Hitler's Mercedes Reportedly Found - and Sold

DÜSSELDORF, Germany — A bit of auto-buff detective work has led to the claimed rediscovery of Adolf Hitler's favored car, a bulletproof 1935 Mercedes-Benz 770K, stored in a garage in Germany. Michael Froehlich told the Reuters news service he was commissioned to track it down by a client who was hoping to buy the car.

Froehlich, described by Reuters as a classic-car specialist, said he traced the car's previous ownership from Europe to the basement of the Imperial Palace Casino in Las Vegas and back to Munich, where it had been sold most recently by the heirs to a brewing company executive. It was located in the hands of a private collector in western Germany, news reports said.

Hitler never actually drove the car — he had no driver's license, Froehlich said — and the dark-blue 770K was used for parades and other public events with a driver ferrying him around.

As proof that the car was Hitler's, Froehlich cited the Mercedes sales register, which shows the car was ordered for the Führer and Chancellor of the Reich, along with a list of modifications made especially for the dictator, and the car's license number, 1A 148 461. The 770K was one of only 88 made.

Froehlich estimated it could sell for more than $14 million and, Reuters said, he denied a report that the car was going to a Russian buyer. However, the Düsseldorf Express newspaper showed a photo of the car, which bears no apparent swastikas or other Nazi-era markings, and said Froehlich has sold the car to a rich Russian customer.

Inside Line says: A dark bit of history resurfaces. — Laura Sky Brown, Correspondent