Hitler's Gift Cars - Presents from the Führer

[Music] some dictators said it with flowers others with flowery language but when it came to sealing diplomatic alliances Adolf Hitler said it with cars throughout the 1930s and 40s Hitler presented cars to many leaders that he wished to Cozy up to and not just in Europe but all across the world it made sense to give them cars for Germany was the nation that had invented the car and was and still is renowned for the quality of those vehicles so it is no surprise that Hitler chose his favorite manufacturer Mercedes-Benz to give away as gifts Hitler only used custom-built Mercedes-Benz limousines as His official Vehicles huge heavily armored 550k and 770k limousines all painted midnight blue and designed to withstand Small Arms fire or bomb damage now a quick word from our sponsor cold turkey may be great on sandwiches but there's a better way to break your bad habits we're not talking about some weird mind voodoo from your crazy neighbor we're talking about our sponsor fume and they look at the problem in a different way fume is an Innovative award-nominated device that does just that instead of electronics fume is completely natural instead of vapor fume uses flavored air and instead of harmful chemicals fume uses all natural delicious flavors it's a habit you're free to enjoy and makes replacing your bad habit easy your fume comes with an adjustable airflow dial and is designed with movable pads and magnets for fidgeting giving your fingers a lot to do which is helpful for de-stressing and anxiety while breaking your habit it feels great it's well weighted perfectly balanced and extremely fun to fidget with join fume in accelerating Humanity's breakup from destructive Habits by picking up the journey pack today head to trifum.com Mark Felton to get 10 off when you get the journey pack today in 1934 he presented a 500K Autobahn Courier to the Shah or emperor of Iran who also love cars one of only six built by Mercedes-Benz the Shahs cream and green 500k is today the only one of its kind in existence the other five examples all being destroyed in World War II Mercedes attempted to buy the Shah's car after he was deposed in 1979 Keen to have it in their own museum but Iran refused and today it is one of the star attractions of the Iran historical car museum in Tehran The Collection almost entirely assembled from the fleet of expensive vehicles that the Shah and master and his reign in 1935 Hitler received a very unusual visitor in Indian prince who was very keen to meet him Maharaja bhupinda Singh was the princely ruler of the Indian state of patiala an immensely Rich area the north of British India the Maharaja love luxury and in particular cars having a fleet of 24 rolls royces he also traveled frequently and in 1935 was in Germany and demanded a meeting with Hitler the fuhrer grudgingly agreed to meet scheduling a simple 15-minute hello but this turned into a one-hour chat ler seemed to form some kind of notion that perhaps allying with the Maharaja in the event of war between Germany and Great Britain was possible two further meetings took place Hitler ordered a very rare 1933 Maybach ds-8 Zeppelin limousine to be sent to the Maharaja as a token of his friendship the five and a half meter long car could accommodate seven passengers the white 12-liter Maybach was duly shipped to patiala but the death of the Maharaja in 1938 at the age of only 46 and the outbreak of World War II A year later meant that for the rulers of patiala now at war with Germany as India was part of the British Empire the beautiful Maybach was an embarrassment it was placed in storage at the mortabag palace had eventually given away as a gift to a prominent patiala official after the war it passed through several owners until sold at auction in Denmark in 2015 for several million dollars to an anonymous buyer in 1938 Hitler gifted another Splendid motor car to a monarch this time as a wedding gift to a possible future Ally Egypt was not formally part of the British Empire but since 1882 it had been informally known as the Veil protectorate the primary reasons were these strategically vital sewers Canal the drastically reduced the journey time between the UK and India and Britain's other Asian colonies and also the important British Naval Base at Alexandria British forces would remain in Egypt until 1956. Hitler was probably thinking ahead to war with Britain and how to undermine certain parts of the British Empire as he had with the Maharaja of patiala when he sent King faruch the first of Egypt a Mercedes 540k like the Shah of Iran Farooq was car mad and spent vast sums on acquiring a huge collection of luxury Vehicles While most of his subjects lived in poverty with a supercharged 180 horsepower 5401 cc engine the 540k had a top speed in excess of 100 miles per hour and the car received an honored place in farook's enormous range of over a hundred luxury Vehicles it was repainted red as the king liked all of his cars to be read and indeed he banned all commoners from owning red cars the interior and the hood were of beige leather Farooq was forced to abdicate in 1952 living in Exile in Monaco and Italy his incredible car collection left behind in Cairo the 540k remained untouched and in storage until 1988 when the Egyptian government put it up for auction it being purchased by a French collector in 1996 it was sent to Germany to be restored it still retains 90 percent of its original parts today in May 2006 farook's 540k was auctioned in Monaco selling for just under a million euros in 1939 Hitler gifted another Mercedes to an hereditary ruler this time at one of the world's most inaccessible places the Himalayas Nepal is a small landlocked country in the high Himalayas between Tibet and India since 1816 its famous Gurkha Hill tribesmen have served voluntarily in the British armies most notably in World War one and two and continue to serve today in both the British and Indian armies the king of Nepal had traditionally had a good relationship with the British however Hitler presented a Mercedes-Benz to Judah Rana King tribal Vans hereditary prime minister in an effort to keep Nepal out of the coming war between Germany and Britain like the king the prime ministers of Nepal were hereditary and extremely powerful he was brought to Nepal by the unusual expedient of being carried across mountains and rivers by 60 Porters on a huge bamboo raft as no paved roads existed at the time outside of the capital Kathmandu the Prime Minister and the King used the Mercedes until the King's death in 1955. after which it was placed in storage and was lastly given to a technical college to help train mechanics it ended up Rusty and neglected and somewhat damaged in storage at narayanhiti Palace until the abolition of the monarchy in 2008. the government announced that the car may be restored for public display at the palace which is now a museum one of the most notable Gifts of a car by Hitler during World War II was a Mercedes given to finland's leader Marshall Gustav Mannheim the huge 770k armored limousine the same as that used by Hitler himself was given to Manheim to thank him for allying Finland with Nazi Germany against the Soviet Union Finland having fought a bitter winter war against the Soviets losing some of its territory in the process with the coming invasion of the Soviet Union Mannheim saw an opportunity to regain those lost territories and therefore supported Nazi Germany and though they did recover the lost Finnish territory the Finn's Advanced no further the 20-foot long midnight blue car was used to carry Hitler to and from the airport when he visited Finland in 1942 among the rarest cars in the world mannheim's 770k Walser w150 orphaner Turin wagen weighs 5 tons it is identical to Hitler's armored 770ks for the simple reason that it was originally built for the fuhrer Mannheim later broke with Germany and made peace with the Soviets in 1944. the Hitler car was therefore a bit of an embarrassment and it was sold off to a Swedish businessman after World War II he in turn sold it to an American in 1948 who brought it to the U.S where it was misidentified as Hitler's personal car and in this guys toured the U.S for over a decade raising hundreds of thousands of dollars for charity today it is owned and displayed by The Lion Air Museum's Automotive section in Orange County California Hitler would gift other Mercedes-Benz 770ks some armored some standard models to various European allies and Friends during the war including martial eon antonesco of Romania General Francisco Franco of Spain and the leader of the protectorate of bohemia and Moravia Emil Haka the latter car is currently owned by the wheatcroft collection in the UK while a Mercedes-Benz Cabriolet F used by Haka originally was in Norway during the German occupation probably belonging to the Reich Commissioner of Norway Joseph to Balvin today it is in museum in Prague regarding Norway two Mercedes 770ks were there during the war one notoriously gifted to VidCon quizling the leader of Norway The Liberation of Norway in 1945 saw quizling's car become in effect toxic property quizling would be executed for his collaboration with the Nazis though put up for sale for an astonishingly low price no one wanted to buy quizling's 770k and this stunning car was scrapped the second 770k that was in Norway at the end of the war had been used by General Nicolaus Von falkenhorst who commanded German troops in the country and it was given to the king of Norway for his use after the war it was eventually sold to an American collector and today this car is also in the United States many thanks for watching please subscribe and share and also visit my audiobook Channel War stories with Mark Felton you can also help to support both of my channels at PayPal and patreon details in the description box below [Music]

Channel: Mark Felton Productions

Views: 299,357

Keywords: Mark Felton, Mercedes, Shah of Iran, King of Egypt, King of Nepal, Mannerheim, Finland, Ion Antonescu, Patiala, India, Francisco Franco, Emil Hacha

Id: gX5Dzu85wzc

Length: 11min 41sec (701 seconds)

Published: Wed Mar 29 2023