Did you know Libyan leader Muammar al-Gaddafi moonlighted as a car designer before he lost control of his country?
The dictator in 2009 introduced a prototype car that he claimed to have designed, which he intended to have built at a Tripoli factory. The idea behind the car was to make it ultra safe to try and cut down on the large number of fatal car accidents on Libyan roads.
What is it about cars and the worst people in the world: Gaddafi, Mexican Drug Lords, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, or even convicted ponzi scheme financier Bernard Madhoff? Where there is evil, there are a bunch of sweet cars or the desire to make a mark on the auto industry.
Nazi leader, and for many the most horrific mass murderer in history, Adolph Hitler, has long been associated with two brands of cars: Mercedes-Benz and Volkswagen. He was driven around in Mercedes staff cars, and the endless footage of Hitler that has run on cable channels over the decades shows him getting in and out of Mercedes-Benz sedans (known as "saloons" in Germany) with the tri-star logo-hood ornament often very visible. It got to the point in the 1990s that Mercedes-Benz North America forced cable channels running historical programming to promise not to run their ads if they were showing Hitler.
Hitler's idea was that the German people needed an inexpensive, reliable car that would boost their mobility and prosperity. That thinking led to the creation of the Volkswagen Type 1, the car we came to know as the Beetle, or "Bug." Volkswagen literally translates to "The Peoples' Car," and some still refer to it as "Hitler's car" despite six Disney "Herbie The Love Bug" movies.
So, what cars are associated with the worst, most notorious people on earth these days? Our gallery shows the favorites are still Mercedes-Benz, but also a Chevy, Ford, a Peugeot and a guy who had not one, but two, Bugattis.
Click to view gallery: The World's Most Notorious Vehicles
The dictator in 2009 introduced a prototype car that he claimed to have designed, which he intended to have built at a Tripoli factory. The idea behind the car was to make it ultra safe to try and cut down on the large number of fatal car accidents on Libyan roads.
What is it about cars and the worst people in the world: Gaddafi, Mexican Drug Lords, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, or even convicted ponzi scheme financier Bernard Madhoff? Where there is evil, there are a bunch of sweet cars or the desire to make a mark on the auto industry.
Nazi leader, and for many the most horrific mass murderer in history, Adolph Hitler, has long been associated with two brands of cars: Mercedes-Benz and Volkswagen. He was driven around in Mercedes staff cars, and the endless footage of Hitler that has run on cable channels over the decades shows him getting in and out of Mercedes-Benz sedans (known as "saloons" in Germany) with the tri-star logo-hood ornament often very visible. It got to the point in the 1990s that Mercedes-Benz North America forced cable channels running historical programming to promise not to run their ads if they were showing Hitler.
Hitler's idea was that the German people needed an inexpensive, reliable car that would boost their mobility and prosperity. That thinking led to the creation of the Volkswagen Type 1, the car we came to know as the Beetle, or "Bug." Volkswagen literally translates to "The Peoples' Car," and some still refer to it as "Hitler's car" despite six Disney "Herbie The Love Bug" movies.
So, what cars are associated with the worst, most notorious people on earth these days? Our gallery shows the favorites are still Mercedes-Benz, but also a Chevy, Ford, a Peugeot and a guy who had not one, but two, Bugattis.
Click to view gallery: The World's Most Notorious Vehicles
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