How to Reduce Legroom in a Rolls-Royce, Russian Style

American diplomats invited to the wedding of a Russian oil magnate's son observed champion levels of excess and debauchery, as well as a familiar Rolls used to fetch the bride for an appearance at a reception. The "Silver Phantom," as the author calls it (possibly the Phantom Silver edition marking the 100th anniversary of the Silver Ghost), belongs to Gadzhi Makhachev, chief of the Dagestan Oil Company and a Russian Duma party member, who owns homes in Moscow, Paris and San Diego, as well as a luxury car fleet.

"Gadzhi gave us a lift in the Rolls once in Moscow, but the legroom was somewhat constricted by the presence of a Kalashnikov carbine at our feet. He has survived numerous assassination attempts. In Dagestan, he always travels in an armored BMW."

In this world, your wealth and influence is clearly not only measured by your brand of luxury car, but also the grade of your armor plating and a different kind of RPM: rounds per minute.
Read the full, fascinating account of the wedding, including the Chechen Leader Ramzan Kadyrov, with the Golden Gun, here. (Link down 12/3/10) ( this one works )

Other fun automotive bits in the leaked documents include the incredulous reaction of the German government in 2009 upon learning that GM decided not to sell Opel, despite taking a 1.5 billion Euro bridge loan to prop up the brand. "The ugly face of turbo-capitalism," is how one German official described GM's about-face.

Another document describes Russia's domestic automotive industry suffering a severe blow during the 2009 global economic crisis; production declined more than 50% in the first half of the year.

Dan Frio, Automotive Editor

And just for fun, here's Kadyrov's security convoy.