1. Rolls-Royce Silver Ghost
Vladimir Ilyich Ulyanov, otherwise known as Lenin, refused to succumb to socialist principles when it came to his ride. In fact he ordered no fewer than nine Rolls-Royces, including this Silver Ghost fitted with half-tracks for the snow season.
2. ZiL ZIS 110
Stalin, Lenin’s successor, recognised the political value of a local limo so in 1946 he had the Soviet company ZiL reverse engineer a 1942 Packard Super Eight, thereby creating the ZiL ZIS-110. His personal heavily armoured version weighed in at almost 7.5 tonnes.
3. Mercedes-Benz 770K ‘Großer’
The Mercedes-Benz 770 (or the Großer - large) is still most commonly associated with high-ranking Nazi officials before and during World War II. Hitler had many, as did his wartime ally, Hirohito, who ordered a total of seven armoured 770K’s.
4. Chrysler Crown Imperial
The Imperial was such a good car that it became Chrysler’s prestige brand between 1955 and 1975. Some of its famous owners included the Dominican dictator - Trujillo, Juan Péron and Sukarno of Indonesia. When production shifted to Spain, Franco bought dozens.
6. Lancia Astura
Mussolini’s favourite brand was Alfa Romeo and he loved the lavish V8 Astura models, going so far as to commission Pininfarina to design him a special cabriolet. Mysteriously, when he fell from power he fled in a Fiat but as you know he didn’t get too far.
6. Mercedes-Benz 600 Pullman
Everyone had a 600: Romania’s Nicolae Ceauşescu, Yugoslavia’s Josip Broz-Tito, Cuba’s Fidel Castro, Cambodia’s Pol Pot, Albania’s Enver Hoxha, Korea’s Kim Il-sung, Uganda’s Idi Amin Dada and the Iranian Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi. Enough said.
