Hitler's car in lap of luxury

KATHMANDU - A car given to the King of Nepal by Adolf Hitler is among the more unlikely items that will fill a museum being established in the palace once occupied by the former royal family.

The 1939 Mercedes-Benz was donated by the Nazi leader to King Tribhuvan, the grandfather of King Gyanendra, the last of Nepal's monarchs. For the past three years the car has been rusting in the grounds of the Narayanhiti palace.

It was used by an engineering college to train mechanics but it no longer had enough money or the spare parts to restore the antique car.

A lot of effort went into getting the car to Kathmandu in 1940. Because there were no proper roads, scores of labourers carried it for several days from Nepal's southern plains to the capital. The king used it until his death in 1955

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