NBC News – by Michael StrongPresident Barack Obama is looking for a new ride.
Not that his current limousine – dubbed “The Beast” or “Cadillac One” – isn’t faring well, but it’s a 2009 model, which he takes wherever he travels, and the Department of Homeland Security says it’s time for an upgrade.
Designed to look like a 2008 Cadillac DTS, The Beast is a hybrid that reportedly blends Caddy components with the guts of a Chevrolet Kodiak commercial truck – but with heavy armor. Such heavy armor that the car reportedly weighs 7.5 tons.
The armor includes 8-inch plates capable of stopping an improvised explosive device, or IED, and 5-inch multi-layer windows that make the doors as heavy as those on a 757 jet. The car is sealed against biochemical attacks.
Although details of the presidential limo are classified for security reasons, various reports say that it features James Bond-style options, including a night vision system. It also carries communications gear and, in the trunk, a blood bank matching the president’s type.
Special loops replace door handles, which allow Secret Service agents to hold on when running alongside the car. Goodyear run-flat tires fit into extra-large wheel wells.
Secret Service agents who have specialized training in evasive driving techniques, including a J-turn, pilot the vehicle. The J-turn, taught at the Secret Service training facility outside Washington, D.C., can turn the limo 180 degrees in matter of seconds to escape trouble. (The J-turn is also known as the “moonshiner’s turn,” based on a signature bootlegger driving maneuver.)
As for which car maker will land the contract, that’s a secret. Ford, Chrysler and GM have alternated as limo providers since 1939.
“We at Cadillac consider it a great honor and responsibility to carry on the tradition of presidential cars,” Cadillac spokesman David Caldwell told Motor Trend. “There’s absolutely nothing we would say directly about the future. The Presidential Limousine is built to an exacting set of specifications – and one of the specifications is that we not discuss inner workings of the project.”
The new limo promises to be even sturdier than The Beast. According to FedBizOpps.gov, work on the New Design Armored Limousine “will include concept development, armor design, initial automotive component selection and chassis development, material testing, armor system modeling and simulation, and armor system fabrication and testing (live fire).”
1899-president: Presidential vehicles evolve
Obama’s current Cadillac is a significant upgrade – at least from the standpoint of safety and communications capabilities – from cars used by earlier presidents.
William McKinley was the first president to ride in an automobile in November 1899, though Teddy Roosevelt was the first to commission a government-owned car, a white convertible Stanley Steamer. (William Howard Taft, Roosevelt’s successor, also opted for a Steamer when he converted the White House stables into a garage.)
Franklin Delano Roosevelt rode in the specially built “Sunshine Special.” It was based on a Lincoln K-Series chassis with a V-12 engine. It was aptly named as FDR preferred to ride around with the top down.
Those early limos were convertibles, a favorite for politicians at all levels who knew the value of being seen by their constituents. But that was to change forever on Nov. 22, 1963.
As far back as 1954, a nervous Secret Service had developed a protective bubble-top for President Dwight D. Eisenhower’s limousine. There was one available for the Lincoln that his successor, John F. Kennedy, was riding in that fateful afternoon in Dallas, Texas. But Kennedy liked being seen by the public – which made it easier for assassin Lee Harvey Oswald to fire a series of deadly shots from the Texas Book Depository near Dealey Plaza.
That midnight blue 1961 stretch Lincoln Continental was pulled from service, rebuilt and returned to the White House fleet – though it is today on display at the Henry Ford, a suburban Detroit museum. Among the updates available to President Lyndon Johnson was a bulletproof hardtop and additional body armor. The vehicle remained in service through the Nixon Administration.
The cruel realities of the world revealed by the Kennedy assassination changed the design of presidential limos – and for vehicles used by political leaders worldwide.
Problems do occur, however, as when the diesel-powered Beast broke down at Israel’s Ben-Gurion Airport. But such incidents are rare – and there was a backup limousine available.
Paul A. Eisenstein contributed to this report.
http://www.nbcnews.com/business/obamas-new-limo-have-heavy-armor-blood-bank-night-vision-6C10537698
Seem as though that keeping one of the most traitorous bastards on the planet alive is a very costly endeavor! Wonder why so many people hate this guy ? Could it possibly be invading foreign countries ,killing innocent civilian, erecting a giant police state,spying on the world and especially his own country,calling the Veterans of this country potential terrorist.How could anyone want to cause harm to such a prince of a guy? Oh I almost forgot,a total disregard for the Constitution that he and the idiot below him swore to defend and protect!
You are so “RIGHT-ON!”, cracker. What could this guy possibly be afraid of? What a woosie. I know one thing he is afraid of…..His wife WILL bitch-slap him if she loses her “prestige”.
Too bad the limo isnt traitor and idiot proof…. ROFLMFAO
In the 2008 elections he had a squad of dillon-aero suvs. It was a nice foreshadow of what his police state would look like. He needs a clown car because he is a clown. I laugh everytime this crack head talks.
* News Flash Michael Weak! ….you still seem to be suffering from the embarrassing delusion, that Oswald was the ‘lone nut- gunman’ that assassinated JFK????…or is this a specious & obsequious ‘game plan’ for you to be assured of being kept in the ‘good books’ of potential editors down the road, for ‘presstitutes’ precious pay cheques!?!…..a rather glaring omission…but then again, you are working for the very same people that killed JFK in the first place….so no point in rocking the lifeboat -eh!
P.S. I’m sorry …..I missed the fact, that you had your zionist ‘handler’ & political officer ‘Eisenstein’… to look over your shoulder, to make sure you were conveying the proper propaganda party-line inculcating meme.
Hey alex, I’d suggest you stfu B4 you expose yourself any further. F’N troll.
GFYS!…
P.S…..Hey ‘Millard the Tard’…only a moron would threaten a ghost on paper…hahahahahlololohahaha…
GFY Fu Fer yea. Yea They used to call me the talking ghost to f##k those like you alex you punk F you you BS Casper! You a cop alex?, just askin` you a hole.
I am wonderin` why I am still in moderation for my reply to alex. Is there something that I should know that I am not aware of because I have been in moderation now for almost four hours.
Wow alex, your name calling skills suggest you made through grade school. I would have preferred a debate but I won’t waste my time with someone who obviously lacks the skills necessary to defend himself.
Whose OBOMBA afraid of?
At this point…………EVERYBODY.
one small point, in the article, Lee Harvey Oswald was definitely not the assasin, of John F. Kennedy, he was the patsy the fall guy. nothing more than that. he was set up so the FBI or secret service some members could kill Kennedy. George Bush senior is also along with Johnson, implicated in the murder. listen to Jim Mars amongst others please.
blood bank in the trunk of the car, what, cant he wait for a drink in between destinations? The stops to let him get out and pee must be frequent.
ROLMFAO!! HAHAHA!!! Good one, Barry. The vampire needs his drink every now and then. Especially in the daylight hours. That’s why he really needs tinted windows. That sunlight will kill him.
It’s a wonder he hasn’t formed his own black-clad Security Division like the Roman Emperor’s Praetorian Guard or Hitler’s SchutzStaffel.
He is doing it with DHS.
Of course it’s time for an upgrade. Anything to bankrupt the taxpayers more and putting in the hands of the demon who thinks he’s king of the world.
“and 5-inch multi-layer windows that make the doors as heavy as those on a 757 jet.”
Well, just look at the picture above. It looks like the agent is opening the door of a plane after landing.
“The armor includes 8-inch plates capable of stopping an improvised explosive device, or IED, and 5-inch multi-layer windows that make the doors as heavy as those on a 757 jet. The car is sealed against biochemical attacks.”
I guess when the other 99% of the entire world hates you, there’s no such thing as overkill when it comes to security measures.
“As for which car maker will land the contract, that’s a secret. Ford, Chrysler and GM have alternated as limo providers since 1939.”
And I thought Obama would make sure that it was made in China. Of course with all of the car companies moving their operations to China, it probably was made in China.
The car is smarter than Obama. The car has a much better personality than Obama. The car is prettier than Obama. The car is tougher than Obama. The car is more stable than Obama. The car doesn’t golf, ad nauseam. The car wins my vote.
To hell with the limo upgrade. I say ‘Upgrade the Presidency’, and all occupants with-in the three Branches of Government with all their Departments and Agencies, and their Committees with their Committees with-in, whether they be elected, appointed, annointed or what-ever. Perhaps the toilets in the WH and Congress should be upraded as well, as they no doubt, cannot handle the amount of both BS and Taxpayer money that is flushed down. Indeed, how about the ‘Sequester Cuts’?, as the Executive Branch seems to be exempt from any actual cuts which includes the DHS, NSA, NAFTA and especially the Department of State among others.
“Perhaps the toilets in the WH and Congress should be upraded as well, as they no doubt, cannot handle the amount of both BS and Taxpayer money that is flushed down.”
Hahaha! I like that metaphor.
Why would you care about this clown being killed…his just a puppet that can be replaced in minutes!
I’m FAR more worried about the replacement than Obummer.
Biden is hardcore CFR, AND a huge fan of Israhell.
Why can`t we all just get back to where we were before them bastard F`ers were that came over here in the first place and learn to live together. Live like the natives before the british or who ever the F that they were before our country took the big bite. We all should start giving a f*ck about our country instead of selling it off to the highest political bidder. Typical capitalist rule, they will f##k everything up and they will do that for their own cheap assed beniffit every G D time. Just like clock work. Time to take our country back dammit!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!WHY THE HELL DO WE NEED A GOD DAMNED GOVERMENT IN THE FIRST PLACE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! the govt. is all about a bunch of lazy sneaky con men and theives and that is the truth. Ya cannot trust a damned politicion ever. they are all a bunch of cheap capitalistic pigs at best. The Goverment is made up of a bunch of lazy SOB`s that should be hung out to dry just even trying to talk their crap and that goes for them cops and all govt. employees.