A 1928 Mercedes-Benz SSK Rennwagen, chassis 36246, has won Best in Show at the Concours of Elegance at Hampton Court Palace. The award was decided by the owners of the competing cars themselves, who selected the German competition machine from the event's carefully curated field of historic vehicles.
The winning car is an early competition SSK with a seven-litre supercharged M06 straight-six and a four-speed gearbox. Mercedes-Benz developed the SSK as a shorter, lighter and more agile evolution of the S, giving it the versatility to compete in road races and hill climbs.
Chassis 36246 has an unusually rich South American competition history. It was delivered to Argentina and became associated with drivers Julio Berndt and Carlos Zatuszek. In 1929 it competed in the 500 Millas Argentinas and the Córdoba Grand Prix. The car remained active in South American motorsport for decades, with its racing career continuing until 1958.
The SSK moved to North America in 1967. A comprehensive restoration followed in 1995 and 1996, preserving the character of the historic competition car. According to the Concours of Elegance, its 2026 appearance at Hampton Court was the first time the car had been shown at a British concours event.
That background makes the Best in Show result particularly notable. Concours fields are often dominated by coachbuilt luxury cars, rare grand tourers and one-off showpieces. Here, the top honour went to a machine conceived primarily for competition and whose early life was spent racing far from Europe.
The SSK is one of the best-known pre-war Mercedes-Benz performance cars, but chassis 36246 stands apart because of its specific documented career. Its rarity is only part of the story. The combination of period competition use, decades of activity in South America and preservation of its racing identity helps explain why the other entrants chose it as the strongest car in the 2026 Hampton Court field.