Thursday, July 23, 2009

Cadillac presidential limousines from Taft to Obama - history and review


President Obama's car is the latest in a long line of Cadillac presidential limousines

You know that the president rides around in a fancy black limousine. But did you know that there’s more to those cars than just looking “presidential”?

The Cadillac limo that President Obama rides through town in is more like a tank than a car. It is believed to weigh-in at more than 10,000-lbs. Most of that is due to thick, bullet-proof glass and armor plating throughout. Even the tires are resistant to attack and contain innerliners just in case the outer tires are damaged.

Many of the specific details of the president’s car are secret. Cadillac provides information like “old-world craftsmanship” and “hand-sewn interior”, but for security reasons they don’t tell us things like what’s under the hood or how the car is built.

Most people agree that in spite of its appearance, the latest presidential limousine isn’t based on the Cadillac DTS. Most analysts speculate that it actually sits on a modified General Motors medium-duty truck chassis. Due to the size and weight of this monster, it takes a pretty beefy chassis to handle it all.

Obama’s limo is the first presidential Cadillac that isn’t named after a specific model. For example, previous versions were still considered to be Fleetwoods, DTSs, or Eldorados. This one is just a Cadillac Presidential Limousine. There are parts that you can recognize, though. For example, the headlights appear to be those used in a production Escalade.

Cadillac has supplied cars for our nation’s Commander-in-Chief on-and-off since any living person can remember. Most of them had some version of armor-plating similar to this current offering. Some of them were all-out assault vehicles. In 1938, Cadillac provided two fully plated and armed behemoths to Franklin D. Roosevelt that were named the “Queen Mary” and the “Queen Elizabeth” after the huge ocean liners of the time.

Others weren’t as formidable. There is a very famous picture of the newly elected Dwight D. Eisenhower driving past the Capitol building standing up in a white ’53 Eldorado with nary a hint of security. The Eldorado was essentially a production “dream car”, produced in limited numbers for not-so-limited dollars. It didn’t hurt the allure of the Eldorado that the new president was seen in one, although it probably didn’t hurt Eisenhower’s reputation either.

The first full-on limousine that Cadillac produced for a president without the aid of an aftermarket upfitter came with the Clinton Fleetwood of 1993. Before that, all presidential limos started off as a production car that an outside company would transform. The ’93 Car was built from the ground-up by General Motors, and for the most part they continue that tradition today.

The slideshow included with today’s story includes several significant Cadillac presidential limousines throughout history. Take note of not only the cars, but the level of security that seemed to develop over the years—especially after President Kennedy was assassinated in 1963. It is also fun to look back at the fashions and the backgrounds they chose to take the pictures.
Cadillac presidential limousines throughout history.
Cadillac presidential limousines throughout history.
Pictures of the Cadillacs that have transported the nation's Commander-in-Chiefs over the years.

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