In 1914 Archduke Franz Ferdinand and his wife Sophie visited Sarajevo in their brand-new six seat, open touring car. As the Graf & Stift approached the corner of Rudolph Street, shots were fired by Gavrilo Princip, a student anarchist. Both Franz Ferdinand and his wife Sophie were killed, but the Graf & Stift survived the attack unscathed. With this event started a conflict that soon would be known as "The Great War" and that we call now "World War I".
General Potiorek was one of the surviving passengers in the car on that faithful day, and through a strange and morbid twist of fate he was the next owner of this death trap on wheels. Several weeks into the war, the General of Austria’s armies was routed and Potiorek was recalled to Austria, denounced by his regent and removed from his post. He slipped into poverty and madness, eventually dying.
A captain on the general’s staff next assumed ownership of the limo, keeping it for a brief nine days before the officer struck and killed two peasants, swerved into a tree and broke his neck.
After the war the car wound up in the possession of the governor of Yugoslavia. According to reports, he suffered four terrible accidents in four months, eventually losing his left arm. Either victim of the curse or a truly bad driver, the governor sold the car to a doctor who was crushed to death when the the murder-mobile flipped over into a ditch.
With a growing list of victims, the car next was owned by a Swiss race car driver who was killed while driving it, or more accurately was killed by being thrown out of it like a baseball out of a batting machine. Enthralled by the car’s historical value, a Serbian farmer bought it next, and was killed after he failed to take into the car’s murderous reputation. When the motor failed to start one day, he hitched it to a horse and wagon to tow it, forgetting to turn off the ignition. The car turned over and slammed into gear without warning, hit the wagon, overturned and killed the farmer.
The last known victim was a garage owner named Tibor Hirshfield, who was killed along with his passengers when this blood-lusting limo spun out of control on the way back from a wedding. It now resides in a Viennese museum, and it is never taken out for a drive.
General Potiorek was one of the surviving passengers in the car on that faithful day, and through a strange and morbid twist of fate he was the next owner of this death trap on wheels. Several weeks into the war, the General of Austria’s armies was routed and Potiorek was recalled to Austria, denounced by his regent and removed from his post. He slipped into poverty and madness, eventually dying.
A captain on the general’s staff next assumed ownership of the limo, keeping it for a brief nine days before the officer struck and killed two peasants, swerved into a tree and broke his neck.
After the war the car wound up in the possession of the governor of Yugoslavia. According to reports, he suffered four terrible accidents in four months, eventually losing his left arm. Either victim of the curse or a truly bad driver, the governor sold the car to a doctor who was crushed to death when the the murder-mobile flipped over into a ditch.
With a growing list of victims, the car next was owned by a Swiss race car driver who was killed while driving it, or more accurately was killed by being thrown out of it like a baseball out of a batting machine. Enthralled by the car’s historical value, a Serbian farmer bought it next, and was killed after he failed to take into the car’s murderous reputation. When the motor failed to start one day, he hitched it to a horse and wagon to tow it, forgetting to turn off the ignition. The car turned over and slammed into gear without warning, hit the wagon, overturned and killed the farmer.
The last known victim was a garage owner named Tibor Hirshfield, who was killed along with his passengers when this blood-lusting limo spun out of control on the way back from a wedding. It now resides in a Viennese museum, and it is never taken out for a drive.
