Thursday, September 13, 2018

1951 King Ibn Saud's Custom Six-Door Cadillac "Harem Car"

Another interesting tidbit from Ed --

There were a number of duplicate brochures that I got from the Taylor Vinson collection -- brochures advertising "professional cars" and "police-specific" vehicles.  Plan to show them to my upcoming seminar as examples of niche marketing.  But pecking away on the Internet today looking at history of professional car sites, I ran across this about the coach builder Hess & Eisenhardt out of Cincinnati.  A photo of  one of the then King of Saudi Arabia's "harem cars" is attached. 

Due to shortages of materials and a pent-up demand for new vehicles it was a sellers market immediately following World War II and Hess & Eisenhardt reserved most of their capacity to producing Sayers & Scovill professional cars. However a few 6-door airport limousines were produced, including one large order for twenty custom 1950 and 1951 Cadillac "harem cars". Built for King Ibn Saud of Saudi Arabia, they featured one-way glass that enabled the King's many wives to see out, but not be seen.


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