Hitler’s close confidant, Hermann Göring, a high-ranking Officer in the Nazi party, was widely known for his sumptuously rich lifestyle and interest in collecting precious valuables.
He was also interested in expensive motor cars, particularly a lavishly customised Mercedes-Benz 540K.
The ‘standard’ 540K was considered one of the most distinguished and opulent motor cars of its time.
Apart from an array of personal adornments, Herman’s 540 was armour-plated and had bullet-proof glass.
In 1937, Reichsmarschall Hermann Göring had his 540K painted in his favourite colour, ‘Luftwaffe Blue’, with his family crest on both doors.
The 540K was known as Göring’s Parade Car or the ‘Blue Goose.’
Once World War 2 had ended, numerous of Göring’s possessions and assets, including his precious Blue Goose, were forcibly seized by the Allied forces.
US soldiers commandeered the 540K in 1945 at Hitler’s villa in Berchtesgaden on the last day of the war.
The car was repainted in olive drab green with an Army star on the bonnet and became the personal vehicle of Colonel John A. Heintges, the commander of the 7th Infantry.
Near the end of the eleven years of US occupation of Germany, the car was sold as surplus to a US Army staff sergeant.
Oh, how the mighty have fallen.
