The 1936 Mercedes-Benz W 25 Rekordwagen was the first car to have its chassis covered with a fully streamlined body. Its shape was tested in the wind tunnel at the zeppelin plant in Friedrichshafen, Germany, and the aluminum body was left unpainted to shine impressively. In 1936, driven by Rudolf Caracciola, the W 25 broke the world land speed record for a vehicle on a public highway, traveling 366.8 km/h over a ten-mile stretch of the autobahn, which had been recently conceived and constructed by the Third Reich (the autobahn would soon serve as a model for the expansion of the United States highway system). The W 125 Rekordwagen, the immediate successor to the W 25, traveled 432.7 km/h on the autobahn in 1938, a record which still stands.

The desire to make this painting developed in conjunction with "1936-A", and similar motivations played a role in its creation.

Third Reich Germany is often regarded as being an anomaly, a uniquely horrible stain on twentieth century world history. Though its singular characteristics and particular atrocities should not be downplayed, it is also misguided to ignore its many similarities with other empires. Ignoring these important similarities limits the lessons that can be learned from studying the period.

The Nazi conquest and holocaust were unfathomably grotesque. So was the European infiltration of the Americas, and the attendant genocide of millions of indigenous inhabitants. The standardization of the culture and the elimination of dissent in Hitler's Germany was appalling. So was that in Stalinist Russia and Mao's China. The Nazis, for many, represent the epitome of an evil society. To be accurate, it must be noted that all empires have shared and do share that evil to some extent.

The tremendous technological achievements that occurred during the Third Reich (which included the development of powerful V-2 rocketry that was launched in the thousands against Allied targets and would be adapted for the United States space program and nuclear missile defense) came about because German society was highly organized around engineering and production. For me, the Mercedes-Benz W 25 Rekordwagen is a demonstration of that social order, and also serves as a reminder of the collusion of corporations with the Nazi Party in particular and with malignant governments in general.