This 1937 Mercedes 540K won best in show at the Pebble Beach Concours d'Elegance

Here’s one for all the pre-war motoring enthusiasts out there: a 1937 Mercedes-Benz 540K Special Roadster has won the best in show award at the 2023 Pebble Beach Concours d'Elegance.

The rather special Special is owned by Jim Patterson from Louisville, Kentucky and is one of three remaining long-tailed roadsters with a covered spare wheel. We’re told it was ordered from new by King Shah of Afghanistan, and that it was stored in the Afghan embassy in Paris to protect it during WW2.

The supercharged straight-eight-engined 540K beat three other nominees – a 1930 Mercedes-Benz 710 SS Special Roadster, a 1932 Alfa Romeo 8C 2.3 Figoni Cabriolet and a 1939 Delahaye Figoni and Falaschi Cabriolet – at the 72nd running of the concours at Pebble Beach. As you might be able to tell from that list, 50 of the 72 winning cars over the years have now come from the 1930s.