OFFICIAL PRESS RELEASE
Stuttgart, Germany, Jun 07, 2005
The choice of basic car for the popemobile was an easy one. For Daimler-Benz, no other car would have been more befitting for the Supreme Pontiff than the Mercedes-Benz Nürburg 460 launched in 1928. The limousine from the W 08 series was powered by an eight-cylinder inline engine with a total displacement of 4622 cc. The engine developed 80 hp at 3400/min and gave the car a top speed of 100 km/h. Contrary to the first 1928 models with high frames, the engineers in Stuttgart opted for a chassis with a modern low frame for the Rome Vehicle, as the project was known internally. The chassis, engine and bodywork were modified for the popemobile only to a very limited extent.
The interior of the Pullman limousine was converted all the more thoroughly, however. All involved were fully aware of the project’s outstanding significance. In Stuttgart, in Mannheim (where the Nürburg was produced) and in Sindelfingen (where the car was converted and furnished), the project of the Nürburg limousine for the Vatican was an order that did not permit compromise in any respect. A noble album put together in 1930 for the handing over of the Nürburg to the pope had this to say: “It was now a question of providing the Holy Father, the Supreme Pontiff of the oldest Christian community, with the most advanced car, with the best car that can be found among the good ones!”
Long time in the making: the creation of a masterpiece
Such perfection takes its time, however. Initially it was planned to hand over the car in winter 1929. But this soon proved to be illusory – it did indeed take a long time to design and manufacture all the detail features of the car, which were individually matched to the pope’s requirements. The black livery, the single seat in the rear with air-cushion upholstery and other detail features had already been agreed when the chassis was taken from Mannheim to Sindelfingen in late fall 1929. In the months to follow, the Special Car Manufacturing department then created the “masterpiece” out of the Mercedes-Benz Nürburg whose production version was already a highly representative car. “Masterpiece” was eventually the praise lavished by the pope himself on the finished car in the summer of 1930.
The seats for the driver and co-driver were covered with black leather, while the throne-chair for the Holy Father in the rear of the Nürburg was covered with fine silk-brocade. An item of special artistic quality was the interior roof lining: the dove, symbolizing the Holy Spirit, had been designed by Father Cornelius, the Benedictine order’s expert for parament embroidery at Beuron monastery. The embroiderers at a Benedictine convent then executed the design using the finest materials. Matching the embroidery, the designers selected fine wood and metals for the appointments of the popemobile.
Modern materials were, by contrast, used by the builders of the popemobile for the windows. Instead of the “select crystal mirror glass” originally planned for use, Kinon safety glass, non-splintering and tinted to protect against the hot Italian sun, was chosen for the windows. Kinon glass was an early laminated material for car glazing, consisting of two glass panes with sheeting in-between. The current state of the art was also reflected by the signaling system for the passenger. Using a control panel, the pope was able to give instructions concerning speed and destination to his driver.
The masterpiece was finally completed in the spring of 1930: burr walnut, brocade, the Holy Ghost embroidery in the roof lining, the imposing papal throne-chair – all these features combined into an impressive entity in this special Mercedes-Benz. The creators of the Rome Vehicle proudly presented the result of their work in Vienna and Stuttgart before they set off to Italy. And don’t you believe that the car was carried to the Vatican on a transporter for the handing-over ceremony. The Mercedes-Benz Nürburg drove to the Eternal City under its own steam.
On the day of the hand-over, the car, weighing in at almost two-and-a-half tons, was once again photographed: outside Castel Sant'Angelo, in St. Peter’s Square, with St. Peter’s Basilica as a backdrop. On these historical photos, the Mercedes-Benz Nürburg is shown with the registration number SCV 4. The handing-over of the car to the pope was also documented. Pius XI thoroughly inspected the car before he went on a “lengthy ride through the Vatican gardens” with the visitors from Stuttgart, as the proud and contented Mercedes-Benz advertising department was able to report about the event. Having covered the long-distance run from Stuttgart to Rome, the pope’s trial drive was an easy exercise for the new papal Mercedes.
As a memento of the handing-over ceremony, an album was compiled with the Holy Father’s coat of arms and Mercedes-Benz’ three-pointed star in a laurel wreath on the cover. The text inside came to the following conclusion: “And this is how one of the most perfected accomplishments has been created that our age of highly advanced engineering and refined taste is capable of producing: the papal limousine for the twentieth century, the Mercedes-Benz Nürburg 8. Manufactured out of the finest materials, by experienced German workers, completed with all the care of a value tradition cultivated over decades. A symbol of outstanding technical achievement, presented at its new home, Vatican City!”
Return to Stuttgart
After having covered some 40,000 kilometers, the Mercedes-Benz Nürburg retired from active fleet service to be displayed, together with other extraordinary papal vehicles, in the Vatican’s museum. Whereas the car’s frame and sheet-metal parts were still in good condition after many years in use, the wooden trim and interior appointment required competent restoration to retain the unique car’s original condition 50 years after its manufacture. Therefore, the Nürburg returned to Stuttgart in 1983, where Daimler-Benz lavishly restored the historical car in the museum’s workshop in Fellbach. And like the manufacture of the one-off car in 1929/1930, the restoration work took over a year.
In the fall of 1984, the historical Mercedes-Benz was handed back to Pope John Paul II by Hans-Jürgen Hinrichs, member of the Board of Management of Daimler-Benz AG, in the Vatican. And quite in the tradition of Pius XI, the pope had himself chauffeured through the Vatican gardens for a trial run in the restored Nürburg 460. Since then, the popemobile has been displayed again in the Vatican’s historical museum. The Mercedes-Benz Nürburg is a highlight of the collection in the Museo delle Carrozze, exhibiting the popes’ carriages, sedan-chairs and automobiles.
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