President Barack Obama, in his speech to a joint session of congress the other night, promised a lifeline to the U.S. auto industry. It reminded us that his administration came along at a time when the Secret Service was upgrading the presidential limousine.
We should say limousines — there are anywhere between 12 and 25 of the new ones, according to what little information is out there. Secrecy surrounds the details of the modern presidential limousine.
It didn’t used to be that way. In fact, all the presidential limousines that have been used since 1939 (when the Secret Service got into the act officially) can be viewed in museums — up through the 1993 Cadillac Fleetwood model that was used by President Bill Clinton. Most of them are in the Henry Ford Museum in Michigan.
Policy since the George W. Bush administration, however, dictates that presidential limos are to be destroyed after use, not preserved. Bush’s 2001 hyper-Cadillac was said to be less like a car than a tank.
Obama’s 2009 Cadillac — codenamed “Stagecoach” — is even more formidable, according to the experts. But they still don’t know a lot — is it 15,000 pounds or 20,000 pounds? Is it built on an SUV chassis? Does it really have a detachable pod for the president, like in that utterly fantastic Adrienne Barbeau movie from 1981, Escape From New York?
One of the best — that is, short and sweet — rundowns on presidential limousines comes from this page at Popular Mechanics.
For a few more details on Obama’s new car, try this page from Jalopnik, a semi-strange site about all things car.
Labels: Barack Obama, George W. Bush, Henry Ford. President Barack Obama, in his speech to a joint session of congress the other night, promised a lifeline to the U.S. auto industry. It reminded us that his administration came along at a time when the Secret Service was upgrading the presidential limousine.
We should say limousines — there are anywhere between 12 and 25 of the new ones, according to what little information is out there. Secrecy surrounds the details of the modern presidential limousine.
It didn’t used to be that way. In fact, all the presidential limousines that have been used since 1939 (when the Secret Service got into the act officially) can be viewed in museums — up through the 1993 Cadillac Fleetwood model that was used by President Bill Clinton. Most of them are in the Henry Ford Museum in Michigan.
Policy since the George W. Bush administration, however, dictates that presidential limos are to be destroyed after use, not preserved. Bush’s 2001 hyper-Cadillac was said to be less like a car than a tank.
Obama’s 2009 Cadillac — codenamed “Stagecoach” — is even more formidable, according to the experts. But they still don’t know a lot — is it 15,000 pounds or 20,000 pounds? Is it built on an SUV chassis? Does it really have a detachable pod for the president, like in that utterly fantastic Adrienne Barbeau movie from 1981, Escape From New York?
One of the best — that is, short and sweet — rundowns on presidential limousines comes from this page at Popular Mechanics.
For a few more details on Obama’s new car, try this page from Jalopnik, a semi-strange site about all things car.
Labels: Barack Obama, George W. Bush, Henry Ford.