---
title: "Here Are All the Mercedes Popemobiles That Francis Won’t Ride In"
description: "Francis is letting all this swagger gather dust."
date: "2015-09-25"
modified: "2015-09-25"
authors:
  - name: "Ben Keeshin"
    link: "https://www.thedrive.com/authors/ben-keeshin"
url: "https://www.thedrive.com/article/312/here-are-all-the-mercedes-popemobiles-that-francis-wont-ride-in"
categories:
  - "Culture"
  - "Mercedes-Benz News"
  - "News"
  - "News by Brand"
  - "People"
tags:
  - "Mercedes-Benz"
---

# Here Are All the Mercedes Popemobiles That Francis Won’t Ride In

![](<https://www.thedrive.com/wp-content/uploads/images-by-url-td/content/archive-images/popemobiles_1967mercedes300selpullman_ss_0.jpg>)
*\<em\>www.thedrive.com</em>*

For 80 years, when the Pope travelled by car, the car was a Mercedes.

The Holy See paraded in open sedans, armored trucks and sumptuous limousines, all adorned with the papal seal and assembled in Stuttgart. The first car ever provided for a Pope was a Mercedes, a 1930 Nürburg sedan, and as recently as 2012 Pope Benedict received a special M-Class Popemobile.

But Pope Francis champions humility and the plight of the poor, not Nappa upholstery and the heretical indulgence of a V8. As a pope of the people with an imperative to connect, Francis has gone on record saying that the bulletproof glass structure of a traditional popemobile makes him feel like a sardine in a tin. The man wants to touch hands.

No luxury, very little armor. The [“hipster” pope](<https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2013/12/ken-langone-pope-francis>) has almost entirely [shunned the Vatican’s stable](<https://www.thedrive.com/article/281/president-obama-and-pope-francis-meet-compare-cars-a-blow-by-blow-account>) of tri-stars—his 1984 Renault 4 with 186,000 will be just fine, thank you.

But us? The gluttons, the materialists, the unrepentant capitalists? Why, we love a Mercedes. We take great superficial pleasure in their smells and shapes, and in their demonic levels of swagger. To paraphrase Lena Dunham, a Mercedes isn’t the car of the people, but it is… a car of a people.

Come dance down the primrose path with us as we explore the glorious Benzes the Pope refuses to use.

![1930 Mercedes-Benz Nürburg 460 Pullman Saloon ](<https://www.thedrive.com/wp-content/uploads/content/archive-images/popemobiles_1930mercedesnurburg_ss.jpg>)

![1960 Mercedes-Benz 300D Landaulet](<https://www.thedrive.com/wp-content/uploads/content/archive-images/popemobiles_1960mercedes300dlandaulet_ss.jpg>)

![1965 Mercedes-Benz 600 Landaulet](<https://www.thedrive.com/wp-content/uploads/content/archive-images/popemobiles_1965mercedes600dlandaulet_ss.jpg>)

![1967 Mercedes-Benz 300SEL Pullman ](<https://www.thedrive.com/wp-content/uploads/content/archive-images/popemobiles_1967mercedes300selpullman_ss.jpg>)

![Late Sixties Mercedes-Benz 300SEL Landaulet](<https://www.thedrive.com/wp-content/uploads/content/archive-images/popemobiles_late60smercedes300sellandaulet_ss_0.jpg>)

![1980 Mercedes-Benz 230G](<https://www.thedrive.com/wp-content/uploads/content/archive-images/popemobiles_1980mercedes230g_ss.jpg>)

![1985 Mercedes-Benz 500SEL](<https://www.thedrive.com/wp-content/uploads/content/archive-images/popemobile_1985mercedes500sel_ss.jpg>)

![1997 Mercedes-Benz S500](<https://www.thedrive.com/wp-content/uploads/content/archive-images/popemobiles_1997mercedess500_ss.jpg>)

![2002 Mercedes-Benz ML430](<https://www.thedrive.com/wp-content/uploads/content/archive-images/popemobiles_2002mercedesml430_ss.jpg>)
*Matthew Lloyd/Getty*

![2007 Mercedes-Benz G-Wagen](<https://www.thedrive.com/wp-content/uploads/content/archive-images/popemobiles_2007mercedesgwagon_ss.jpg>)

![2012 Mercedes-Benz ML350](<https://www.thedrive.com/wp-content/uploads/content/archive-images/popemobile_2012ml350_ss.jpg>)

## Author
Ben Keeshin is a former staff writer for Maxim, and before that, contributed writing to the digital sides of Road & Track and Vanity Fair.

### Author social links  
[Twitter](<https://twitter.com/BnKshn>)