The special vehicle production unit at the Mercedes-Benz Sindelfingen plant was working as far back as the 1930s on pioneering ideas for aerodynamic vehicle bodies. The team under the leadership of design engineer Hermann Ahrens created a high-speed vehicle on the basis of the powerful Mercedes-Benz 540 K for use as a competition vehicle. In 1938 it was used by tyre manufacturer Dunlop as a test vehicle. The car was lost completely for several decades until work by Mercedes-Benz Classic to reconstruct it began in 2011.