Pope John Paul II

Pope's Mercedes 600 Limousine Comes to the U.S.

Filed under: Luxury Cars & Autos, Events

As part of the 125th anniversary celebrations for Mercedes-Benz, a 1965 Mercedes 600 Pullman landaulet (above) custom built for Pope Paul VI will be on display at the 16th Annual Amelia Island Concours d'Elegance in Florida on March 11–13. The historic vehicle is making its first appearance on U.S. soil as part of a featured Class of Mercedes-Benz 600s at the prestigious event. The 600 Pullman was originally presented in September 1963 at the Frankfurt International Motor Show and quickly became the vehicle of choice among the world's wealthy elite; in addition to the Pope, Elvis Presley, John Lennon, Hugh Hefner and Coco Chanel owned one. The luxe limousine was equipped with Mercedes' first ever V-8 able to reach 0-62 mph in 10 seconds.

This vehicle built for the Pope was specially constructed with an individual seat for the pontiff that could be raised and lowered during the car's procession through crowded streets. An elevated roof, extended rear doors, and raised floor were also fitted along with other special equipment such as bulletproof glass. Over two decades, the car was used by three popes including John Paul I and John Paul II and was returned to Mercedes-Benz's Stuttgart, Germany headquarters in 1985. It comes to Amelia courtesy of the Mercedes-Benz Museum in Stuttgart where it is one of many famous and priceless cars in its collection.

Tags: Amelia Island Concours dElegance, celebrity cars, classic cars, Coco Chanel, Elvis Presley, Hugh Hefner, John Lennon, John Paul II, limousine, Mercedes-Benz, Mercedes-Benz 600, Mercedes-Benz 600 Pullman, Mercedes-Benz Museum, Pope, Pope John Paul II, Pope Paul VI, The Pope

1955 Bentley R Type Continental To Be Sold at Christie's Auction

by Deidre Woollard (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Luxury Cars & Autos

The bloop-fendered beauty shown here, the 1955 Bentley R Type Continental is just one of the cars that will be sold at the Christies auction at Rétromobile Paris in February. Classic Driver has the scoop on a few of the cars which will be auctioned off. The Bentley is estimated at 160,000 to 220,000 euros. Other items up for bid include the ex-Sir Peter Ustinov 1954 Aston Martin DB2/4 DHC, and the ex-Elio de Angelis and Bruno Giacomelli 1979 BMW M1 Procar. There will also be yet another Pope car on the block, this time it's a 1958 FSO Warzsawa, first owned by Karol Jozef Wojtyla, His Holiness Pope John Paul II. The car was ordered by Wojtyla when he was the bishop of Krakow and is estimated to sell for a modest 5,000-15,000 euros.

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Tags: bentley, car auction, christie's, classic cars, pope john paul ii