Marshfield - Marshfield resident Joe Johnson took dimensions and templates off of an original 1936 Mercedes-Benz special roadster at Harrah’s Automobile Collection at the National Automobile Museum in Reno in 1973.
For almost 20 years after that, he collected data and original parts and started building his own model from scratch a decade ago. Today, he’s almost done, and has the equipment and the know-how to build more.
“I’ll be selling these complete, finished. They call it ‘turnkey.’ You turn the key and go away,” he said.
The 71-year-old former aircraft mechanic and owner of Classics Revived said he has been building cars since he was young, and has owned 97 cars. He has colorful models of all his previous cars arranged on a shelf in his house, which is full of car paraphernalia like car clocks, calendars, ties and awards from shows.
But it was love at first sight with the very rare and very expensive Mercedes-Benz 540K special roadster. According to Johnson, only 25 were made during the years 1936 and 1939, he said, and an original sold last year for more than $8 million.
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Johnson said he expected the car to sell in the range of $300,000 to $400,000.
http://www.wickedlocal.com/marshfield/news/x1092977761/Marshfield-man-finishing-up-a-1936-Mercedes
For almost 20 years after that, he collected data and original parts and started building his own model from scratch a decade ago. Today, he’s almost done, and has the equipment and the know-how to build more.
“I’ll be selling these complete, finished. They call it ‘turnkey.’ You turn the key and go away,” he said.
The 71-year-old former aircraft mechanic and owner of Classics Revived said he has been building cars since he was young, and has owned 97 cars. He has colorful models of all his previous cars arranged on a shelf in his house, which is full of car paraphernalia like car clocks, calendars, ties and awards from shows.
But it was love at first sight with the very rare and very expensive Mercedes-Benz 540K special roadster. According to Johnson, only 25 were made during the years 1936 and 1939, he said, and an original sold last year for more than $8 million.
*
Johnson said he expected the car to sell in the range of $300,000 to $400,000.
http://www.wickedlocal.com/marshfield/news/x1092977761/Marshfield-man-finishing-up-a-1936-Mercedes
