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Beast: The history of the US presidential state car

The history of the US presidential state car goes back more than a century, and includes an electric vehicle as one of the first to be parked in the White House garage – which had been converted from horse stables.


Note: All figures in this story are quoted in Australian Dollars and have been adjusted for inflation.

In 1909, President Taft was given a budget of $450,000 to purchase a fleet of vehicles, according to a 2016 article in Autoweek, which he used to purchase four vehicles: two Pierce-Arrow luxury cars, a Baker Motor electric car (apparently favoured by the First Lady at the time), and a White Motor Company steam car.

According to a 1993 article in Popular Mechanics magazine, President Taft preferred the White Steamer as he was able to conceal himself from paparazzi with a "carefully timed burst of steam".

Pierce-Arrow models were the most common vehicle for a president to be seen in up until 1936, when President Roosevelt (who used a wheelchair) decided he wanted to drive himself around in a Ford V8 Phaeton coupe, complete with hand controls – in direct contravention of a Secret Service order which prohibited presidents from driving.

Three years later, President Roosevelt began being driven around in a Lincoln V12 convertible, nicknamed the 'Sunshine Special', credited with being the first presidential state car to gain celebrity status.

 

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Above: Lincoln V12 convertible 'Sunshine Special'. Top: White Motor Company steam car.

Powered by a 6.8-litre V12 putting out 112kW, the Sunshine Special was a Lincoln K-series modified to a convertible by a New York coachbuilder, accommodating ten passengers, and featured oversized running boards and grab handles for Secret Service agents. The limousine also had a siren, running lights, and a two-way radio.

Following the Pearl Harbour attack, the Secret Service modified the car with armour plating in the doors, one-inch thick glass, bullet-proof tyres, and storage for firearms. But despite efforts to protect the president, Roosevelt preferred to ride with the top down.

A second armoured vehicle was also delivered to Roosevelt to use while the Sunshine Special was being armoured – another Lincoln sedan.

In the 1950s, President Truman's administration leased ten Lincoln Cosmopolitans, all powered by a 113kW V8 engines, with a specially-modified armoured convertible version reserved for the president. UK website Vanarama estimates the vehicle had a price tag of $700,000.

President Eisenhower is said to have used a 1952 Chrysler Imperial Parade Phaeton, but the vehicle is probably best known for transporting astronauts in ticker tape parades.

Arguably the most notorious presidential limo was the dark blue 1961 Lincoln Continental of President Kennedy, codenamed 'X-100' by the Secret Service, which used armour plating, bullet-proof glass, and cost around $2.25 million in today's money. It had recessed flashing red lights, a siren, a pair of radiotelephones, first-aid kit, and a fire extinguisher.

 

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Above: President Kennedy in his Lincoln Continental, accompanied by Indian President Dr Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan.

After Kennedy's assassination, a further $3.13 million of modifications were made to the vehicle for President Johnson, including a bullet-proof glass roof worth approximately $783,000. Even after successive presidential state cars were brought into service, the X-100 continued to be used up until 1977.

A 1967 Lincoln Continental was introduced as Johnson's official state car, costing Ford $5 million to produce, which it leased to the US Government for only $10 a year. The vehicle had lights built into the quarter panels to illuminate diplomatic flags, as well as a phone, shag carpet, around 1800kg of armour – including a thick bubble top.

Despite weighing 5000kg, the Continental could hit 160km/h – or 80km/h with flat tyres – thanks to its 250kW V8 engine. The limo was used by Presidents Nixon, Ford, and Carter, and is said to have travelled to 32 countries.

In 1974, the White House took possession of a 1972 Lincoln Continental which weighed 5900kg, which was leased from Ford for $34,000 per annum. This time, the armoured car included external microphones to hear outside noises. The vehicle protected President Ford when he was shot at in 1975, and drove President Reagan to hospital when he was wounded by a shooter in 1981.

Two years later, the first Cadillac was brought into service as the presidential state car, based on the Fleetwood sedan, before switching back to a modified Lincoln Town Car in 1989. President Clinton used a 1993 Cadillac Fleetwood limo, which was said to have been fitted with phones, satellite communication, and had a connection to the internet.

 

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It was in 2001 when the first dedicated presidential limousine was introduced. Designed from the ground up, it was the beginning of the nickname 'The Beast'. President Bush's Caddy was rumoured to have been built on the same platform as the Chevrolet Suburban, featuring a 10-disc CD player, massaging seat function, and was powered by a 7.44-litre V8 engine.

President Obama's limo delivered him to his inauguration in 2009, and was another specially designed and built Cadillac. While proportionally the vehicle appears to be a sedan, it's closer to the size of a large SUV, thanks to the use of a truck chassis, and is thought to have cost up to $2 million.

Obama's Caddy is reported to have had night vision, its own oxygen supply, tear gas cannons, shotguns, and possibly rocket-propelled grenades. The vehicle was destroyed by the Secret Service in 2018, as is customary for the majority of presidential state cars.

The current limousine, introduced with outgoing President Donald Trump, was expected to cost $2.1 million, but media report General Motors was paid as much as $22 million for the new models. The Secret Service have given the vehicle the nickname 'Stagecoach', and you can read about it in our November 2020 story.

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Ben Zachariah

Ben Zachariah is an experienced writer and motoring journalist from Melbourne, having worked in the automotive industry for more than two decades. Ben began writing professionally more than 15 years ago and was previously an interstate truck driver. He completed his MBA in Finance in early 2021 and is considered an expert on classic car investment.

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