2nd-hand Popemobile, also used by Neil Armstrong, for sale
Pontiff-tastic bubbletop limo carried many Apollo 'nauts
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A remarkable car which was used by Pope Paul VI during visits to New York and Bogotá and which carried Apollo moon astronauts including Neil Armstrong is to go on sale later this week.
The modified stretch Lincoln Continental was produced by Chicago custom firm Lehmann-Peterson in 1965 at the special request of the Vatican to convey Pope Paul VI through New York to address the United Nations on World Peace. It is a cool 13 feet four inches wide [correction - that's the wheelbase - ed] and 21 feet long, and originally had various special features including "exterior step plates and handrails for security, additional interior seating for aides and prelates, a raised seat for the Pontiff, supplemental interior lighting, public address system [and] auxiliary power from a bank of seven batteries".
The mighty Pontiff-mobile apparently performed flawlessly during the Papal visit to New York. It was then lent to the city of Chicago, where it was used during parades for visiting celebrities and dignitaries (though the bubble top and special Pope chair were removed).
Then in 1968 the Vatican called the car back into service at short notice for the Pope's visit to Bogotá for the 39th Eucharistic Congress, causing something of a panic as the special papal fittings had been damaged by a roof collapse while in storage in Chicago. However a crash effort saw the holy roller restored to Pontiffical configuration and modified to deal with the 8,600-foot altitude of Bogotá: the latter issue required "extensive engine modifications, aviation gasoline from the Colombian Air Force and a comprehensive kit of tools and spare parts". Again the massive car performed flawlessly.
Back in Chicago the Continental achieved perhaps even greater secular glory as it was used to carry astronauts from the Apollo 8, 11, 13 and 15 missions. These included first man on the Moon Neil Armstrong and (twice) Jim Lovell, who served as Command Module Pilot on Apollo 8 and (most famously) as commander on the ill-fated, almost disastrous Apollo 13 mission.
Since retirement from service as a special-uses vehicle, the car has been kept in a variety of collections. It goes under the hammer with auctioneers Bonhams in California tomorrow, with all of its special pope gear included, and is expected to fetch between $250-300k.
Details are available from Bonhams here, and Gizmag has a good photo collection here. ®
COMMENTS
I really hope that
it has a 'Pope Mode' button on the dashboard.
Important buyer's questions...
What's the fuel economy like? Does it qualify for zero road tax? Does it turn water into petrol, or do you need the Pope in the back for that? Can I use the bus lanes in it?
You have to admit that it looks better than the Fiat Panda or whatever it was with the greenhouse on the back in the 80s...
Pinging
I've had first-hand experience with a taxi ride from Cali to Popayan (Colombia, indeed) in a clapped-out 20-ish-year old land barge, probably a Chevrolet. I'm not sure what it ran on, but low-double-digits octane would probably be unjustly optimistic. At least it was mixed 50/50 with hope, perseverance and swearing.
Whenever power was needed, which was quite often with the road going up and down hills and even slower traffic present, an entire xylophone orchestra would come alive under the bonnet.
Still, we managed not to break down somewhere halfway.
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