Gregg D. Merksamer
PCS Life Member / PCS Publicity Chairman / PCS Ele
Insomnia, for once, was a useful thing to have at 1 am this morning, since CNN was breaking some truly-surreal Korean Central TV footage (supplied by Reuters) of Kim Jong Il's funeral procession through the snow-swept streets of Pyongyang. While CNN's talking heads focused on the loudly wailing - almost certainly stage-managed - crowds and the North Korean TV narrator's similarly emotional voiceover, the thing that inevitably caught my attention was the high-profile use of 1970s vintage Lincoln Continental stretch limousines as the hearse and two of the primary lead cars. How they ended up serving with a government that the U.S. is still technically at war with is anyone's guess - perhaps they came in by way of their number one trading partner China? - so I'll limit my analysis to those technical details I could actually glean from the TV.
The three Lincoln limos with the biggest role in the cortege were 1975 or 1976models, as established by the full rear fender skirts and the five heavy vertical bars separating the grille into six sections (1977-79 Continentals used a narrower, Mark V-style radiator, while open rear wheels distinguished 1978-up models). As it had no casket compartment, the limo used as the "Dear Leader's" hearse carried his sarcophagus on its roof, where it rested on a two-foot thick bed of white flowers that reminded me of an unswept snow pile thanks to the fuzzy TV footage and blizzard-like conditions. I would estimate this car had a wheelbase stretch of 36 inches or thereabouts, as did the limousine that carried a tremendous portrait of Kim Jong-Il on its roof. The "portrait" limo also sported oval, Mark IV-style opera windows, while a somewhat-shorter 1975-6 Lincoln mini-stretch (perhaps a 12-inch extension) followed behind with a similarly-outsized wreath on its roof.
One of the real kickers was my realization that the Dear Leader's "hearse limo" was definitely armored, as confirmed from the secondary chrome frame surrounding the slightly-open right front window (which fitted to keep the alternating layers of glass and bullet-resistant polycarbonate from delaminating), which was often in plain view at that early point in the proceedings when the "Great Successor" Kim Jong Un was walking beside the right front wheel. Some of the close-ups available at this juncture even show a rectangular coachbuilder's tag right behind him on the passenger side front fender. Though it's only an educated hunch, I would swear this tag had the same proportions as the ones used by Earle Moloney's Illinois-based limousine and armoring concern in the time period when this car was built.
As for other cars of interest in the Pyongyang procession, I also couldn't help but be intrigued a mid-1990s Lincoln Town Car that had been converted into a camera platform, while even the most-casual CNN viewers are certain to be appalled by the sight of several dozen gleaming black, brand-new or nearly-new S-Class and E-Class Mercedes sedans. Only the even-larger contingent of white VW Passat sedans (late-1990s style and possibly Chinese built) that followed the Benzes seemed sincerely proletarian. At least they ALL matched, unlike many U.S. funeral corteges! :drama:
The three Lincoln limos with the biggest role in the cortege were 1975 or 1976models, as established by the full rear fender skirts and the five heavy vertical bars separating the grille into six sections (1977-79 Continentals used a narrower, Mark V-style radiator, while open rear wheels distinguished 1978-up models). As it had no casket compartment, the limo used as the "Dear Leader's" hearse carried his sarcophagus on its roof, where it rested on a two-foot thick bed of white flowers that reminded me of an unswept snow pile thanks to the fuzzy TV footage and blizzard-like conditions. I would estimate this car had a wheelbase stretch of 36 inches or thereabouts, as did the limousine that carried a tremendous portrait of Kim Jong-Il on its roof. The "portrait" limo also sported oval, Mark IV-style opera windows, while a somewhat-shorter 1975-6 Lincoln mini-stretch (perhaps a 12-inch extension) followed behind with a similarly-outsized wreath on its roof.
One of the real kickers was my realization that the Dear Leader's "hearse limo" was definitely armored, as confirmed from the secondary chrome frame surrounding the slightly-open right front window (which fitted to keep the alternating layers of glass and bullet-resistant polycarbonate from delaminating), which was often in plain view at that early point in the proceedings when the "Great Successor" Kim Jong Un was walking beside the right front wheel. Some of the close-ups available at this juncture even show a rectangular coachbuilder's tag right behind him on the passenger side front fender. Though it's only an educated hunch, I would swear this tag had the same proportions as the ones used by Earle Moloney's Illinois-based limousine and armoring concern in the time period when this car was built.
As for other cars of interest in the Pyongyang procession, I also couldn't help but be intrigued a mid-1990s Lincoln Town Car that had been converted into a camera platform, while even the most-casual CNN viewers are certain to be appalled by the sight of several dozen gleaming black, brand-new or nearly-new S-Class and E-Class Mercedes sedans. Only the even-larger contingent of white VW Passat sedans (late-1990s style and possibly Chinese built) that followed the Benzes seemed sincerely proletarian. At least they ALL matched, unlike many U.S. funeral corteges! :drama:
