THE ghost of assassinated American president John F Kennedy wafted through Worcestershire when a huge Cadillac limousine owned by one of his best friends was sold at a classic car auction.

Kennedy probably travelled in the 1949 Cadillac Series 75 Fleetwood Sedan when it was built for Cardinal Richard J. Cushing, a close friend of the similarly Boston-based – and Catholic – Kennedy family.

A prominent clergyman who once graced the cover of Time magazine, Cushing retained the Cadillac until the mid / late 1960s, by which time he had married JFK to Jackie, baptised their children, given the blessing at his friend’s presidential inauguration and conducted one of the most high profile funerals in history.

Research indicated the car was likely to have transported the Cardinal to many of these happy and sad Kennedy events. Cushing was known for his very liberal views on Catholicism, which led him on occasion to openly disagree with the Vatican. He was made a Cardinal in 1958 by Pope John XIII.

The vehicle came up for sale at the H&H Classics auction during the Chateau Impney Hill Climb at Droitwich with the hammer eventually falling just shy of £40,000 .

Martin van der Zeeuw, H&H Classics agent in Holland who found the car, said: “Every now and then one comes across a car that is particularly interesting not just for its engineering or design or any other physical reason, but because it casts a light on to our own human history. And this is one such car, its very close links with the remarkable, brilliant, tragic Kennedy family, makes it an object of particular and historic interest.”

The five passenger Cadillac was fitted with a 160 hp 5.4 litre V8 engine. Only 220 cars of this type were made and this was number 103. Finished in black with a beige/brown cloth interior with wooden trim and whitewall tyres, it had a 4-speed Hydra-Matic (automatic) gearbox. The nearly 20ft long car was fitted with electric windows and it still had the original radio.