Army 1st Sgt. William von Zehle came home from Iraq with an expensive souvenir — an armored Mercedes Benz he suspects belonged to Saddam Hussein.

The Mercedes Benz 560 has armor plating, bulletproof glass, microphones and a “crowd-control device” that consists of a series of pipes that shoot out flames from the side of the car.

“I guess it was to make sure nobody got too close,” said von Zehle, who lives in Ridgefield, Conn. “One of the neat things, aside from the fact it’s armored, is it has microphones that allow you to hear people talking outside the car and loudspeakers so you can talk back to them.”

Von Zehle bought the car last year in Baghdad while serving with the Danbury-based 411th Civil Affairs Battalion. After doing some research, von Zehle determined Mercedes sold three armored 560s to the Iraqi government in 1988. In 1988, the Iraqi government could only mean one person.

“Saddam,” von Zehle said. “I am pretty sure but I can’t prove it, but, yeah, this was Saddam Hussein’s car.”

Von Zehle paid about 7 million Iraqi dinars — about $5,000 — for the car.

That is fricking AWESOME.

Screw the gold-plated AK-47, this guy gets to ride around in the car of a DICTATOR!

An armored plated Mercedes from the mid-eighties....the gas milage on that thing must be horrible.

Quoted: That is fricking AWESOME. Screw the gold-plated AK-47, this guy gets to ride around in the car of a DICTATOR!

Or you could just buy a Studebaker Dictator...

I bet he could sell it in the US for many times that much, without even fueling it up.

How'd he get the fucker home ?

I mean, you've been deployed... You cannot just get leave and drive the thing to Turkey, K, or Saudi and I damn sure wouldn't trust an Iraqi to ship it.

tag

Quoted: An armored plated Mercedes from the mid-eighties....the gas milage on that thing must be horrible.

Probably not that bad, my 80 Mercedes Turdo diesel gets 30MPG and better on the highway, plus I have a big tank of diesel, 45 gallons.

Ben

I bet he'd get some serious $$$$ for that thing on EBAY.  

"When you gotta ride in style, ride like an evil overlord!"

that's gotta be one of the greatest war souvenirs ever.

Pics???

...this thread makes me wanna buy an Opel.

you know, a white one, with orange fenders on it.

Sweet, that should be quite a head turner.

That is so awesome. Got fun features too. He outta send a picture to Saddam.

Quoted: An armored plated Mercedes from the mid-eighties....the gas milage on that thing must be horrible.

I'll bet firing up those flame ejectors on the sides of the car really eats up some petrol.

Quoted: That is fricking AWESOME. Screw the gold-plated AK-47, this guy gets to ride around in the car of a DICTATOR!

The guy should check behind and underneath the seat cushions. Never know what he might find.

.

sweetness

I heard that several pieces of the bullet-proof glass need replacing and it will cost something like $14K to replace the glass.  I'm an MB fan myself - have a ML320 and a 190E, and have previously had a 1976 230 and a 240D.

This guy in the 101st brought back a silk top hat from one of Hitler's residences in Bavaria monogrammed with the letters AH.