Monday, June 08, 2009

Omar Bongo's Car Collection

Gabon's Omar Bongo just passed away. He took over his small oil-rich nation when LBJ was president, making him the longest serving head of state in the world. Coincidentally, Bongo also became very rich while in office.

I first became aware of Bongo's lust for exotic cars while doing research for my Rides of Heads of State series. He had a whole fleet of pimped out Stutzs.

Bongo used his nation's treasury as his personal bank account. Here is a check his young wife wrote to buy a Maybach using public funds.

Bongo's collection was superb and extravagant. He used to own this Tickford Aston Martin Lagonda, which is now for sale. He also had a Ferrari 612. Here is a Ferrari 400 that used to belong to him:



Me thinks he drove his prized cars mostly in France. He had 33 luxury homes throughout Paris and Nice. Not bad for a former postal worker.

CKY

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