ORLANDO, Fla. – From broken down to a record-breaking ride, the world’s longest car lives in Central Florida.
The car measures out to 100 feet and 1.5 inches long. That’s longer than three standard school buses.
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“It definitely catches your eye because it keeps going and going. Everything you see is Cadillac-based, from the frame to the details,” Dezerland Park Auto Museum Director Max Apodaca said.
The car is made up of six Cadillac Eldorados fused together and sits on 26 wheels. In the back, the car has its own pool, putting green and a helipad.
“It actually does run and according to Guinness Book of World Records, we had to have it move forward and backwards for it to be considered a real car,” said Apodaca. “When it gets going, it can go up to 120 miles per hour. The biggest concern is ‘how do you turn it?’ Very, very slowly.”
On March 1, Guinness World Record representatives visited Dezerland Park to measure and certify the world record. The car drove forward and backwards. Even a chopper flew in and successfully landed on the car’s helipad.
How did the record-breaking ride end up in Central Florida? There is a history to this car.
It was initially designed in California as a 60-foot long custom Cadillac limo in the late 1980s named the “American Dream.” In the 1990s, it was extended to 100 feet, holding the world record for longest car. Then it caught the eye of New Yorker Michael Manning.
“When I found the car it was in very poor condition. On a scale of one to 10, it was minus one. I found the car in New Jersey, rotting behind a warehouse. I put a bid on it and won it. It was rotted all the way through. A piece of junk. I had the car in New York for 8 years,” Manning said.
Car collector Michael Dezer heard about the car and purchased it from Manning, spending about $250,000 for shipping and restoration. The car now beats its previous world record by a mere 1.5 inches, keeping its spot in the Guinness World Record books.
The car is now one of more than 2,000 vehicles in Dezer’s collection at Dezerland Park’s Auto Museum. The attraction encourages visitors to sign the hood of the car.
Dezer said restoration efforts will continue with plans to make the car even longer. The road’s the limit.