Rides of Heads of State (Part 14)

Ah, the penultimate installment of the series. I'm getting sentimental already. The hours of searching on the net for that picture of Joseph Kabila in the elusive black Mercedes. Using Babelfish to translate a Dutch blog to figure out whether the Romanian president was actually the official importer of Citroens.

89. Ivory Coast. A surprise here. For a while, I've held off on Ivory Coast because of the civil war. After all, who is the legitimate leader? Good news. I saw on the BBC World News today that a compromise has been reached and the rebel leader will take the seat of prime minister. Even better, the news was accompanied by footage of the rebel leader stepping out of his ride, a VW Touareg!

90, 91. Tanzania, Maldives. The presidents of these nations ride in Merc S-classes.

92. United Arab Emirates. The PM, an uber-rich fellow, rides in a Maybach. No surprise here.

93. Croatia. After much scrutiny, I have concluded that the Croatian president's official ride is a BMW 7 series. Although this picture was taken in Hungaria, the car's license plate, which is discernable in another shot, is definitely non-EU in origin, i.e. Croatian.

94. Taiwan (Republic of China). After 93 countries, we finally arrive at our second Cadillac, and fourth American car. Though Chen Shui-Bian is no Nationalist dog, he continues Chiang Kai-Shek's tradition of Cadillacs. It is not only a throwback to a time when a Cadillac was a CADILLAC, but it symbolizes Taiwan's dependence on big brother to defend it when the Red Chinese try to recapture this renegade province.

Tally so far:
S-class: 33
7 series: 11
Land Cruiser: 8
Maybach: 6
Phaeton: 4
A8: 4
G-wagen: 2
Holden: 2
Jag: 2
ZIL: 2
Caddy: 2

One of each of the following: Lancia, Hyundai, Skoda, A6, Peugeot, Renault, Lincoln, VW van, London taxi, Daimler, Suburban, Toyota Century, Hongqi, Bentley, Rolls, Ford Fairlane, Aston Martin, Touareg

CKY