The world’s longest car—and perhaps its wildest limousine—is currently not ready for a party, a red carpet appearance, or even a close-up. The ultra-stretched limo is 100 feet long and is easily a 100-footer, meaning it might only start to look decent from at least that distance away. Based on a Bicentennial-era Cadillac Eldorado, the formerly famous limo was built in Burbank, California in 1986 by car customizer Jay Ohrberg, the Hollywood designer known for creating KITT on Knight Rider and the DeLorean in Back to the Future.
Anyway, this creation dubbed “The American Dream” faded from the limelight long ago, and spent years rotting away and being slowly stripped in a parking lot before making its way to the Autoseum in Mineola, New York several years ago for a restoration that was to be a teaching project for students.That didn’t go exactly as planned, and Motor1.com reports that the really big Caddy has since been split into two and relocated to the Dezerland Park car museum in Orlando, Florida for a complete restoration last year. The pile of rusted car you see in the video below is what’s left of The American Dream.
When new, its 100-foot length landed it the Guinness Book of World Records spot for the longest car in the world. The Cadillac was more like a landgoing yacht than a car. Its tail housed a helipad, whose surface could be used as a putting green whenever the chopper wasn’t around. It also had two engines, dozens of windows, TVs, telephones, a lounge, a water bed, a jacuzzi, and a swimming pool with a diving board. Ohrberg built the car in two sections, which are joined in the middle by a hinge (that required an operator separate from the driver) for navigating tighter corners; the hinge could also be set to a fixed position, so that the limo was rigid over its entire length. By our count, it rolled on 24 wheels and tires.
According to the Dezerland website, most of the Caddy’s exterior restoration work is complete and it will be repainted and finished by next spring, apparently delayed somewhat by the ongoing health crisis. When the update is complete, the vehicle will finally join the museum’s super-sized collection of Batmobiles and James Bond cars. So, yes, that means that, for now, The American Dream is on life support in Florida awaiting a shot of stimulus. That is perhaps too on the nose to qualify as a metaphor during this shared national moment, but there it is.
