ZimmerMotorcars

Notable Zimmers

Liberace's Golden Spirit, with its candelabra and its dash plaque, is the one famous Zimmer with papers. The other celebrity owners rest on the sellers' word or a single later report, some of the names belong to rival makes, and Cruella de Vil's car was not a Zimmer at all.

A yellow Golden Spirit seen head-on in a museum, its tall grille between two large headlamps, two fog lamps and trumpet horns.
A Golden Spirit coupé seen head-on at the Automobile Driving Museum, El Segundo, California, in May 2018: one of the museum cars this page lists.Daderot, CC0

A plaque on the passenger side of one Golden Spirit's dashboard reads "THIS GOLDEN SPIRIT ESPECIALLY BUILT FOR LIBERACE". Every other celebrity in the Zimmer story comes from the people who sold the cars, from Art Zimmer's revival company or from a single later report, and some of the names belong to other makes. This page weighs each claim, then follows the cars onto the screen and into museums.⁠1​2​3

Liberace's Golden Spirit

Liberace was a customer from the first years. Bob Zimmer, the son of Paul H. Zimmer and the head of his car company, named him to UPI in 1982.

We have all sorts of clients — Liberace, for instance. He has a beige one and he's buying a blue one — that's his favorite color.

Bob Zimmer, to J. P. Faber of UPI, Tampa Bay Times, 17 October 1982

The car that survives, a Golden Spirit coupé of the 1981 model year in pale cream, fits the beige one, and it carries candelabra in place of the usual ornaments. The Autopian, which photographed it in 2026, counted seven: a five-branched candelabrum on the bonnet (hood), where the gold eagle would stand, single candles on the front indicators and the tail lamps, and pairs on the landau bars. It found his signature on the spare-wheel covers as well as the plaque on the dash. Who fitted the candelabra, and when, no source read says: the plaque speaks of a car "especially built", and John Gunnell's Weird Cars (1993) of one "modified for entertainer Liberace". No source read traces the blue car.

In 1988 the car was lot 1851 in the sale of the Liberace Collection, held by Butterfield & Butterfield and Christie's at the Los Angeles Convention Center for the Liberace Foundation for the Performing and Creative Arts. Who bought it, no source read records. By 1992 it was on show in Las Vegas, at the Imperial Palace Auto Collection rather than the Liberace Museum: Automobile Quarterly's directory of museums lists "Liberace's 1981 Zimmer" among the collection's cars that year, and Michael Morlan's guide of the same year a Golden Spirit of the 1981 model year. The guidebooks then sent visitors to it for a decade; Corey Sandler's Econoguide of 1994 promised "Liberace's pale cream 1981 Zimmer Golden Spirit, complete with candelabra". The car is now in a private collection in the Los Angeles area.⁠2​4​1​5​6​7​8

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Famous owners, claim by claim

The original company named customers to the press in the 1980s; Art Zimmer named his in letters, advertising and interviews from 2001, and his list grew over the years.

NameThe claimWho makes itHow it stands
LiberaceA coupé of the 1981 model year with candelabra, and a blue car on order in 1982Bob Zimmer (1982); the estate sale (1988); museum guides from 1992Documented; the blue car on the company's word only
Mohammed al-FassiA customerBob Zimmer, to UPI, 1982The company's word
Roy Clark, Dale Robertson, Larry Holmes, Don KingOwnersA promotional feature in the Miami Herald, 1985The company's word
Willie NelsonOwned one; or, in a later telling, bought the very firstArt Zimmer (2009); Hagerty (2014)No first car has been identified
Shaquille O'NealBought a new red revival Golden Spirit in September 2001, not one of the 1980sArt Zimmer's letter to his dealers, 2001, and his company's advertisingThe company's word
Lou RawlsOwned two Golden SpiritsArt Zimmer (2009), of his own company's cars; his memoir (2015) calls them the original company'sArt Zimmer's word
Hulk HoganOwned oneArt Zimmer (2009)Art Zimmer's word
A Saudi princeOrdered two, and bought Art Zimmer's own four-door convertibleArt Zimmer (2006, 2009)Art Zimmer's word; never named
George ForemanRode in a revival four-door convertible in the International Boxing Hall of Fame's parade, 2003Art Zimmer, and a photograph in the Syracuse New TimesA passenger, not an owner

Thinnest of all is the story a relative of Art Zimmer who ran the revived company's parts business told Hagerty in 2014, of seeing Uday Hussein's Zimmer in a CNN tour of one of his palaces during the Iraq war; no independent source read confirms it.

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Cruella de Vil's car

Cruella de Vil never drove a Zimmer. In Disney's live-action 101 Dalmatians (1996) and 102 Dalmatians (2000) her car is a Panther De Ville, a Jaguar-based British car of 1974, which was, 501 Must-Drive Cars wrote, "naturally — the transport of choice" for her. ClassicCars.com Journal blurred the two in 2020, likening the Golden Spirit to the car she drove. The De Ville shares the long bonnet, the separate headlamps and the chrome of the American neoclassics, and its name is close to hers.⁠18​19​20​21

The real Cruella de Vil car: the Panther De Ville at its launch, 1974.Video: Panther De Ville | Panther Cars | neo-classic luxury vehicle | Drive In | 1974, ThamesTv, 1974

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Zimmers on screen

Zimmer said in its newsletter of January 1984 that the Golden Spirit "was seen regularly on the TV show 'Dallas'" the year before, and the Internet Movie Cars Database (IMCDb), whose contributors identify cars from screen grabs, bears it out. Its Zimmer pages, as archived up to December 2024, list these among others, each with IMCDb's own words for the role:

TitleKindThe ZimmerRole
Dallas, episode 7.01US television seriesA Golden Spirit convertibleUsed a lot by a main character, or for a long time
Falcon Crest, episode 6.07US television seriesA Golden Spirit convertibleUsed a lot by a main character, or for a long time
Monster Garage, episode 3.19US factual televisionA Golden Spirit coupéUsed a lot by a main character, or for a long time
Where the Boys Are '84US film, 1984A Golden Spirit convertibleUsed by a character, or in a car chase
Miami Vice, episode 3.10US television seriesA Golden Spirit coupéBackground
LockdownUS film, 1990A QuickSilverBackground
Election DayRussian film, 2007A revival convertibleMinor, or a short scene
Break EvenFilm, 2020Liberace's car, by a contributor's noteBackground

Minor or background parts follow in Max Monroe (1990), the French film Ma vie est un enfer (1991), Light Years Away (2008) and Mistrust (2018). In May 2024 the database counted 14 Golden Spirit entries and one QuickSilver, and a contributor's note on the Dallas entry points to a later episode, 8.06, with four Golden Spirits in one shot. No source read shows a Zimmer on Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous, and the show is not among IMCDb's Zimmer entries.

The contributors date the cars themselves, and not always well. They list the Lockdown car as a QuickSilver of the 1984 model year, two years before the first was sold, and gave the revival convertible in Election Day first as a 1999 and then as a 2001. They have taken entries down, too: The Hitchhiker (episode 3.07) and the Russian film Brat 2 (2000) were removed as misidentified, the second reclassified as a Lincoln Town Car in the neoclassic style, and the car in The Rookie (episode 1.19) is disputed, one contributor taking it for a Classic Tiffany, a look-alike on the Mercury Cougar.⁠22​23

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Museum cars

A pale yellow Golden Spirit coupé was on show at the Automobile Driving Museum in El Segundo, California, in May 2018, when this picture and the one at the top of the page were taken, and a white and gold coupé stood in the depository of the Technical Museum in Brno, in the Czech Republic, when the depository opened to visitors for a day in 2013.⁠24​25

The rear of a yellow Golden Spirit with a luggage rack, a spare-wheel cover and chrome bumpers.
The museum car from behind, with its covered spare wheel and luggage rack: an original Golden Spirit coupé at the Automobile Driving Museum, El Segundo, California, in May 2018.Daderot, CC0

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In print and memory

The Zimmer's image was fixed early, in Forbes's headline and Car and Driver's cover, which the reviews gather. Curbside Classic added a nickname in 2014, calling the QuickSilver "The Fiero Brougham", and Liberace's candelabra car, more than any review, made the Golden Spirit a sight. When The Autopian wrote about it in 2026, the car still made the point.

There's rarely a case as clear as this where you can take one look at a car and know exactly whose car it must be.

Jason Torchinsky, The Autopian, 20 August 2026⁠26​27​28​8​4

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Notable cars

  • Art Zimmer's 1987 Golden Spirit

    Whereabouts unknown

  • The Golden Spirit at the Automobile Driving Museum

    Survives

  • Built 1998

    The first Neo-Classic Golden Spirit

    Whereabouts unknown

  • The 2013 Golden Spirit convertible

    Whereabouts unknown

  • Built 1981

    Liberace's Golden Spirit

    Survives

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Sources

Sources are given as plain text; their addresses are on the sources page.

  • Primarymade at the time, by the maker or by people who were there
  • Referenceserious later work: clubs, specialists, magazines, books
  • Databaseresults and listings, entry by entry
  • Uncheckedencyclopaedias and enthusiast sites: cited beside a good source, named in the sentence, or marked Unchecked
  1. Butterfield & Butterfield and Christie's, The Liberace Collection (auction catalogue), Los Angeles, 1988, lot 1851, the dash plaque; lot 1851: the car, the plaque and the sale. Primary
  2. J. P. Faber, "He produces immaculate autos for the filthy rich", St. Petersburg Times, from United Press International, 17 Oct 1982, Bob Zimmer on his customers; "We have all sorts of clients"; Liberace and Mohammed al-Fassi. Primary
  3. Zimmer Neo-Classic Motor Car Co., Syracuse, New York, Zimmer Motor Car Company website (zimmermotorcars.com, 2000–2012), Wayback Machine captures, 3 Mar 2000 to 13 May 2012, the letter to dealers of 28 September 2001; the letter to dealers of 28 September 2001; the advertising of 2001–06. Primary
  4. Jason Torchinsky, "There's Really Only One Person Who Would Have Owned A Zimmer Covered In Candlelabras", The Autopian, 20 Aug 2026, the candelabra, the signature and the dash plaque; "There's rarely a case as clear as this". Reference
  5. John Gunnell, Weird Cars, Krause Publications, Iola, Wisconsin, 1993, p. 185, "modified for entertainer Liberace". Reference
  6. Automobile Quarterly Publications, Kutztown, Pennsylvania, Automobile Quarterly's Directory of North American Automobile Museums, 1992, Nevada: the Imperial Palace Auto Collection. Reference
  7. Michael Morlan, American Automobile Collections and Museums: A Guide to U.S. Exhibits, Bon A Tirer, Shawnee, Kansas, 1992, Nevada: the Imperial Palace Auto Collection. Reference
  8. Las Vegas guidebooks on the Imperial Palace Auto Collection (group), 1994–2003, Corey Sandler, Econoguide '95 (1994), the Imperial Palace Auto Collection; later guides to 2003; the guides of 1994–2003. Reference
  9. Miami Herald, "Luxury automobile still the prime success indicator", 1 Nov 1985 (promotional feature), the customers the company named. Primary
  10. Jim Koscs, "All that Glitters is probably Fiberglass", Hagerty, 23 Oct 2014, Zimmer section: Willie Nelson; the relative's story of Uday Hussein. Reference
  11. Syracuse New Times, "You Gotta Have Art", 17 Apr 2019 (reprinting the interview of 9 Sep 2009), Art Zimmer's customers; the parade photograph. Reference
  12. Clifford Atiyeh, "Q&A: Art Zimmer explains his lavish, 'neo-classic' car craft", Boston.com (Boston Overdrive blog), 18 Sep 2009, Lou Rawls and the Saudi buyer. Primary
  13. Art Zimmer and Shirley Sherburne Zimmer and Lois Gridley, Making It Count: From A to Z, The Life and Times of Art Zimmer, Log Cabin Books, 2015, Lou Rawls's two cars. Primary
  14. Sandra Scott, "Art Zimmer's Golden Spirit", TravelLady Magazine, Aug 2006, the Saudi buyer; the Hall of Fame parade. Primary
  15. Gloucestershire Echo, "Classic car owned by Ol' Blue Eyes makes festival appearance", 15 Aug 2019, the owner's account of the car. Unchecked
  16. Ronald Ahrens, "Standing on their own", with the sidebar "Neoclassic movers and soakers", Automobile, Jan 2016, vol. 30 no. 10, pp. 65–70, the Stutz and its celebrity buyers. Reference
  17. Curbside Classic, "It's True You Can't Go Home" (Stutz history), by May 2014 (Wayback capture of 2 May 2014), the Stutz's owners. Reference
  18. Tyson Hugie, "Pick of the Day: 1984 Zimmer Golden Spirit", ClassicCars.com Journal, 12 Mar 2020, the Golden Spirit and Cruella's car. Unchecked
  19. Ezra Dyer, "Neoclassic cars -- big, head-turning fakes", SFGate, 19 Nov 2006, the Panther De Ville in the Dalmatians films. Reference
  20. Martin Buckley, Cars of the Super Rich, Motorbooks, 2004, the Panther De Ville. Reference
  21. Fid Backhouse, 501 Must-Drive Cars, Bounty, 2011, the Panther De Ville, "the transport of choice". Reference
  22. Zimmer Corporation, Zimmer Update, premiere issue, Jan 1984, the Golden Spirit on television in 1983. Primary
  23. Internet Movie Cars Database (IMCDb), Zimmer: make and model lists and vehicle pages, the Zimmer make and model lists and the vehicle pages, with their comments, as archived from 2007 to December 2024. Database
  24. Wikimedia Commons, "Zimmer Golden Spirit - Automobile Driving Museum - El Segundo, CA" (photographs, group), 16 May 2018, DSC01390, the car in the museum. Primary
  25. Harold, File: Brno, Řečkovice, depozitář TMB, DOD 2013, Zimmer Golden Spirit.jpg, Wikimedia Commons, 2013, the car in the museum's depository. Primary
  26. Anne Bagamery, "The egomobile", Forbes, 26 Sep 1983, pp. 90–94, the headline. Primary
  27. Patrick Bedard, "QuickSilver!", Car and Driver, Apr 1987, vol. 32, pp. 36–40, the cover, April 1987. Primary
  28. Curbside Classic, "Cohort Sighting: Zimmer Quicksilver – The Fiero Brougham", 2 Oct 2014, the title. Unchecked

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