Whatever happened to princess Mona’s monstrosity?

• 
• 

We’re not sure whether Lebanese princess Mona Al-Solh led a happy life. She is the daughter of the first prime minister of Lebanon after the country's independence, and once-wife of the Saudi prince Talal Bin Abdulaziz Al Saud. According to Wikipedia the marriage between Mona and Talal collapsed in 1962, while they remained separated until their divorce in 1968. Talal married four times, had a grand total of fifteen children and passed away in December last year.

What happened to Mona? We don’t know. But remarkably, a message of her being given one very unusual car by her husband Talal, slipped through in February 1965. According to one press agency, she had then just become the owner of what they called a ‘Rolls-Cadillac - the only car of its kind in the world'. The release stated that the car’s price was kept secret but it must have been a huge sum, considering the costs of the Italian coachbuilder plus those charged for the cooperation of both motor manufacturers.

We have two pictures, too, showing a real monstrosity of a car with Rolls-Royce front mated to an American car. A Cadillac? We’re not so sure about that as the lines do not fit the Cadillac Fleetwood or Cadillac Calais four-door models of the time. Who knows what that body is? And speaking about fitment: the Rolls-Royce front is clearly quite a lot taller than the American rest of the car. The Italian coachbuilder (who on earth could that have been? Ghia? Vignale? - Note squarish badge seen on the car's wings) must have had some real perseverance (or was offered serious money?) to make something out of it.

Apart from these questions, we also wonder if the thing could survive? Although being a real atrocity it wouldn’t be something to throw away, would it? So… could Mona’s monstrosity still be hiding somewhere in a Lebanese barn or bunker..?

(Words editor, picture Autokampioen)

Kommentar abgeben...