Someone bought the former King of Jordan's Mercedes 540 K for £1.4m

For the past 34 years the mighty Merc has been in the collection of the late King Hussein of Jordan. But far from languishing in the famous car collector’s Royal Auto Museum in Ammam, as the king’s favourite car it was driven extensively. He even had it converted to right-hand drive for use at his residence in Windsor, while in 1987 this actual car hit the motoring headlines in London when it appeared at the Royal Albert Hall in Lord Montagu of Beaulieu’s Ten Important Motor Cars exhibition.

An important car? Just a bit. Few cars were as fast, grand, luxurious and exclusive in the 1930s as the 540 K. The ex-king’s car in the Bonhams sale is one of the last made, in 1939, with Cabriolet A coachwork by Sindelfingen. To go with its smooth-riding independent suspension and servo-assisted hydraulic brakes there was even a five-speed gearbox – all very advanced for the time.

But its chief claim to engineering fame was its engine, a 5.4-litre straight-eight with the ‘K’ in the car’s name standing for its performance secret: the Kompressor. Mercedes was the first to use the supercharger in the 1920s, developed with help from Ferdinand Porsche, and the 540 K was the last of the blown breed until the principle was revived in more recent times.

To summon the Roots-type supercharger to life you had to press the accelerator all the way to the floor. Without the forced induction the engine delivered 115PS (113bhp), enough for 85mph, but with the pedal to the metal and the supercharger engaged power jumped to 180PS (178bhp). In the direct-drive top gear, that was good enough to make it one of the few genuine 100mph cars of its day. With a timed 104.6mph at Brooklands, it was the fastest car that the motoring magazine The Autocar had tested up to that point.

Huge but with just two seats in a sumptuous cabin made memorable for its polished metal, finest hardwoods, leather and mother-of-pearl inlays, the 540 K was always said to be a car for the connoisseur. It’s a rare beast, too. Launched at the Paris Show in 1936, it was in series production for just three years, with 69 being made in 1939 before the war called a halt. 

It’s that rarity allied to such tremendous style and performance that today make 540 Ks among the most sought-after of all classic cars, according to Bonhams.

Overall the Grand Palais sale got the auction year off to a good start for Bonhams, with more than 140 cars crossing the rostrum beneath the palace’s huge glass domes. Chasing the 540 K for top honours was a 1955 Mercedes-Benz 300 SL Gullwing which sold for £1,059,037, a 1928 Bentley 6½-Litre Four Light Weymann sports saloon which sold for £1,008,607) and, from Porsche, a rare 1950 356 Split-Window ‘Four-Digit’ coupé which went for £706,025.

“These top lots were all outstanding examples of some of the most desirable and iconic models in the automotive world,” said Philip Kantor, Bonhams European director of motoring.