The prototype of the current papamobile was the Toyota Land Cruiser of Pope Paul VI, who began to drive it to the St. Peter’s Square in 1975. This car was inherited by John Paul II. Toyota had the SCV2 license plate to emphasize its subordination to the beautiful black limousine that the Pope had been driving so far. Already in 1980, the legendary Fiat 1107 Nuova Campagnola Torpedo appeared. It was a gift from the Fiat factory in Turin, which the Pope received during a visit to the production line. It was this memorable papamobile that the Holy Father moved on the day of the assassination – May 13, 1981. The car was not bulletproof at that time, and its interior was not even covered with a window or any shutter.
John Paul II used this fiat until 2004. Finally, we modified it by covering it with plexiglass and slightly building it so that it was warmer, for example during the December drive through the city to Spanish Square, when John Paul II was already very weak and sick. The key was also the ability to pull the Pope inside the car directly with the chair, of course in the last period of his life.
Magdalena Wolińska-Riedi “It happened in the Vatican”
Znak Publishing House. Kraków 2020
Pages: 244 – 245
