1928 Mercedes-Benz 680S Torpedo Roadster
1928 Mercedes-Benz 680S Torpedo Roadster, Soon after the merger of Mercedes and Benz, the two started developing the world's fastest sports cars and the Saoutchik Torpedo Roadster on the 680 "Typ S" chassis is one of them. Fortunately, some customers agreed to order Mercedes-Benz's finest chassis to send it to Carrosserie J. Saoutchik, of Paris, France. Saoutchik described the car as ‘Torpedo-Sport 4 places, J.Saoutchik, type Cannes’.
At the time Mercedes-Benz had their own Sindelfingen factory for producing bodywork which was generally superior to anything else on the market. Saoutchik was probably the only independent body builder that could rival the best from Mercedes. He used exotic materials such as Purpleheart wood trim and lizard-skin upholstery.
In Paris, Jaques Saoutchik created easily his most striking pre-war car on the 680 S-type chassis. The design took advantage of the Type 680's low slung chassis and did without running boards. Furthermore a low windshield, tasteful copper-nickel alloy accents and a sophisticated disappearing top added dramatic effect to sporting character of the chassis.
Inside, these cars were crafted to include intricate wood appointments, a giant wood-rimmed Mercedes-Benz steering wheel and reptile-skin upholstery that required over 600 hides.
Originally Saoutchik bodied 18 Torpedo Roadsters, 12 on the 680 S-Type chassis and six rarer short-wheel-base verions on the SS-type chassis.
Feature Car
Our feature car was first built by Carrosserie J. Saoutchik in August of 1928, but didn't find an owner until after it was displayed at the 1929 New York Auto Show. Afterward it was purchased by the Bedford family who retained it until the 1980s.
At that time the car was lightly restored by Gus Reuter for the Bedford family in the colors of yellow with plain red leather upholstery. It sat this saw for two decades in the Owls Head Transportation Museum and was eventually offered for public sale at Cristies Sale of Collectors' Motorcars on August 17th 2006 at the Monterey Jet Center and sold for $3,645,000 USD. Later it was shipped to Europe and sold at the Bonhams' 2008 Automobiles d'Exception at the Retromobile Salon for €2,100,000.
At this point an exacting restoration was started by Paul Russell and Company to return the car back to original specification in April of 2010. Before starting they found the car to be highly original, with matching numbers and correct Saoutchik stampings throughout the trim and wooden body frame.
Special attention was paid to recreate some of the trim in 80/20 copper-nickel alloy and researching two other cars to correctly match the lizard-skin interior.
The resulting restoration was shown at the 2012 Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance where it was was awarded 100 points and went on to take the Best of Show title.
At the time Mercedes-Benz had their own Sindelfingen factory for producing bodywork which was generally superior to anything else on the market. Saoutchik was probably the only independent body builder that could rival the best from Mercedes. He used exotic materials such as Purpleheart wood trim and lizard-skin upholstery.
In Paris, Jaques Saoutchik created easily his most striking pre-war car on the 680 S-type chassis. The design took advantage of the Type 680's low slung chassis and did without running boards. Furthermore a low windshield, tasteful copper-nickel alloy accents and a sophisticated disappearing top added dramatic effect to sporting character of the chassis.
Inside, these cars were crafted to include intricate wood appointments, a giant wood-rimmed Mercedes-Benz steering wheel and reptile-skin upholstery that required over 600 hides.
Originally Saoutchik bodied 18 Torpedo Roadsters, 12 on the 680 S-Type chassis and six rarer short-wheel-base verions on the SS-type chassis.
Feature Car
Our feature car was first built by Carrosserie J. Saoutchik in August of 1928, but didn't find an owner until after it was displayed at the 1929 New York Auto Show. Afterward it was purchased by the Bedford family who retained it until the 1980s.
At that time the car was lightly restored by Gus Reuter for the Bedford family in the colors of yellow with plain red leather upholstery. It sat this saw for two decades in the Owls Head Transportation Museum and was eventually offered for public sale at Cristies Sale of Collectors' Motorcars on August 17th 2006 at the Monterey Jet Center and sold for $3,645,000 USD. Later it was shipped to Europe and sold at the Bonhams' 2008 Automobiles d'Exception at the Retromobile Salon for €2,100,000.
At this point an exacting restoration was started by Paul Russell and Company to return the car back to original specification in April of 2010. Before starting they found the car to be highly original, with matching numbers and correct Saoutchik stampings throughout the trim and wooden body frame.
Special attention was paid to recreate some of the trim in 80/20 copper-nickel alloy and researching two other cars to correctly match the lizard-skin interior.
The resulting restoration was shown at the 2012 Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance where it was was awarded 100 points and went on to take the Best of Show title.
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