Voiture Mercedes (-Benz) 630 K Torpedo Transformable La Baule 1928 a vendre

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To Be OFFERED AT AUCTION at RM Sothebys' The Monterey Auction event, 13 - 15 August 2026.
$600,000 - $800,000 USD

Extravagantly detailed, ornate coachwork by the renowned Saoutchik
Built on one of the great supercharged six-cylinder Mercedes-Benz chassis
Believed to have been the 1928 New York Automobile Salon car, delivered to Major Monte Stone
Formerly owned by Pacific Auto Rental, M.L. “Bud” Cohn, and the Craven Foundation
Well-preserved and attractive older restoration in well-chosen colors
A CCCA Full Classic

During the late 1920s, the Mercedes-Benz 630 K was one of the most outstanding automobiles on the market, with its potent 6.3-liter, 180-horsepower overhead-cam six-cylinder engine with supercharger making it a force to be reckoned with on roads on either side of the Atlantic. French coachbuilder Jacques Saoutchik, just entering what would be the prime of his career, was among the leading carrosserie in the world, known for lavishing the talents learned as a cabinetmaker on the world’s greatest cars.

On but a vanishingly few occasions, the talents of both firms came together, most prominently in a style that Saoutchik, with his typical flamboyance, dubbed the Torpedo Transformable “La Baule.” A rather close-coupled convertible sedan, it was distinguished by several features that were thought highly avant-garde at the time, including a fully disappearing convertible top, folding side windows, and a rather complex rear windshield that could be folded and fully stowed when not in use. Both the top and rear windshield designs were, in fact, the subject of patents by Saoutchik, recognizing his creativity.

Chassis number 35813, offered here, is one of just a handful of surviving 630 Ks—estimated to be fewer than six—with the “La Baule” coachwork. Commission number 40926, it was shipped to Saoutchik on 23 August 1928. Historian Jonathan Sierakowski’s research indicates that, based upon its trim and other details, it is almost certainly the car exhibited at the 1928 New York Automobile Salon, finished in a light color with dark moldings and an Alpina lizard skin interior. Indeed, Mercedes-Benz records note that chassis number 35813 was delivered to New York on 31 October 1928, just in time for the event. The Salon car was reported in the press as having been sold to the prolific American Mercedes-Benz client, Major Monte Stone.

The car’s further known history picks up during World War II, when it appeared in the 1943 film Above Suspicion. At the time it was part of the legendary fleet of Pacific Auto Rental, the longtime favored supplier of interesting automobiles to the Hollywood film industry operated by George Schweiger Sr., and it appeared in a book of their cars shown to prospective clients, in which it could be readily identified by the unusual chrome trim banding on its fenders.

Eventually the 630 K was sold by Pacific Auto Rental to M.L. “Bud” Cohn, at the time the West Coast’s most noted collector of vintage Mercedes-Benzes, well-remembered as the impresario of the once-prominent L’Cercle concours. Mr. Cohn noted in a 1964 article in the Mercedes-Benz Club of America’s The Star that he had actually purchased the car out of a small Los Angeles machine shop, having been entranced by its body, and restored it from the chassis up; he described it as “one of the finest bodies, I believe, ever put on an automobile…the car today is one of the finest show cars in the country, both mechanically and luxuriously.” He considered it the equal of his SS and his 500 K Spezial Roadster—no small comparison!

In the early 1970s the Mercedes-Benz was acquired from Cohn by the Craven Foundation, at the time Canada’s most prominent collection, a well-chosen gathering of highly significant Brass and Classic Era automobiles that had been assembled by the Rothmans of Pall Mall tobacco firm and placed in a museum in Toronto. It remained on exhibit there until the mid-1980s, when a change in Canadian tobacco advertising law forced the sale of the public relations-focused collection. The 630 K was acquired in 1986 by the prominent Ontario collector Al Webster, then passed to the Blackhawk Collection, which restored it in its present livery, an elegant two-tone blue with a typically Saoutchik interior, elaborately decorated in leather and embroidered fabric, with highly detailed inlaid woodwork throughout. It was exhibited after completion in the Blackhawk Museum, under various ownerships, for nearly 30 years.

Respected collector, the late Howard Fafard of Massachusetts, purchased the car in 2016 during a period of avid enthusiasm for pre-war Mercedes-Benzes, and retained ownership for the rest of his life. It was sold from his estate several years ago to its present owner, a longtime collector and admirer of both Mercedes-Benzes and Saoutchik coachwork, and has accordingly remained one of his centerpieces, preserved in its older but still highly attractive restoration. Displayed for some years, it should be noted that it is missing its convertible top.

A wonderful example both of the potent, mighty 630 K and of Saoutchik at his most inventive and decorative, the Mercedes-Benz Torpedo Transformable “La Baule” is one of the great examples of both its manufacturer and its coachbuilder. It would grace any Full Classic collection with pride, carrying with it a rich history—from France, to Hollywood, to Ontario, and now to its next home.To view this car and others currently consigned to this auction, please visit the RM website at rmsothebys.com/auctions/mo26/.