POPES AND THEIR CARS --- IT'S A MIRACLE SOME OF THEM ARE STILL ON THE ROAD

"Cars of the Popes" might be a coffee-table book someday (and will probably be produced by our good friend Dennis Adler, whose classic and collectible hard-cover car books are in all the "right" libraries), but for now the topic itself has only a few entries. Now the Associated Press reports that on October 12, 2007, a car reputed to have been owned by one "Padre Pio" (see photo; it's not Dennis Alder, though there is a resemblance), is coming up for auction in Italy next week.

The thought of a Pope actually driving himself (and that's one use of the word "himself" which it's still guaranteed not to have to be followed by "or herself") once he reaches office is still pretty improbable, but certainly most all future Popes will have driven themselves at some point before reaching the point in their lives where standing in the illuminated and bulletproof rear section of a customized Mercedes-Benz is as close as they'll get to a steering wheel. Except if it's one of those $35,000 Formula 1 Ferrari race car steering wheel autographed by Michael Schumacher, or some such car-related gift.

Actually, here's a Ferrari/Pope Benedict XVI story:

The 400th Enzo Ferrari (photo, in "wings up" position) was auctioned by Sotheby's Maranello Auction on June 28, 2005 to benefit survivors of the 2004 Tsunami for 950,000 Euros ($1,274,229), almost twice its list price. This sum was presented to Pope Benedict XVI, while former Ferrari Formula 1 driver and seven-time World Driving Champion Michael Schumacher gave the pope a steering wheel to commemorate the donation. This wheel included a plaque which read, "The Formula 1 World Champion's steering wheel to His Holiness Benedict XVI, Christianity's driver."

But the Ferrari F1 team has visited the Vatican before bearing gifts (and popes have visited Ferrari's headquarters in Maranello, Italy), including in their group Luca Di Montezemolo, head of Ferrari's1 F1 team and later of the entire company, and much talked-about as a future Italian Prime Minister. Here's some detail on that January 18, 2005 visit to Pope John Paul II from Reuters:

Pope John Paul has received a flame red Ferrari from the Italian world championship racing team -- a model of one, that is -- for having what they said was the inside track on the roads of humanity.

Formula One world champion Michael Schumacher and the rest of the Ferrari team met the Pope in the Vatican’s frescoed Clementina Hall on Monday to give him the 1:5 scale model of the car that won both the championship and constructor titles in 2004.

Ferrari President Luca di Montezemolo told the Pope that Ferrari drivers, mechanics and management wanted to honor him because his courage and defense of human rights had put him "for the past 26 years in the pole position of the roads of humanity".

There was a poignant contrast between the speed represented by the model car whose real version can reach 350 kph (218 mph) and the slow movement of the 84-year-old Pope, who no longer walks and was wheeled into the room on a special chair.

But an emotional Schumacher later told reporters he found inspiration from being close to the Pope and from seeing how he copes with the debilitating effects of Parkinson’s disease and severe arthritis.

F1 team boss Jean Todt said he was moved "to silence by the energy, simplicity and humility" the Pope manages to relay despite his illnesses.

Brazilian Rubens Barrichello, Schumacher’s teammate and a devout Catholic, brought a picture of his family and asked the Pope to bless it.

In his address the Pope, who rode in a real Ferrari when he visited the carmaker’s plant in 1988, told the group sports was important for all of society and could spread values such as solidarity among peoples and nations.

Todt, whose father was a Jewish refugee from the Pope’s native Poland, said Ferrari would put a special edition of one of its cars up for auction in May and give the proceeds to charity in the Pope’s honor.

Brazilian Rubens Barrichello, Schumacher’s teammate and a devout Catholic, brought a picture of his family and asked the Pope to bless it.

In his address the Pope, who rode in a real Ferrari when he visited the carmaker’s plant in 1988, told the group sports was important for all of society and could spread values such as solidarity among peoples and nations.

Todt, whose father was a Jewish refugee from the Pope’s native Poland, said Ferrari would put a special edition of one of its cars up for auction in May and give the proceeds to charity in the Pope’s honor.

And here's the AP story on Padre Pio's M-B (and why popes use a German Mercedes-Benz, when there are no lack of Italian car manufacturers which could cobble together anything special for the Vicar Of Christ, we don't understand --- We suppose there still are some mysteries):

A 1959 Mercedes-Benz (photo) that belonged to Padre Pio, the 20th-century monk said to have had stigmata and supernatural powers and who was elevated to sainthood in 2002 by Pope John Paul II, will be auctioned in Padua, Italy on October 27th. The auction dealer Coys said it expected the car, said to have been given to Padre Pio by a family grateful for a miracle, to sell for several hundred thousand dollars. In 2005, a Volkswagen Golf fetched more than $266,000 on eBay after word emerged that it may have once belonged to Pope Benedict XVI.

Here's what THE NEW YORKER magazine, December 3, 2007, edition, had to say about the Coys of London auction, where the ex-Padre Pio Mercedes went on the block:

"The Ex Padre Pio Mercedes-Benz went one better than the car driven only to church on Sunday by the apocryphal little old lady: it sat at the monastery most of the time. Thanks to the southern-Italian climate, there was no rust. The interior was immaculate, and the odometer registered only 50,528 miles—a cream puff.

Bidding began at a hundred and fifty thousand euros, with the auctioneer under pressure to push the price up. (It had been widely reported that a Volkswagen Golf said to have been owned by the Pope had sold on eBay for a hundred and eighty-nine thousand euros.) By the end, three bidders were contending, one of them on the phone from Belgium. The final bid of two hundred and forty thousand euros seemed to come from a bidder in the hall. When it was all over, Signor Favia tried to find the bidder, but he was not in the crowd.

Coys not only protected the anonymity of the buyer but maintained, despite the throng of witnesses, that the car had not been sold. David Barzilay, of Coys, invoked a technicality: “The auctioneer never said ‘Sold.’ ” When pressed, he added that the reserve of three hundred thousand euros had not been met. Apparently, it is not unusual for negotiations to continue after an auction; the auctioneers had their commission to consider, and they might not have heard the last of the Belgian. This left Signor Favia in a state of limbo." (end of New Yorker quote).

Though the M-B Popemobiles are the best-known, some other companies have produced them over the years, including Land Rover, a small Polish truck company called Star, Francisco Motors of the Philippines and Ford Motor Company (which used versions of their Presidential limousines made by Lehmann-Peterson). Mercedes-built popemobiles have included those based on their US-made M-class and the European Jeep-style Gelandewagen.

And here's an interesting rehash of what happened with the Ford Escort once reputedly owned by Pope John Paul II, courtesy of the Houston Chronicle newspaper (apparently PJ II really did deny himself, at least automotively):

Among the dazzling collection of vintage wheeled Goliaths at Houston, Texas' O'Quinn Classy Classic Cars, a small, no-frills '75 Ford Escort GL stands tallest. It's because of the respect Houston attorney John O'Quinn has for the late Pope John Paul II, who once owned the light-blue four-door sedan, that he views it as more significant than the rare Duesenbergs, Packards, Auburns or any other classics in his 600-plus-and-growing collection.

O'Quinn believes Pope John Paul II had more to do with the downfall of the Soviet Union than any other man. He acknowledges the contributions of President Ronald Reagan in the Soviet government's collapse, but said the pope's role was more impressive.

O'Quinn discovered the pope's Ford Escort was for sale when he saw it featured in a publication by Kruse International, a company that conducts large and prestigious collector car auctions.

The power of the little Escort was strong enough to induce O'Quinn to pay $690,000 for the privilege of owning it. Strong documentation about the pope's ownership of the car came with the purchase, he said.

There are pictures and documents showing that the pope wanted to raise money for an orphanage in Poland which he had been involved with for many years — long before becoming the pope. In order to boost efforts to raise money for the orphanage, an auction was held and the pope donated his car.

It was purchased in the late-'90s for $102,000 by Jim Rich, an Illinois restaurateur. He sent it to the Kruse auction because hard financial times had hit and the car was his fastest ride out of the problems.

The Escort, manufactured by Ford of Germany, was acquired by the pope while he was Cardinal Karol J—zef Wojtya in Poland, O'Quinn said, and, remarkably, he drove it during his early years as pope. (Photo --- An artist's rendering of a proposed BMW Popemobile submitted by the company to the Vatican's Motor Pool).

The pope liked to go to the mountains, O'Quinn said, noting that the probable scenario was that he would drive the car when it was dark. It likely was brought to the edge of the Vatican and the pope would go down the passageways that led to the car, and then depart. Only his close assistants would know his whereabouts.

Odds are the Ford Escort's small 1.1-liter four-cylinder engine, paired with a four-speed manual transmission, labored a bit on the steep mountain roads. It wasn't burdened by air conditioning, because it isn't equipped with it. There was no chance of serenity being interrupted by music, either, because the car doesn't have a radio. A padded covering around the simple two-spoke steering wheel grip and a clock are the only items even hinting at being frills.

Attached to the plate covering a cavity where an audio unit could fit is a medal of St. Maria Goretti, the  patron of youth, young women, purity and victims of rape. This plate with the medal attached has been removed and placed in a display case with a simple wooden chaplet, making up a single decade of the Rosary, which also came with the car. Other items included in the car's sale, which possibly belonged to Pope John Paul II, are a small box of wooden matches, candy tin and fuses.

During the 25,444 miles indicated on the odometer the Escort has endured an assortment of small dents and scratches, but, unlike the other pristine cars in O'Quinn's collection, these won't be fixed.

And for those who might be thinking of buying the pope's Escort from O'Quinn, he said "it's not for sale and it never will be."