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Wow. I ALMOST thought it was a Lincoln, but ZiLs looked so similar, even I was fooled. I'm flabbergasted. Where do they get parts? How do they keep them running? Amazing.
And I find it truly ironic that the "Great Leader" of the last Stalinist dictatorship on the planet took his final journey on top of......an American car product of the capitalist Ford Motor Co.
What an honor for Ford. Wonder what they're thinking of in Detroit.
Interesting thought process. Consider the following:
Quote:
Originally Posted by 415_s2k
The NK gov't probably ordered a number of them and then shipped them from the US to a foreign country that didn't have a trade embargo on, and then back to NK.
It is very possible that Ford had no idea where these cars ended up. Especially since they are coachbuilder cars. They were sold to the coachbuilder and then coachbuilder sold them to someone else. So you don't really have to "wonder" what they were thinking in Detroit, all they did was sell a car to a legitimate American business.
I'm just curious what you think of the Toyota Hilux (and Nissan Patrols and Mitsubishi Tritons) that are in use in third world countries as tehcnicals for all the dictatorships and terrorist organizations there. Do you share the same disdain for Japan? Or if you're saying how Ford feels about it, I imagine they don't really care. The cars have been debadged.
FYI, every car deal today has the buyer's name run past OFAC to make sure vehicles aren't sold to blacklisted embargoed countries or foreign druglord kingpins.
It is very possible that Ford had no idea where these cars ended up. Especially since they are coachbuilder cars. They were sold to the coachbuilder and then coachbuilder sold them to someone else. So you don't really have to "wonder" what they were thinking in Detroit, all they did was sell a car to a legitimate American business.
I'm just curious what you think of the Toyota Hilux (and Nissan Patrols and Mitsubishi Tritons) that are in use in third world countries as tehcnicals for all the dictatorships and terrorist organizations there. Do you share the same disdain for Japan?
Yeah, back in the 40s Packards were used by Stalin, before they copied it to make ZIS/ZIL cars. Packards were also used by Soviet embassies into the 50s.
Interesting thought process. Consider the following:
It is very possible that Ford had no idea where these cars ended up. Especially since they are coachbuilder cars. They were sold to the coachbuilder and then coachbuilder sold them to someone else. So you don't really have to "wonder" what they were thinking in Detroit, all they did was sell a car to a legitimate American business.
I'm just curious what you think of the Toyota Hilux (and Nissan Patrols and Mitsubishi Tritons) that are in use in third world countries as tehcnicals for all the dictatorships and terrorist organizations there. Do you share the same disdain for Japan? Or if you're saying how Ford feels about it, I imagine they don't really care. The cars have been debadged.
FYI, every car deal today has the buyer's name run past OFAC to make sure vehicles aren't sold to blacklisted embargoed countries or foreign druglord kingpins.
Oh, I can guarantee they and the coachbuilder had no idea. When I worked for Lexus, a Korean businessman purchased a few LX470's, RX330's, and LS430's from us as well as a couple other Lexus dealers in the area, cash; not an excessively abnormal thing to do, plenty of people who work for Asian or Middle Eastern companies or embassies would do the same thing for incoming higher-ups and staff. When I worked for Chevy, I had people come from Japan, Russia, Kazakhstan, India, Australia, Mexico, Sweden, Germany, etc etc to buy Corvettes, Suburbans, Avalanches, etc. and ship them back home, so it's not that abnormal. This guy just said that they were for "his business" and made no indication that they would be sent overseas... his ID checked out and he did a wire transfer, and he and his buddies left in a half dozen brand new cars.
A couple months later, an FBI agent came and did an audit of the paperwork because the Lexuses were loaded straight onto a cargo ship in San Pedro, ostensibly to go to the Philippines... and ended up in NK. They investigated us to make sure we had no idea they were North Korean agents that would ship them back home. They had spent years building this guy's fake ID, credit, etc etc before this and there was next to no way a layperson could have seen anything wrong. Pretty crazy stuff!
I think NJGoat summarized the situ quite well in posts 6 & 7 of his...weird place via the totalitarian gov't, and the poor starving millions.
I was in Seoul a dozen+ times when I worked, and it was strange to think of that very difficult 'life' < 50 miles to the north.
BR, md
Thanks for this thread guys, I, too, thought they looked like a Lincoln, 70's vintage, but figured it had to be a Zil. But, in the clearer pictures, yeah, that's a Lincoln.
Parts requirements for these simple old cars would be easy enough - if they can't get OEM stuff, China makes knock-offs of essentially all the wear parts on these. It's not like car parts are export-controlled technology. Probably no tougher to get parts for these in NK than any other part of Asia really - not a common car there so probably not on the shelf at the local parts store, as if these guys shop at parts stores, or for that matter that auto parts stores exist in NK.
Wow, I'm not the only one with a old 70's Lincoln! I have brochures for a stretch and coach conversion for 71 Lincolns from Eagle Conversions in Dallas TX. The funeral car does have the
75 front end (well, the same grill was used from 74-76). And no, they can't have any of my
parts!
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