Hitler’s Mercedes 770K Grosser up for auction

The 1939 Mercedes-Benz 770K Grosser Offener Tourenwagen parade car used by Adolf Hitler will be sold at Scottsdale Collector Car Week next year. It goes without saying, this is one seriously significant car. Hitler, Chancellor of Nazi Germany and Führer of the Third Reich, used it as his main parade car between October 1939 and May 1941. Delivered to Berlin on July 29, 1939, the car made its public debut in October of the same year. On June 18, 1940, it was paraded through Munich as part of a visit from Benito Mussolini, before carrying Hitler through Berlin after the defeat of France. Its final outing was part of the celebration after Germany took Yugoslavia and Greece.After its last parade, the car was returned to Mercedes-Benz in Sindelfingen for service. But rather than reaching the Führer, the tide in the war turned, and circumstances prevented Grosser 189744 from getting back to Berlin. Whether it continued service in the war is unknown, but we know the car eventually made its way to the USA, where a tobacco mogul took ownership. Having bounced from owner-to-owner, the 770K was sold to a European collector in 2004 as part of a 21-car package. Now, it’s up for sale again. Hitler wasn’t the only high-profile head-of-state to ride around in a 770K Grosser. Japanese Emperor Hirohito, the King of Norway, Antonio de Oliveira Salazar and Pope Pius XI all rode around in their own Mercedes-Benz flagships.After its last parade, the car was returned to Mercedes-Benz in...