No takers for Nicolae Ceausescu's bespoke limo
The 1977 off-roader custom made for the Bulgarian dictator, will be auctioned again after failing to attract a single buyer
Bucharest — For almost a quarter century, Nicolae Ceausescu held Romania in a vice-like grip — and its tax authority was hoping to draw on the late Communist dictator’s notoriety on Thursday to help sell one of his cars. But Thursday’s auction of the bespoke off-roader made especially for Ceausescu in 1977 — featuring plush leather seats and an electric trap door — failed to attract a single buyer. Tax authority ANAF set a starting price of 137,500 lei ($33,355) for the sky-blue ARO 304, but did little to promote the auction. One of a fleet of up to six produced especially for Ceausescu by now defunct local carmaker ARO Campulung during the late 1970s, it has been lingering behind closed doors in a hangar on the outskirts of the capital Bucharest, and viewings have been by appointment only. Ceausescu used the car for hunting trips and official visits. Romania struggled under one of Eastern Europe’s most repressive Cold War-era regimes. Up to 2-million people are believed to have bee...
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