Rare Rides: A Luxurious Limo Built to Please Putin

Corey Lewis
by Corey Lewis

Do you enjoy luxury? Do you like prestige and exclusivity of the highest order? How about leather, wood, and lighted barware? Well, it’s all available to you today, and you don’t even have to visit Trump Tower.

Our last Rare Ride was a surprisingly tasteful and discrete Hurst/Oldsmobile Intrigue 442. For this Rare Rides entry, I wanted to find something a little less subtle. I had an image in my head: attending the finest embassy function this side of Dubai in a vehicle that would also be suitable for conducting a dockside black caviar business deal.

And Hemmings delivered.

The superb automobile which just made you covetous is the ZIL-4112R. This very vehicle was designed in the heart of Russia, to suit the demands of President Vladimir Putin.

The only one of its kind, it was built by two divisions of ZIL: Depot ZIL and AMO ZIL. Presumably one company designed the roof and the other did the body, as they bear very little relation to one another.

Swing open the barn doors, however, and the interior design is another thing altogether. An utterly harmonious blend of beige leather and precious wood trim, according to the listing. It would appear the limousine seats four persons of the highest dignity.

But wait! At the press of a button, two more seats reveal themselves from the generous wood-clad centerboard, allowing six patrons of the Party to travel in style, should the owner trust two additional comrades with such close proximity.

Lighted crystal decanters display and house the finest cognac, should a passenger desire such refreshment. If the need arises during the journey, executive orders can be signed on one of the polished tray tables.

The fairly paid driver of this conveyance will dictate travel from up front, where an integrated shift lever has been embedded in a solid plank of rare wood.

Complex jeweled headlamp assemblies light the way ahead, in case any of the proletariat wander into the road in a state of wonderment after sighting such a proud 8,300-pound conveyance. The ad copy sums up the vehicle in a way your humble author cannot:

Its properties and user comfort is superior to all known today similar models, including the Cadillac, Rolls-Royce and Maybach. Incomparable to anything softness and smooth ride. Verily royal luxury.

It’s yours for $1,200,000 (OBO).

[Images via Hemmings]

Corey Lewis
Corey Lewis

Interested in lots of cars and their various historical contexts. Started writing articles for TTAC in late 2016, when my first posts were QOTDs. From there I started a few new series like Rare Rides, Buy/Drive/Burn, Abandoned History, and most recently Rare Rides Icons. Operating from a home base in Cincinnati, Ohio, a relative auto journalist dead zone. Many of my articles are prompted by something I'll see on social media that sparks my interest and causes me to research. Finding articles and information from the early days of the internet and beyond that covers the little details lost to time: trim packages, color and wheel choices, interior fabrics. Beyond those, I'm fascinated by automotive industry experiments, both failures and successes. Lately I've taken an interest in AI, and generating "what if" type images for car models long dead. Reincarnating a modern Toyota Paseo, Lincoln Mark IX, or Isuzu Trooper through a text prompt is fun. Fun to post them on Twitter too, and watch people overreact. To that end, the social media I use most is Twitter, @CoreyLewis86. I also contribute pieces for Forbes Wheels and Forbes Home.

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  • Sector 5 Sector 5 on Feb 22, 2017

    Bottom belchers would be a challenge to conceal in this ride. Unless the speakers can cancel them out. Is the owner's manual in English-speaking?

  • Shortest Circuit Shortest Circuit on Feb 23, 2017

    Lucky they did not pop open the hood. Last I've seen this... thing... was five years ago on a public presentation (imagine, the press allowed to ask questions!) and it was less, than impressive. Yes, the interior is nice, b/c it was built by Carat Security (fmr. Carat Duchatelet). The engine bay looked straight from the '70s, with stamped-steel reservoirs and a very simplistic Bosch Motronic EFI system, and the wipers would tangle if you switched them any higher than off. This is a warmed-over 70s leaf-sprung barge with rear drum brakes.

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