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In the summer of 1942, when Aktion P was first promulgated, Daimler-Benz was unable to provide the twenty 540K rolling chassis or complete(which in effect meant requisitioned) cars ready for conversion. Thecompany instead had only two suitable rolling chassis available. It wasat this point that the Army was ordered to intervene by requisitioning 18more pre-existing 540Ks for conversion into the required form, to wearnewly-designed closed bodywork incorporating full armour protection.This group of suitably powerful and commodious cars was gatheredtogether and consigned to the Daimler-Benz company repair sectionwithin the Stuttgart-Unterturkheim factory complex, where the originalcoachbuilt bodies were removed, the discarded bodies and associatedcomponentry all being returned to the main motor pool in Bad Canstatt,just outside Stuttgart.Meanwhile, in the Daimler-Benz Karosseriewerk body plant atSindelfingen, the required batch of twentyhastily-designed armouredbodies were being fabricated ready for installation upon the assignedrolling chassis. They had in turn been carefully inspected and, wherenecessary, mechanically overhauled before being prepared to accept theredesigned – and inevitably heavy – new closed body units.These were skinned in an external aluminium shell, sheathing 2.3mmthick steel 'armour' plating. The outer aluminium shell had beenspecified to minimize overall weight, compensating for the massiveincrease in underlying steel armour. However, some authorities alsoconsider that the aluminium outer skin was specified not only to saveweight but also to protect against attack by magnetic 'sticky bombs' oranti-armour mines. The cars' running boards were also suppressed bycurved-outward door skirts to prevent an attacking assassin gaining afoothold upon them.A Daimler-Benz design drawing dated July 20, 1942, reveals concernfor additional protection which was provided by double-thicknesssteel plating being applied to the floor, firewall bulkhead and the backof the right-rear seat in which a VIP passenger was most likely to beaccommodated. Car '377'offered here in fact features has full reararmour across its entire width and sides, not just th right side. Perhapsthis was a later development as it is body No19 of the 20 sister AktionPs built? Its lower door sections also have the 2.3mm armour plateincorporated as part of the window-winding assembly. Including theoverall outer bodyshelland under-floor sheathing this effectively tripledprotection against any attack– including by mine.Furthermore, armoured windows and screens were adopted, comprisingno fewer than five laminations of bullet-proof security glass, totaling30mm in thickness and 35mm for the windscreen itself. A recordsurvives which cites the Aktion P armoured Mercedes-Benz (presumablya 540K) provided to propaganda Minister Josef Goebbels as featuring8mm armour protection, an advance from the 'standard' doublethicknessof 'only' 4.6mm. Perhaps he was only a small target butconsidered himself valuable.The re-assembled closed cars were then returned to the Unterturkheimplant were they were given what was effectively a pre-deliveryinspection. A technical board checked the work before the cars weresigned-off and loaded onto rail cars for delivery to the capital, Berlin, fordistribution to each individual vehicle's Government-assigned end users.302 | Goodwood festival of speed