You can forget stretched Hummer H2s, coach buses and even the Canyonero. This is the longest car ever made — and it’s perfect. Feast your eyes, my friends, on “The American Dream.” It’s back and longer than ever.
You’ve probably seen pictures of this vehicle rotting away in a New Jersey warehouse parking lot over the years. That was until one man had a dream, and that dream was to rebuild the longest car ever made — and I’m not just saying the longest car ever made as hyperbole. It is certified as the Guinness World Record holder for longest car ever made.
Officials measured this monolith to American excess on March 1, and it came in at 30.538 metres long. That’s 33.53 m and 1.5 inches in freedom talk. It actually beat out the record it originally set in 1986 with that final 1.5 inches.
“When I found the car, it was in very poor condition. I’d say on a scale of one to 10 it was minus one,” Michael Manning, one of the people involved in the restoration who happens to have a top-10 New York accent, said.
The car was a “piece of junk” that was rusted pretty much all the way through when he found it in Jersey. He saw it listed for sale on eBay and placed a winning offer.
It was then shipped to his technical school in Nassau Country on Long Island.
“We were going to restore it at my school, but there wasn’t enough funding to take on the project. It sat behind my building in Mineola for approximately seven, eight years,” Manning said.
It finally made its way to Florida (because, of course) to finish the restoration with a new partner, Michael Dezer — the owner of Dezerland Park Car Museum and Tourist Attractions in Orlando.
The project started about two and a half years ago, according to Manning. He said that, along with the shell of the rotting limo, they also had three donor Cadillacs to help with the build.
All in all, the restoration project cost over a quarter million dollars.
Step inside The American Dream, and you find enough room for about 75 people “any day of the week.” It’s covered head to toe in carpeting, leather, vinyl and LED lights. That feels par for the (on board) golf course considering at its heart it is a limo from the 1980s. It also has several TVs, a refrigerator and telephone inside.
It also comes with the aforementioned putting green, a pool and a helipad.
When taking the car apart, Manning and his team realised that it’s actually six Eldorados put together, joined in the middle by a custom fabricated frame. It also has an Oldsmobile Vista Cruiser roof for good measure.
As for how much The American Dream weighs, well, it’s never been put on a scale, but Manning estimates it’s probably about 11,340 kg.
Driving the car is no easy task, as you may imagine.
“In order to turn, you need a real wide radius because of the length of it. Similar to the President, how he has to map out his route to where he’s going. That’s what we would have to do. We would have to map out a route and know where we’re going to turn,” Manning said. “It’s not for everyday driving, obviously.”
According to a release from Guinness, the car was first built in California in 1986 and measured in at a rather pedestrian 18.29 m long. However, it still had all 26 wheels and two Cadillac V8 engines at the front and rear.
The customizer, Jay Ohrberg, decided 18.29 m just wasn’t long enough and added another 12.19 m to the total length. Underneath — er, at either end — of The American Dream is a 1976 Cadillac Eldorado limousine that can be driven at both ends.
Just like everything else in the automotive industry, the future of The American Dream may be electric. Manning says it would take 26 electric motors, one for each wheel and an “I don’t know how big it’s gotta be” battery.
However, electrification isn’t the only future plan on the horizon.
“Eventually, we’re going to extend it. I don’t know how long we’re going to make it, but I guess as long as we can, Manning said. “Sky’s the limit. Well, the road’s the limit.”
This article has been updated since publication.