Whether they're waving from one or getting shot in it, the Mercedes S-Class is the car of choice for most of the globe's presidents and prime ministers. From Middle East potentates to violently deposed despots, from eurocrats to ambassadors, nothing else will do. Mercedes hasn't quite got the market sewn up, however. A US president would never ride in such a machine, for example, and the Russian premier would never be without a Zil or two - even if it means having to fly in a pair of these prehistoric monsters. And Zils aren't the only strange presidential wheels to have emerged over the past 40 years. Take a look at these extraordinary machines, specially contrived to add gravitas to even the limpest politician.
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