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At one point during its long life in the Baltics the car was ear-marked forconversion into a tractor substitute. Its original engine was at anotherstage exchanged with that of a half-sister500K surviving in Tallinn,whose engine had failed. That special one-off roadster survives today inthe US and '377' currently carries original engine No '102.84.105351'from it. To make '377' mobile short-term, a Volvo engine was installedwhile the damaged sister 540K power unit joined the aggregation ofparts stored in the barns.The full story of its 1990s rediscovery and extraction from Estoniawas related in great detail, if with rather confusing use of intentionallymisleading information, in the October 1996 issue of the leadingAmerican magazine 'Car & Driver'. In essence the car's presentvendor, a leading figure in that considerable drama, summarises thestory as follows:"The old Soviet Union had been dissolved by the end of 1991, and theBaltic States of Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia had become independent.It was then that we made five trips to Russia, primarily St Petersburgand Moscow, looking for any interesting pieces to acquire. We finallyheard of this car in Estonia, and eventually we were taken to see it by acouple of local guys who knew of its existence. We were taken way outinto a rural region where we wound up outside a couple of stone barns."There was nobody around, only a dog barking a warning. Our guidestold us it was OK to look and the first barn was just full of scrap metaljunk, cycle frames, all sorts, and we didn't find any car there. I finallyclimbed over a stack of debris about five feet high and finally saw the topof an old car body. That was the 540K's."I managed to burrow down and I was actually the first to sit inside it,probably for many years. I could see the armour plate exposed inside.We found the chassis frame leaning against a barn wall and found theserial number on it."Eventually the owner came and we told him we were interested inbuying – but he explained he had no desire to sell it because he had 'noreal use for money'. He was content with the way he lived, and whatgood would mere money do him? A few weeks later we returned on asecond visit, and a relationship started to develop with him. We foundhe had a young daughter who was learning to speak English at her localschool. I then suggested that while he wasn't interested in selling hisinteresting car for money, might funding his daughter's further educationat an international school in the United States be more attractive?"We spent a week discussing various propositions, and this onebegan to appeal to him as a way of improving his only daughter's lifeprospects. I had a cell phone with me, one of those early ones the sizeof a housebrick, and managed to get a call through to a lady friend athome who began researching American language schools for us. Shechecked out the visa requirements and all the logistics and was able toconfirm it would be possible."I rigged that cell-phone to a printer out in the open on the farmlandgrass and unbelievably got an application form faxed to us right there.We filled it in with father and daughter, and before that week was outthe American school had confirmed she had a place. We talked overthe arrangement until 3 or 4 in the morning, her parents believed therewas little future for their daughter at home compared to what she couldachieve after an American education – and so, in return for our acquiringall the parts of the dismantled 540K, agreement was reached which didnot involve any direct payment to the farmer.41In Estonia with the previous owner Hendrek Kukk, thisimages was taken in the 1970’s, Kukk owned the car from1972 until selling it to the current owner in 1992.2This image was likely taken during the 1970s. The originalphotograph is in the history file on the car.3This image was likely taken in the 1950s and shows thecar in relatively good condition. It is interesting to note thatthe left-hand head lamp displays a cracked lens, exactly asit appears today. The original photograph is in the historyfile.4An Aktion P photographed outside the Mercedes-Benzfactory, prior to delivery.Motor Cars | 305