Classified Ad Detail

1936 500 K Replica, $35,000. ODO shows 10K+ miles. TMU. (Shared at the request of the owner, an MBCA Member, who does not use the MBCA website. Direct all questions to the email and phone number at the bottom of the listing.) Very rich green paint. This is not a kit car. It was a hand-built, high-quality tribute by H.T. Price in 1985, the founder of the Classic Factory in California. This is a full-size recreation, built with near-exact dimensions of the original 500 K, mounted on a heavy-duty custom frame. High-quality fiberglass construction with separate body panels, similar to how the original 500 K was built.

His cars are more authentic to the original in many ways, especially the top of the windshield, which features only glass and no additional frame. Real wire wheels with Mercedes-Benz emblems. Rare. Believed to be one of the 58 cars ever built by Classic Factory. The paint is a rich green, not a gelcoat finish like on the later, lower-quality Heritage cars produced from the same mold.

Folding tan top and interior. Supercharger pipes, dual side cowl lamps, twin trumpet horns, and a center spotlight. All Mercedes-Benz emblems, great-looking chrome accents, a two-piece folding hood, functional roll-up windows, and many other details.

Chrome is looking very good all around the vehicle, with roll-up windows featuring a chromed metal frame and a split windshield. These features give the car a more authentic look. Vintage door handles are also included on every H.T. Price 500 K, unlike the modern square ones found on Heritage 500 K recreations.

H.T. Price-built cars are considered among the most authentic-looking exterior 500 K replicas available, although they are not exact copies. Additionally, this car has two seats instead of the bench seat found in later Heritage-built variants. H.T. Price cars are often praised for their high-quality Wilton wool carpets, nicer door handles, and more headroom. They feature finely finished burl wood accents on the dashboard, steering wheel, center console, and door panels. A full set of seven classic-style gauges is set into the mother-of-pearl-style panel. These cars have slightly wider doors and numerous additional refinements over later Heritage-manufactured cars, following the purchase of the molds from Classic Factory upon the owner's passing.

To cut costs, Heritage completely redesigned the vehicle and removed some of its most beautiful and most authentic features, including the beautiful windshield, interior, door handles, and steel body molding. Heritage subsequently sold many 500 K replicas, later as kit cars, which are still widely available today, but they do not match the quality of the hand-built recreations by H.T. Price. Many of these replicas are lower quality, often featuring a single, thin fiberglass rear, which leads to numerous problems that H.T. Price-built cars do not have.

Complete turnkey H.T. Price 500K cars with top-of-the-line options were sold in the 80s for around $85,000. In 1980, you could have bought two regular-sized homes for the same dollar amount. Adjusted for inflation, that amounts to more than $254,000 in 2025 dollars.

This car was built on a Ford F-150 frame and features running gear. It has a 351 V-8 Ford Windsor engine, automatic transmission, air conditioning, power brakes, and power steering. There is some wear on the driver’s seat from years of enjoyment. A beautiful car to both enjoy and display. Clearly not 100% carbon copy clone of the original, but likely as close as you are going to get without building your own from scratch.

If there are insufficient funds to spend on a multi-million-dollar original, this 500 K replica is just the right solution. Titled in California in 1936. Everyday driver. Starts and runs well. The engine can be maintained and repaired by a Ford mechanic.

Gordon. 954.675.7717 gearle500@gmail.com

(I have seen this car several times in person, it looks fantastic. -DW.)