Tuesday, March 27, 2007

Rides of Heads of State (Part 15)

I'm done! It worked out that the last six cars in this series ended up being those of Eastern Europeans and one very eccentric Icelander (and no, it's not the prime minister).

95. Hungary. The prez rides in an A8. Is it able to catch up to the 7 series in the final tally?

96. Bulgaria. The prez rides in an S-class. No question, the Merc S-class is THE number one choice of world leaders.

97. Romania. Ditto with the S-class for the Romanian prez.

98. Slovenia. The Slovenian president rides in an A8. In my research, I've been surprised at the Audi's strong showing. It does not quite have the numbers to catch the BMW, though.

99. Iceland. The prime minister's office never responded to my query. By happenstance, I ran across an Icelandic blog which described the current president's ride as a 1980s black Cadillac sedan with "1" on his license plate. Iceland's choice in cars has always been different. 1000 horsepower dune buggies climb 85 degree inclines. Bigfoot sized tires are fitted onto Land Cruisers so that they can trek across the ice. But the 1980s Caddy takes the cake.

100. Slovakia. I end the list with the president of Slovakia, Ivan Gasparovic. This character has been racing cars for over 30 years. He continues to race, and even suffered a car wreck around the track while in office. Though he does not ride to work in his SEAT race car, it is worth noting here. Note that both of these pictures can be found in the Slovak President's official website, under the heading "The President in Casual Clothing." Cheers.


Final tally:
S-class: 35
7 series: 11
Land Cruiser: 8
Maybach: 6
A8: 6
Phaeton: 4
Caddy: 3
G-wagen: 2
Holden: 2
Jag: 2
ZIL: 2

One of each of the following: Lancia, Hyundai, Skoda, A6, Peugeot, Renault, Lincoln, VW van, London taxi, Daimler, Suburban, Toyota Century, Hongqi, Bentley, Rolls, Ford Fairlane, Aston Martin, Touareg, SEAT

CKY

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

The Slovakian president uses a Mercedes S-Class. And Iceland used to have a Cadillac Fleetwood and a Toyota Land Cruiser, but now the Caddy is replaced with a Lexus LS.