The Mercedes-Benz 770K W150 was a monstrous limousine used by monstrous men. These bulletproof behemoths carried high-ranking Nazis, including Adolf Hitler, around the Third Reich. Famous photos of crowds hailing the Fuhrer showcase the sheer menace of these machines, with hoods as long as some whole cars, seating for eight and grilles that look like something off of a battleship. After Germany's defeat, 770Ks became coveted war trophies. Several of them were brought to the United States in the years after the war. These vehicles, with little or no evidence, were often touted as Hitler's personal car, ignoring the fact that he had a whole motorpool of Mercedes.
In The Devil's Mercedes, Robert Klara (The Hidden White House; FDR's Funeral Train) tracks the winding provenance of two 770Ks and the eccentric cast of characters who possessed them. The first is a Mercedes used as payment, in lieu of hard currency, from Sweden to a Chicago businessman. The second is captured by an American soldier in Bavaria, borrowed by a general for his personal ride, then shipped home. Klara follows the roads taken by these cars under various ownerships, through record-setting auctions and fund-raising tours, storage in warehouses and museums, and back to their original riders, whose real identities are a rewarding surprise. The Devil's Mercedes is an engrossing mystery with thematic depth, a look at how cars, admittedly impressive ones, became symbols of Nazi horror, and what those symbols have meant for generations of Americans. --Tobias Mutter, freelance reviewer