Buy This Citroen CX Built For A Dictator

In 1989, with the Berlin wall being smashed apart by drunk, liberated teenagers, East German strongman Erich Honecker watched as a new stretch Citroen CX limousine slipped from his grasp. Now you can buy the car that was almost his.

Yes, it's the car almost owned by the guy who built the Berlin Wall, but kindly made sure everyone trapped behind it had their own toaster. Plot to jump the wall, however, and his Stasi thugs made sure that toaster found its way into your bathtub.

By 1989, as Gorbachev was pushing "Perestroika," Honecker was thumbing his nose at the comrade Rooskies' reform and anticipating the arrival of a new limousine. It was a version of the Citroën CX Prestige, a car he'd loved so much that he'd already placed several models in the state fleet. This one, a CX 25 Prestige Turbo 2, was ordered with an elongated wheelbase by the Tissier company and ominous factory-gray anthracite paint that reminded him of carefree summers along the river Blies. He could almost taste that French new-car smell, a heady bouquet mingling his favorite essences: state-run plastics factory, orchids and fear.

Alas, it was not to be. As his Politbüro pals grew tired of Honecker's incessant complaining about Russian overreaching, his increasing frailty and the annoying populist demonstrations that ruined every Monday, they cut him loose. He never did take delivery of his ultimate commie dictator's ride and, like so many of his peers, died in exile in South America.

The CX 25 Prestige Turbo 2 lives on, however, and you can buy it. It needs some fixing up, but could be a steal considering its provenance. Don't forget too that it's a freaking Citroën CX, a car considered by lemoncar buffs to be the last true Citroën before those nouveau riche barbarians at Peugeot gutted the place. Still, it's never been washed in the joyful tears of non-exploited workers, so bid with caution.Thanks to alan505 for the tip. [via Artcurial (scroll down for English translation)]