started World War II, invading Poland on September 1st, 1939.
Following his triumph on Polish territories, Hitler moved to France the following year and overcame the French militaries again. In 1941, Hitler successfully overcame Yugoslavia and Greece, taking his tally up to 4 subdued countries in less than three years.
After the German forces were victorious in France, Greece, and Yugoslavia, Germany held celebration parades in the capital, Berlin, where Adolf Hitler drove around in his bulletproof Mercedes Grosser 770k limousine at the respective parades following each victory.
On April 30th, 1945, Adolf Hitler committed suicide as Soviet Forces had invaded the heart of German territories, spelling the end of his tyrannous reign. Soon after his death, the Mercedes Grosser 770k was sold to a Belgian buyer, followed by an American merchant with an eye for vintage cars.
ALSO READ: Cars and their Funny Nigerian Nickname
For the next couple of years, the car was forgotten and even used as a patrol vehicle by American military forces that had no idea of its importance until 1976, when it was rediscovered and restored to a near-original state.
The car was then purchased by a business owner who loved throwing Hitler-themed birthday parties for his amusement and his guests until his death when the car was re-sold. The Hitler bulletproof Mercedes has been sold and re-sold several times and is currently worth between $10 million and $14 million, which is roughly double in value of other Mercedes Grosser 770ks released in that same period.
The Mercedes Grosser 770k Limousine or the W150 is a premium vintage vehicle with a supercharged 7.7-liter inline-8-cylinder engine that generates up to 230 horsepower at maximum capacity. The car measures up to 240 inches in length and 81 inches in width and weighs nearly 5 tons, thanks to the reinforcements around the vehicle.
Given the heavy body parts around the vehicle, the engine of this beast was rather loud, as it consumed a lot of energy in the fuel and burned about 60 liters of fuel in every 100km driven. The steering is nearly impossible to maneuver at slow speeds but gets easier at higher speeds.
The glass shield on all front of the car and between the driver-passenger compartment measures nearly 40mm in thickness, with a reinforced body designed to withstand a barrage of bullets. The car commissioned for Hitler’s use, as well as several other top officials in Nazi Germany, is one of only 88 produced at the time, with roughly only five still surviving to this day.
Many believe the car should be treated as an artifact, kept in a museum rather than sold to various owners. The upside to the selling and re-selling of this vehicle is that a tenth of the purchasing price goes towards a foundation for Holocaust education to use the killing of well over 6 million Jews by German forces between 1941 and 1945 as an opportunity to encourage critical thinking, social awareness, and how the massacre affected world geography.
The car is reportedly part of Russian Billionaire – Clive Palmer’s collection, one of the hundreds of vehicles in his collection today. No one knows precisely how much he paid for it, but many sources have said it took nearly two years to negotiate a final fee.
