In 1982, then Pope John Paul II made his first official visit to Spain. On a couple of crowded services, the pontiff travelled aboard a specially modified SEAT Panda turned into a Popemobile. The history of this unique one-off car deserves to be told.

At first, the Pope was not expected to use a Panda Popemobile as an official vehicle during his visit, between 31 October and 9 November 1982. However, a special situation arose on the papal trip to Spain - the pontiff's main events were going to be held in the Real Madrid and FC Barcelona stadiums, but the huge official Popemobile would not fit through the gates of the Santiago Bernabéu and the Camp Nou.

It was then that the Vatican contacted the Spanish Government to try and find a solution, and the latter commissioned SEAT to prepare, in a matter of days, a vehicle capable of fulfilling the mission. SEAT's engineers rose to the challenge and created a unique car in record time.

A group of dedicated technicians completed the project in just two weeks at the Zona Franca factory in Barcelona. The pressure of time prevented the mission from being entrusted to the Martorell Technical Centre, where, on the other hand, SEAT's engineers were working flat out on the design of the future SEAT Ibiza.

So they took a SEAT Panda, the fashionable small car of the time, and transformed it into a pick-up, without side windows and with a folding windscreen, then painted it white and assembled a structure of padded bars for the Pope to hold on to, as well as a small retractable platform at the back for easy access to the reinforced interior platform.

In addition, to enhance the image of the vehicle they incorporated some of the cosmetic details that distinguished the Panda Marbella, the luxury version of the SEAT Panda, unveiled earlier that year. For example, the wider wheel arches and the grille. In addition, the wheel rims were taken from the Ronda, whose hubcaps were decorated with fake cross-shaped wheel locknuts (a nod to His Holiness, perhaps?).

Inside, the Popemobile was also fitted with some components of the Panda Marbella, such as the steering wheel, the centre console and the door handles, larger than those of the standard Panda. In contrast, the two front seats are those of the normal Panda, upholstered in white imitation leather and without headrests, so as to allow an unimpeded vision of the rear platform.

Another detail is the interior mirror mounted on the dashboard, to remain operational if the car is driven with the windscreen folded. The flags of the Vatican and Spain on two supports on the front wings, and the Papal coat of arms on the doors completed the conversion.

Thus, the Panda Popemobile was ready for its mission: to accompany the Pope on November 3 in Madrid and November 7 in Barcelona. The photographs of those events show that the Panda was the ideal vehicle for the Pope to tour the packed stadiums and give his blessing to the people. As it was not an armoured vehicle, the Panda Popemobile was only used inside the controlled environment of the stadiums. It was barely driven for a few minutes and a few metres, but enough for the car to enter history and the brand's museum.

Today, the Panda Popemobile is not only an essential part of SEAT HISTÓRICOS' Collection, but also enjoys a well-deserved worldwide fame. Not for nothing, in 2008 it was selected to be part of the eleven vehicles of world leaders for the exhibition "Power and Splendour", held at the Audi Museum Mobile, in Ingolstadt.

That year, the Panda Popemobile was also one of the SEAT cars showed in the brand's stand at Essen's Techno Classica in Germany, the renowned world show for vintage, classic and prestige automobiles. Together with the Fura, Ronda, Malaga and Ibiza I Copa, SEAT celebrated 25 years of exports through its own network.

The Panda Popemobile returned to Essen in 2015, this time together with the 1400 Visitas and the 600 Savio, completing a trio of one-off cars of great rarity created by SEAT. Recently overhauled and restored by the SEAT HISTÓRICOS team, the Panda Popemobile once again shows off the look of its best days.