President-elect Trump will be getting a new limousine in a couple of weeks, but it won’t be the first time he’s had a stretch Cadillac.
In the 1980s, the then-NJ casino magnate worked with Cadillac and Dillinger-Gaines Coachbuilders to develop two “Trump” superstretch, superluxe Caddy limousines bearing the Trump name that he planned to use to shuttle VIPs around.
The Trump Executive and Trump Golden series Cadillacs were built in 1988 to be high-end offices-on-wheels – complete with a fax machine, TV, VCR, a paper shredder and two, early NEC cellphones.–
Both prototypes are now owned by a collector in the United Kingdom, who may sell them due to newfound interest in the Trump brand, according to Barcroft Media.
It is unclear how much they would fetch at auction — but the rides, once described by Trump as “the best” won’t come cheap.
The Golden Series stretch also has a rosewood writing desk, a safe and a cabinet with a “Perm-a-Pub” booze dispenser in it.
The President-elect wrote about the specially designed limos in his 1987 book, “The Art of the Deal.”
“A decision has been made to go into production on two Cadillac-body limousines using my name,” he wrote. “The Trump Golden Series will be the most opulent stretch limousine ever made. The Trump Executive Series will be a slightly less lavish version of the same car.”
At the debut in Atlantic City in 1988, Trump said: “You can see the kind of quality there is. We left nothing out. I’m very honored that they built me the first one and, frankly, I deserve it.”
Trump had hammered out a deal with Cadillac that he would purchase 50 of the cars with his name on it to “transport high rollers from New York City to his hotel and casinos in Atlantic City and return,” according to John Grettenberger, the car company’s general manager at the time.
“The two prototypes were built but when it came down to approving the transaction and placing a purchase order for the fifty limos, nothing happened!” Grettenberger wrote in his own book, “Ready Set, Go! My Life at General Motors, Cadillac, Oldsmobile, Opel, and Isuzu.”
“Donald gave all sorts of reasons for a delay, purchased one for “his father,’ but no order for the remaining forty-nine,” he wrote. “So much for the Trump limousine!”
