Prince Reza Pahlavi, the oldest son of the Shah of Iran, Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, and Queen Farah Diba, liked cars from the beginning. By the time he turned 10, his father, who had the world's most exotic collection of cars, brought him over a dozen different types of custom-made pedal cars that included replicas of Alfa Romeo, Aston Martin, Maserati, etc..

As he turned 12, the West German Chancellor, Willy Brandt, wanted to present him with a special gift. So Brandt asked all the three top manufacturers, Mercedes, Porsche, and Volkswagen, to come up with something special. Little did Brandt know that they would collaborate for the first time in history and make something more special as well as the world’s most expensive toy.

The new single-seater leisure car was called the MPV (Mercedes + Porsche + Volkswagen) and was given the title "Tehran" type. The body of the car was constructed out of a modified body of the Mercedes Benz C111, while the engine was an air-cooled one from Volkswagen, and Porsche provided the gearbox, fuel injection system, and brakes.

This car, with an output of 80 hp, had two speed limits that was controlled with the help of different sets of ignition keys: silver and gold. The silver key would allow the car to be driven to a maximum speed of 30 km/hr, while inserting the gold key would herald the car to a maximum speed of 170 km/hr.

The car was presented by the then German Ambassador to the Prince (also known as Reza Pahlavi II) on the 31st of October, 1972. Today this car sits in the Iran Historical Car Museum, in Tehran.