I recently came across a survivor-condition 1970s Dodge Dart, in the usual shade of brown–and I’d be willing to bet money there’s a slant six engine under the hood. The automotive equivalent of sensible shoes? After all, nothing says solid financial restraint like an old Dart, but limousines are practically synonymous with wretched excess. What is more contradictory than a humble limousine?
Not humble enough, you say? Well, I suppose the Dart does feature such luxuries as windows, seat belts and a heater. This Ford Model T is an actual vehicle, but I recall the owner saying that it was made this way much later in its life.
Back to more modern times. Our stretched Dart wasn’t without peers; there were at least a handful of coach-built limousines based off the solidly middle-class Caprice, including this example I found in (of all places) the parking lot of a self-service junkyard.
Perhaps the best known modest limo is the Chrysler Executive Sedan and Limousine, which was created from a stretched K-car LeBaron.
For many years the San Luis Obispo County Mid State Fair in California had a late-1970s vintage Oldsmobile Ninety-Eight limousine they used to shuttle stars in for their shows. It sure looked goofy.
Apropos of nothing, I just Google image searched “Oldsmobile Limousine.” Strange stuff there.
I’ll always be disappointed that my uncle, saddled with six children, never took seriously my idea to buy a Panther or Caprice-based limo for family trips. Instead, he got a long series of Suburbans with brake problems. What could be better? Kids making noise? Just raise the middle window, and let them build their own civilization back there while you and the wife cruise in coupe comfort up front.
This is hilarious. ..”build their own civilization back there….” love it.
I guess it’s for big families who need a car with lots of seating capacity, and did not want to suffer from a trucklike ride. Minivans and “soft ute” didn’t yet exists back then after all. Now such people can either get a minivan or something like the Explorer, Traverse and suchlike.
How about a Chevrolet Nova based 1976 Pontiac Ventura Limousine? Did you Guys forget about this one? This was an original photo and originally converted into limo which I found online through Google and not Photoshopped.
Here is another shot of that same 1976 Pontiac Ventura Limousine but at a different angle and location.
That is wild! Thanks for sharing.
You Welcome David. Glad to share these since nobody knew that a 1976 Pontiac Ventura was actually converted into a Limousine. Since I obtained these photos online through Google, the photo quality was below average, grainy and not as clear as I would want it to be.
There is also this nutter trying to sell a Rabbit limo with what appears to be appalling build quality: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UdZxCRSnYgI
Price started somewhere around $35K, but had dropped to $14K last time I saw. Not surprised that he hasn’t found a buyer. He needs to lower the price another $13.5k.
I remember that one too. Been on and off eBay for a decade or so.
I’ll be headed to Oshkosh shortly, so I’ll throw in their preferred limo of choice (which are gradually getting replaced by more modern conversions):
That is cool!
Cool! The “suicide” doors remind me of the 1950s Rometsch taxi conversion.
I imagine that the narrow middle doors are non-functional. This makes me think of the Chevy Metro Limo that I saw a while back. (Pics are posted to the Cohort, if such things interest you.)
I don’t think you do the cover car justice. A trunk, six doors and a leaning tower of power. What’s humble about that?
I for one have never seen the point in stretch limos I prefer to drive rather than be driven and driving one of these abominations nah.
Same here.
Just to be super clear the Dart above is a fake – photoshop. Take a closer look above the middle door and you can see it isn’t perfect.
YES I noticed especially in the roofline where the adjoining roof and roof chrome trim lining was out of normal alignment.
Also, notice that the same trees are reflected in both the front and middle windows, and the middle row has a dashboard…
I was wondering who in their right mind would go to the trouble of getting the body crease from front to back like that.
Reshaping the sheet metal would take and cost more than the stretch.
Notice the other stretched cars are slab side or have a crease parallel to the road.
BTW, the “What If” title is reserved for photoshops.
Hah! They fooled me, and that would not be the first time. From looking at the trees in the background, it didn’t look like a photoshop job to me, but that roof does look a bit odd, and who would leave the extra door handles on as a decoration? I eagerly await the day when somebody actually cobbles together a Dart Limo. I imagine it will happen eventually.
I’ve seen a 1980’s Mk2 Jetta limo. I’ll have to see if I can dig up a pic of it.
If you want a bare-bones limo, look no further than the far east. In the waning days of the cold war, Chinese automaker Hong Qui built their limos with terrycloth upholstery and plastic privacy curtains. Sometime in the late 80’s, Car And Driver magazine did a comparison test between the Hong Qui and the Russian-built GAZ Chaika.
I saw a 1986 GAZ Chaika limo at a show in Toronto several years ago, and I have some photos of it kicking around. The owner told me that it was brought over from Bulgaria in the early ’90’s. It was black with a light brown interior that looked like a bad knockoff of an early ’70’s Mercedes. I also remember seeing a lot of the stretched Caprice Classics around in the late ’80’s and early ’90’s. The funniest stretch I ever saw, though, was a photo of a stretched East German Trabant. Unbelievable.
Volvo 264 limos, Ford Granada mk2. There were a fair number about years ago, don’t see poverty spec limos anymore. Certainly a contradiction in terms!
Well spotted Buzzdog- the same bit of gum appears underneath the car too…
A Prius limo was built several years back. Nicely done with six doors and three rows of seating. Autoblog has a gallery of build photos, showing how much skilled bodywork goes into stretching a modern unit-body car. Especially one as non-linear as the Prius. That middle door was quite a trick.
There’s a guy in southern Indiana who specializes in creating these out of old, wrecked Priuses.
Surely the ultimate poverty spec limo would be this fine Russian Zaz:
this is actually Czechoslovakian Skoda 100
Oops, you’re quite correct of course! The photo’s been in my collection for years and I foolishly relied on the caption. No excuse really, as Skodas have been sold new here in New Zealand since the 1950s. As well as that, one of my school teachers drove a bright orange 100, so I really should have realised the caption mistake!
Skoda Series 7500…
Or possibly this Brazilian Mk3 Ford Taunus:
Not quite a limo, but this Ford Granada does add practicality to the mix:
And last but most definitely weirdest is this Citroen CX:
I like this one-it looks like the one Erich Honecker had when he was the Fearless Leader of the DDR.
A guy around here made a ’80s Festiva limo out of either 2 or 3 donor cars. It always looked like it was going to split in two. I haven’t seen it around for a couple of years, so maybe it finally did.
I know that some cars we would consider middle class in the US were quite expensive in other countries, and were chosen to be converted into limousines or extended sedans. The Pontiac Ventura shown above may be one of those cars. I can’t make out the license plates, but they’re not from North America.
There was an order of nuns on the North side of Youngstown, Ohio, that had a Chrysler K Limo back in the 1980’s. I occasionally would see it go in or out of the convent grounds (they had a rather large house in a nice suburban area with a very big lot), but could never see who was in the thing. More than once I thought it amusing to imagine a bunch of nuns being driven around town while partying in the back of the K limo… I wouldn’t mind having the K limo now, just as a conversation piece…
Very Interesting insights and observations knowing the fact that the 1976 Pontiac Ventura Limousine conversion (unless its a vanity license plate) may have been done possibly in another country outside of US & Canada. What also makes this very interesting as well is this is probably the only one of a rare breed and the first ever US and Canadian “Compact” Car Limo Conversion to have an extended Unitized Body Construction as well. As usual typical of the 1968-79 RWD GM X-Bodied Cars, a separate subframe cradle for the engine very much like its other RWD GM kins which also shares its chassis with from that era like the 1967 – 81 RWD F-Bodies aka Chevrolet Camaro/Pontiac Firebird and the 1975 1/2 – 79 RWD K-Bodied Cadillac Seville.
I even created their extended semi family tree as well to show their closeness under their skins much in the same way a Toyota Camry is to the Toyota Avalon or Honda Accord is to the Honda Pilot.
There was also an AMC Ambassador limo, based on the 1969 sedan.
I’d imagine the number of actual ambassadors who were ever ferried around in these Ambassadors hovered just slightly above zero.
Imperial Coach Builders in Springfield, Mo., is now offering a stretch Nissan Leaf. Exclusive and silent, quieter than a Rolls Royce or even a ’65 LTD. (Can’t hear its clock ticking. Can’t hear anything ticking.)
Video and more at AutoBlog Green.
Speaking of which, there actually were LTD Limos, built by Andy Hotton of Dearborn Steel Tubing.
There one of these LTD limos who was used in an episode of Mission Impossible during season 1.
The length of the extended rear doors must set some kind of record. They look even longer than the doors on a GM F-body, and that’s saying something.
Sorry, but that Leaf Limo reminds me of the Mirthmobile limo in Wayne’s World 2!
It is very interesting that Ford Model T is an actual vehicle, but I recall the owner saying that it was made this way much later in its life. I love this awesome model of car. Actually it is the origin of today’s car. Thanks for these cool collections.
Back in the ’60’s and ’70’s there was a company in CT that had a fleet of what were called “airport limos”. They were built originally from Checkers, then from Chryslers. They had 4-5 doors per side, with a bench seat at every door. Just people carriers.
The owner of several local car dealers had a Subaru Tribeca stretched into a limousine and uses it for promotional purposes. Definitely one of the strangest conversions I’ve seen in person.
Ah, yes. the inimitable Ernie Boch, Jr. “Eccentric” doesn’t begin to describe that guy.
Ernie does own a bunch of dealerships in the Boston area, but the one franchise he doesn’t have is Subaru. That’s because he owns Subaru of New England, the distributorship that supplies every Subaru dealer in New England.
The Tribeca wasn’t Ernie’s first Subie stretch job. Before that was a Forester XT. Given how much of Fuji Heavy’s annual revenue he contributes, he had no trouble getting engineering assistance direct from Japan…..
Stretched Ladas are surprisingly popular in Cuba, used as taxis.
Paint it navy blue or black instead of ’70s gold and it would be more convincing as a limo than the K-car Chrysler Limousine.
I saw a stretched Vauxhall Carlton in very rough condition in a garden near the outskirts of Blackpool(a great place for classic car spotting)
I don’t know if it could fit in the category but that reminded me of these stretched taxicabs who was used in Turkey. https://www.curbsideclassic.com/blog/history/cc-global-history-the-dolmus-forgotten-long-lost-americans-overseas/
First ficture, at first glance I really thought I saw a stretched Opel Diplomat A.
Source picture: http://www.carsablanca.de/Bilderstrecke/opel-diplomat-a-4-6-v8–2/8
Then there was the Corvair limo…
In the Houston area it tends to be stretched Hummers, Expeditions, and Suburbans. Have to admit that I found a stretch mercedes with a flat tire to be funniest thing in a while. Guess it must be envy.
I would take most things on this page before any of the above stretches. Think the Lada and the Vw are the coolest.
I remember seeing this Toyota Cressida limo featured on a certain other car website’s “Nice Price or Crack Pipe” a while back. Not that it was a “poverty” car, but an unusual choice for a limo conversion nonetheless.
Ford Au factory stretched a heap of Falcons and installed high roofs as wheelchair taxis havent seen one in eons, they were never exported to NZ but pure poverty pack interiors 6 cylinder engines just a long tall cab.
Still see them around here. They look really odd when they get sold into private service and repainted.
I’m finding it remarkable that no one has brought up the Top Gear homemade limo episode. Though in retrospect perhaps it’s good that CC is now a post-Top Gear car website…
My best limo memory (I didn’t go to prom) was watching a Hummer limo get high-centered as it (tried to) pull into the parking lot of the local indoor soccer facility. My kids were much amused as the driver was standing there on his cell phone calling his boss…
There a stretched AMC Pacer limousine who was used in “Wayne’s World 2”
http://www.imcdb.org/vehicle_4997-AMC-Pacer-Stretched-Limousine.html
Has no one mentioned this one?
Said to have been AMC-built …
See https://www.curbsideclassic.com/curbside-classics-european/curbside-classic-1987-renault-gta-an-alliance-of-a-different-stripe/
This was not AMC built as a matter of fact. Charles Ambrosini of Kenosha, WI, retired AMC worker built it. His design and craft. In addition, Brian Ambosini of Precise Auto Body was the body shop that did the paint and body work.
Here is an Australian modest limo – a motoring magazine article about a proposal to stretch a 1972 HQ Holden Kingswood. I have no idea as to how many of these cars were built.
Very Interesting News Article from 42 Years Ago and Concept Graham.
I wonder if they were done by the same company that did ambulance conversions and other variations like this twin cab ute. The window shape of the second set of doors looks the same.
That Spy City Caprice limousine actually was recently crushed here in Calgary, sadly.
Hey Kyle,
Do you know where the spy city limo was crushed? It belonged to one of my buddies and we were wondering where she ended up after being impounded.
Cheers
Warwick.