Before the VW Beetle made the rear-engined layout popular, it was actually Mercedes that had a mass produced car out before Hitler did. The German marque made a total of three rear-engined models, namely the 130, 150 and 170H – the latter was offered as both front- or rear-engined.
The video we found and posted below deals with the first of these, the 130. It was manufactured between 1934 and 1936 and was actually quite advanced in some areas – it had, for instance, a kind of independent suspension on all four corners, although it still ran a 1.3-liter sidevalve engine, which means it was (and still is) probably prone to smoking.
These rear-engined Mercedes are really unique not only for having the engine hanging way out back, but also for looking quite quirky and different, even by the automaker’s standard of the time.