Actually, no. The man with the rolled-up shirt sleeves in a visibly good mood is responsible for the accident – but he didn’t put the car out of action due to greed or bloodlust… simply curiosity. Professor Huber is his name, and he was responsible for crash testing at Daimler. He’s seen here in Sindelfingen in 1966, at a rollover test to assess door opening forces with a Mercedes-Benz 250 S. The result seems to be positive. However, two details still make us suspicious: is his smile perhaps tinged – ever so slightly – with the pleasure of wanton destruction? And where the hell did he find such cool sunglasses in Stuttgart in the 1960s?

Photo: Mercedes-Benz Archive