Belloq and the Nazis are run off the road.
This Mercedes-Benz 320 was a long black Nazi staff car belonging to Colonel Dietrich, driven by a blond driver. When the Nazis attempted to move the Ark of the Covenant from Tanis to Cairo, Dietrich along with Belloq and Toht were chauffeured in the black staff car. When Indiana Jones overtook the convoy and gained control of the Mercedes cargo truck carrying the Ark, he forced the staff car off the road multiple times. Remarkably, the car survived the chase with little to no damage and carried Belloq and his Nazi cohorts safely into Cairo, where they subsequently lost track of Jones.
Behind the scenes
- Dietrich's staff car is a mockup of a vintage 1937 Mercedes, built on the chassis of a 1960 Jaguar Mark IX with a (then-modern) 285hp Jaguar engine.
- Of the vehicles used in the desert chase, only this one is depicted consistently in the various adaptations of the film (comic, novelization, etc.). However, the guidebook for LEGO Indiana Jones: The Original Adventures erroneously refers to it as a Rolls-Royce.