Dictators are al about sacrificing for the greater good of the people when their country’s media is paying attention. However, they often have the cult of their own personality, as places like North Korea celebrate their leader with lavish parades.
Behind closed doors, many enjoyed very western luxury goods, such as expensive cars, jewelry, aircraft or fine furs.
For example, the former North Korean dictator Kim Jong Il is rumored to have been a huge fan of western movies, owning every cowboy film ever made. It's also been reported that in 1978 he kidnapped two South Korean stars and forced them to shoot a communist version of Godzilla.
Compared to that, this car collection that's recently been found covered in desert dust seems rather normal.
Recently, what looks like the a mixed group of Iraqi and US soldiers came across a bunch of exotic cars belonging to Uday Hussein, the eldest son of dictator Saddam Hussein. These include a pink Testarossa, a couple of Porsche 911, a rare Ferrari F40, a Nissan 370Z Nismo, a BMW Z1, the Lamborghini LM002 SUV and who knows what else.
Most people in Iraq probably don't even know what most of these cars are. For example, the BMW Z1 was only produced in 8,000 units and never gained the same level of notoriety as the Z8.
As for the Lamborghini SUV, well that's a true sign of excess. The only such car built by the company that gave us the Countach is a true rarity.
Also, to show you the lavish lifestyle these people enjoyed, we’ve included a bunch of photos of Saddam’s gold plated guns. Communist dictators publicly discuss about the excesses happening in America and how they need to be stopped from spreading to their countries. But by the look of things, Iraqi excess started with one of its most prominent citizens.
Mihnea's favorite cars have already been built, the so-called modern classics from the '80s and '90s. He also loves local car culture from all over the world, so don't be surprised to see him getting excited about weird Japanese imports, low-rider VWs out of Germany, replicas from Russia or LS swaps down in Florida. Full profile
Would you like AUTOEVOLUTION to send you notifications?
Google News