Award Winning 500K

By Dalt Nyberg

We at Model Motorcars are always delighted to see the models sporting our components get the recognition they deserve, and few models deserve accolades more than Dalt Nyberg’s version of the Pocher Mercedes cabriolet. No stranger to award winning models, Nyberg’s Mercedes is a reminder to all of us that radical changes are not at the heart of a successful model. What always gets the acclaim from fellow model builders is attention to details. Smooth paint, neat engine compartments, and yummy leather seats help, too, but when it comes to awards, there is always that something extra that is hard to define. In Nyberg’s case, it seems to be balance.

The Pocher Mercedes kits are tricky. For decades, the cabriolet has bewitched and befuddled in equal measure. The Internet has done a lot for its prototype, chassis #130859, which was not well known in the US., but since it came out of Bernie Ecclestone’s collection in 2007 (Automobiles of London, RM Auctions, 2007) lots of photos have appeared. Identified as a Special Cabriolet by the Mercedes folk, and correctly identified by Jan Melin in his Supercharged Eight Cylinder Cars, Volume II, chassis 130859 is quite accurately represented by our Pocher friends. The challenge for Nyberg was to capitalize on that accuracy.

Adding some Model Motorcar doodads always helps, and the whitewalls rarely fail to gather their share of oooo’s and aaaahhhhh’s. But it is the color combination that does the trick. The original colors of the prototype, accurately captured by Pocher, are so familiar that it is no surprise they have limited effect on viewers. Black and tan may have been the bee’s knees in 1935, but the Twenty-First Century begs for more pizzaz. Nyberg chose to go with a rich dark blue and elegant gray leather. Perfectly in keeping with the traditional colors on Thirties era classics, but also a nod to the current era and such show-stoppers as the Warner Brother’s 540K that wow’ed the classic car world in the naughty-aughties. You can hardly go wrong when you bridge the decades.