Presidential state car (United States)
The United States presidential state car is the official state car of the president of the United States.
United States presidents embraced automotive technology in the early 20th century with President William Howard Taft's purchase of four cars and the conversion of the White House stables into a garage. Presidents rode in stock, unmodified cars until President Franklin D. Roosevelt's administration bought the Sunshine Special, the first presidential state car to be built to United States Secret Service standards. Until the assassination of John F. Kennedy, presidential state cars frequently allowed the president to ride uncovered and exposed to the public. President Kennedy's assassination began a progression of increasingly armored and sealed cars; the 2009–2018 state car had bulletproof glass and was hermetically sealed with its own environmental system. Since 2018 the presidential state car has been a custom-built Cadillac.
Decommissioned presidential state cars are destroyed by the Secret Service for training and to protect their secrets. Late 20th-century and 21st-century presidential motorcades have consisted of 24–45 vehicles other than the presidential state car, including those for security, healthcare, the press, and route-clearing, among others.
The first
president to ride in a car was President William McKinley, who briefly rode in a Stanley Motor Carriage Company steam car on July 13, 1901. According to the United States Secret Service, it was customary for them to follow the presidential horse carriage on foot, but that with the popularization of the automobile, the Secret Service purchased a 1907 White Motor Company steam car to follow President Theodore Roosevelt's horse-drawn carriage. Roosevelt avoided riding in the vehicle due to his "image as a rough-riding horseman".
William H. Taft
President William Howard Taft changed things at the White House, converting the stables there to a garage and purchasing a four-car fleet on a budget of : two "luxurious" Pierce-Arrow cars, a Baker Motor Vehicle electric car, and a 1911 White Motor Company steam car. President Taft became a fan of the steam car when he discovered he could conceal himself from press photographers with a "carefully timed burst of steam."Woodrow Wilson
President Woodrow Wilson was such a fan of the three Pierce-Arrow cars purchased by his administration that he bought one of them from the government for when he left office in 1921. President Warren G. Harding was the first president to use a car to drive to his inauguration, and was the first qualified driver to be elected president. President Herbert Hoover had a Cadillac V-16.Franklin Roosevelt
In 1936, President Franklin D. Roosevelt bought a Ford V8 Phaeton coupe and had it equipped with hand controls in direct contravention of a Secret Service directive prohibiting sitting presidents from getting behind the wheel of a car.In December 1939, President Roosevelt received a 1939 Lincoln Motor Company V12 convertible—the Sunshine Special. The Sunshine Special became the president's best-known automobile, the very first to be built to Secret Service specifications, and the first to be leased rather than bought. Built on the chassis of the Lincoln K series, the Sunshine Special has a wheelbase, room for 10 passengers, rear suicide doors, heavy-duty suspension, two side-mounted spare tires, and standing platforms attached to the exterior to accommodate Secret Service agents.
The Sunshine Special underwent two sets of modifications. In 1941 the car's top was lowered out of aesthetic concerns. In 1942, after the attack on Pearl Harbor, the car underwent the addition of armor, bulletproof glass, "metal-clad flat-proof inner tubes, a radio transceiver, a siren, red warning lights, and a compartment for submachine guns." After the second set of modifications, the car weighed and was longer.
Truman/Eisenhower Lincoln Cosmopolitans
Legend has it that Harry S. Truman held a grudge against General Motors because they would not give him use of their cars during his run for the 1948 presidential election; and, so, in 1950 he chose Lincoln to make the presidential state car. The White House leased ten Lincoln Cosmopolitans. The cars were modified by coachbuilders Henney Motor Company and Hess and Eisenhardt to provide extra security features and extra headroom to accommodate the tall silk hats popular at the time, and were painted black. Nine of the automobiles had enclosed bodies, while the tenth was an armored convertible especially for President Truman. The tenth Cosmopolitan was long, wide, and weighed, heavier than a stock Cosmopolitan. All ten cars were outfitted with V8 engines "with heavy-duty automatic transmissions." In 1954, President Dwight D. Eisenhower had the Cosmopolitan convertible fitted with a Plexiglas roof that became known as the "Bubble-top"; it remained in presidential service until 1965, and had approximately on the odometer as of 2008.Kennedy Lincoln Continental
President John F. Kennedy's 1961 Lincoln Continental was originally a stock car, built in Wixom, Michigan, and retailing for. The federal government leased it from the Ford Motor Company for annually, and then commissioned Hess and Eisenhardt to modify it for presidential use—with a pricetag of. The convertible was painted "Presidential Blue Metallic", with silver metal flakes embedded within it; it was given the Secret Service code names of SS-100-X and X-100.The dark-blue car included a "heavy-duty heater and air conditioner, a pair of radiotelephones, a fire extinguisher, a first-aid kit, and a siren." The stock car was stretched to accommodate a foldable center row of forward-facing jump seats. The exterior featured retractable standing platforms and handles for Secret Service agents, and flashing red lights recessed into the bumper. Unique to the X-100 were three removable roofs and a hydraulic lift that could raise the rear cushion off the floor. Both of these feature sets were designed to make the president more visible to the public, but they also increased the president's vulnerability—a factor in the 1963 assassination of John F. Kennedy.
After the assassination, the "Death Car", was rebuilt in an operation named "The Quick Fix". Hess and Eisenhardt, the Secret Service, the United States Army Materials and Mechanics Research Center, PPG Industries, and Ford engineers all collaborated to strip the limousine and make substantial improvements. In an effort to prevent "ghoulish collectors" from obtaining discarded car parts, they were destroyed. For an estimated cost of $500,000, the car was painted black; received improved telecommunications gear; its fuel tank was protected against explosion by a "porous foam matrix" that minimized spillage in the event of a puncture; and the passenger compartment was protected by of armor. The three removable roofs were replaced by a fixed glass enclosure that cost more than $125,000; the glass enclosure was made of 13 different pieces of bulletproof glass ranging in thickness from, and was then the largest piece of curved bulletproof glass ever made. Titanium armor was added to the body of the car, the standard windows were made bullet-resistant with sandwiched layers of glass and polycarbonate vinyl, and prototype aluminum run-flat tires were added. To compensate for the 25 percent increase in weight—to —the upgraded car received a hand-built V8 engine, providing 17 percent more power.
In 1967, the car was modified again with an upgraded air conditioning system, an openable rear-door window, and structural enhancement to the rear deck. Despite successive presidential state cars being built and delivered to the White House, the X-100 continued to be occasionally used by Presidents Lyndon B. Johnson, Richard Nixon, Gerald Ford, and Jimmy Carter until it was retired from service in early 1977. , it was publicly exhibited at the Henry Ford museum in Dearborn, Michigan.
The license plates were removed from the X-100 when the vehicle was upgraded after the Kennedy shooting. When they were auctioned in 2015, they sold for.
1967 Lincoln Continental
President Johnson preferred white convertibles, but "concerns for protocol and safety" had him receiving a black 1967 Lincoln Continental as his state car. The hardtop cost the Ford Motor Company about, which leased it to the federal government for an annual cost of. With of armor, "a bubble top thicker than the protective cockpit of an F-16 fighter", and a V8 engine, the car could still reach speeds of — or with four flat tires. According to White House spokespeople, President Johnson's car was not equipped with a television, though several of his cabinet members' were. This car also served Presidents Nixon, Ford, and Carter, and traveled to 32 nations before it was retired in the mid-to-late 1970s. In 1996, the Ford Motor Company restored the car to its original state and donated it to the Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum in recognition of its use during several of his most-significant presidential trips.1972 Lincoln Continental
A modified,, 1972 Lincoln Continental was delivered to the White House in 1974. A shows heavy duty ford truck components including 8 lug steel rims and a full floating rear axle such as a same year f250 would utilize. The six-passenger limousine was leased from the Ford Motor Company for per year. The fully loaded automobile had a, V8 engine; external microphones to allow occupants to hear outside noises; full armor plate; bulletproof glass; and racks for the Secret Service to store submachine guns.The car was used by presidents Nixon, Ford, Carter, Ronald Reagan, and George H. W. Bush. By 1974, the car was typically transported by the United States Air Force in a Lockheed C-141 Starlifter cargo plane at an hourly jet fuel cost of. Because security concerns legally mandated its use by the president, political parties were not required to reimburse the government for its use during political campaigns. It was the vehicle in which Ford was shot at by Sara Jane Moore in 1975. During the March 1981 attempted assassination of Ronald Reagan, the car was hit by the last two of six gunshots, which respectively damaged the bulletproof window of the right rear passenger's door, and ricocheted off the back-right quarter panel before striking the president. The car then transported Reagan to George Washington University Hospital.
After the 1981 shooting, the car was returned to Ford and was modified. Most sources state that it received a new interior, front sheet metal, and 1979 Lincoln grille, however visual inspection shows the magnitude of modification was much greater. External accoutrements specific to the 1972 model were replaced with the accoutrements of the 1979 model during the overhaul, the final production year of the fifth generation Lincoln Continental. This includes the complete front clip; bumper, header panel with grille and headlight doors, front fenders, front marker lenses, and hood, as well as the deletion of the rear wheel skirts in lieu of bolt on fender flares, and finally the taillight and rear bumper assembly. As originally built the 1972 limousine received a custom formal roofline as opposed to the production slope backed roof; it closely resembles the revised roofline of the production 1979 model. With the Ford performed bolt-off bolt-on modification the vehicle is effectively a clone in appearance of a 1979 model, the final year of which parts interchange.
The 1972 car left service in 1992 with on its odometer. After maintenance and care in 2008, The Henry Ford measured the car at long, wide, tall, at, with a wheelbase of.