Ogle Range Rover Popemobile

History

After the May 1981 assassination attempt on Pope John Paul II, security for his May-June 1982 pastoral visit to Britain demanded something new: the first bullet-resistant popemobiles. British Leyland supplied two armoured Range Rovers developed with Ogle Design of Letchworth (alongside two larger Leyland T45 lorry-based vehicles), at a reputed cost of 64,000 pounds each. Each V8-powered Range Rover carried a raised rear enclosure - contemporary accounts likened it to a telephone box - of armoured plate and bullet-resistant glass with seating for four, lifting the overall height to 102 inches (about 2.6 m), and was fitted with run-flat tyres and police radios. The white coachwork carried the papal crest on the bonnet.

The two cars led different lives after the visit. One accompanied the Pope from England to Scotland and was then sent to the Vatican, where it remained in service and was later used by Pope Benedict XVI. The other went to the Caribbean for two further papal tours, passed into private hands in England, was restored and sold through the Cars of Stars motor museum collection, and is now the centrepiece of the 'Celebrating the Lives and Deaths of the Popes' exhibit at the National Museum of Funeral History in Houston, Texas, which opened in 2008.

Imagery

Registry record

Manufacturer

Land Rover (British Leyland)

Manufactured

1982–1982

Modifier / coachbuilder

Ogle Design ↗

Engine type

Rover V8 petrol

Production run

2 vehicles

Current owner

One at the Vatican; one at the National Museum of Funeral History, Houston ↗

Country of origin

United Kingdom

Status

both preserved

Catalogue data

Record kind

Named model

Model line

Classic

Wheels

4

Base catalogue fields are exported from the Difflocked game. In-game physics values are arcade tuning, not certified historical measurements, and are deliberately not shown as specifications here.

Sources & citations

Researched sources

• Easter pilgrimage: See the Popemobile turned 'Saint' car ↗ — Old Cars Weekly (accessed 2026-09-10)
• Popemobile (Range Rover exhibited at the National Museum of Funeral History) ↗ — Wikipedia (accessed 2026-09-10)
• 1982 Land Rover Range Rover 'Popemobile' by Ogle ↗ — story-cars.com (accessed 2026-09-10)
• New pope, new car, but these are the greatest popemobiles from years past (V8 power, run-flat tyres, police radios) ↗ — Auto Express (accessed 2026-09-10)