The Cadillac-badged presidential state car is arguably still the most well-known car in the world, but the cultural cachet of the limousine seems to be fading. To be fair, you could probably count the number of limousines that can protect their occupants from chemical weapons attacks on one hand. Coincidentally, the wealthiest people on the planet operate their own private space programs and are wary about the public knowing about how often they fly on their private jets.
We asked our readers last week for the wildest limo conversions you’ve ever seen. The responses paint a picture that barely anyone has seen a limousine and their only point of reference is popular media. The most popular responses were machines cobbled together for Clarkson, Hammond and May on “Top Gear.” While there’s nothing wrong with those limousines, we seen them in reruns and YouTube compilations again and again for years. Without further ado, here are the stretch conversations that caused more than one double-take:
Wagons can be limousines too
Jetway 707 Airport Limousine. 6-wheeled, 8-door wagon built from an Oldsmobile Toronado. Cleveland Power and Performance is restoring one.
Submitted by: Carey Mahoney
Who isn’t sucker for a good delta wing TV antenna?
2nd Gen Cadillac Seville Limo. There used to be one that worked around Toronto – white without the Continental kit shown below, but with one of those delta wing TV antennas. Perfect for the Miami Vice era.
Submitted by: EyeCorumba
A Corvette with a ridiculous turning radius
C5 Corvette in the Chicago suburbs back in 2013.
Submitted by: cdoggyd
The ultimate ride for a Joe Gibbs Racing fan
I saw a Grand Prix limo like this painted and decaled like the Bobby Labonte-driven, Joe Gibbs Racing Interstate Batteries Pontiac. I believe they had a Home Depot Pontiac, too. I would see them hauling around VIP’s around the track at NASCAR races. It would not surprise me if the one in the picture was one of those. Why else would you make a Pontiac Grand Prix limo?
Submitted by: trailbilly
Spotting a Leaf limo in Tennessee
In 2012 or 2013, I was staying at an Embassy Suites in Franklin, TN. They had a Nissan Leaf Limo! The Nissan HQ was about a block away from the hotel, so I guess there was some kind of agreement with.
Submitted by: John Schaefer (Ignorant Utopia)
Bumping into the Gipper after he almost got bumped off
It wasn’t a weird car, but it was very memorable…
1981
My dad had a corner lot on a subdivision that was about a mile from Mt. Vernon in Alexandria, VA. My dad loved trees and our lot was covered up in trees, especially Sweet Gum Trees that dropped these nasty hard balls all year long.
Hidden deep in the subdivision is an old luxury home that is right on the Potomac. If you don’t know it’s there, it’s hard to find the entrance to it.
I was an older kid/young teen and had to mow the lawn, which was basically mowing the ditches since grass didn’t grow in the shade. I was mowing the ditch one day, when suddenly many (6?) black limos appeared and roared into the subdivision. (They were all Caddies I think.) Show over, I finished a pass and turned around to mow away from the corner. When I turned around to come back, I noticed that one of the limos had stopped and there were two larger men in black suits with sunglasses standing around on the corner.
And that’s when I hit a gum ball. The mower hit it, made a loud crack noise and sent it off to parts unknown (shockingly not my shins). Both men reached into their jackets and crouched before they realized it was just a lawnmowing kid with bruised shins.
1981 is when the President was shot in the spring. When he was released from the hospital, he went to an “undisclosed location” to recover for several weeks. I know where that was.
Submitted by: hoser68
A Volvo can be a limo too
One of the mildest but oddest limos has to be the Volvo stretch that I used to see near my home in Northern NJ, which was located near Volvo’s HQ. I believe they were 740’s or maybe 940’s back then. Sorta the antithesis of who would have a stretch.
Submitted by: monsterajr1
A limo found in a Detroit junkyard
I was in a junkyard in Detroit in the 90s, we found an ’83/’84ish K-car New Yorker stretched extra 6 feet with all the fittings in plush blue Valore. It had this glass partition with the Chrysler emblem etched in it, so obviously from Auburn Hills. Open the hood, thinking maybe turbo. Nope, base 2.2lt non-turbo. That thing had to be SLOW.
Submitted by: XXLTall
