A.L.A. Luxury Limousine. Malpensa Airport Italy

A.L.A. Luxury Limousine. Malpensa Airport Italy

A.L.A. Luxury Limousine. Malpensa Airport Italy

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Obama's limo: Heavy armor, blood bank, night vision

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Check out those thick doors: The Secret Service has commissioned a new limousine for President Barack Obama, one that will be even sturdier than the current one -- a reported 7.5 tons with doors that could thwart an IED.

President 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.

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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.

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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.

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“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.

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John F. Kennedy’s Lincoln limousine served long after his assassination in Dallas

President John F. Kennedy’s midnight blue Lincoln limousine will forever be linked to the terrible events that unfolded in Dealey Plaza on November 22, 1963. Fifty years later, many people are stunned to learn the Lincoln not only still exists, but that it served for another 13 years in the Presidential motorcade.

President John F. Kennedy's Lincoln limousine wasn't decommissioned after the president's assassination. In fact, it remained in service for another 13 years.

No other vehicle is as seared into the memory of a nation as the Lincoln limousine President John F. Kennedy rode in during his assassination on November 22, 1963, in Dallas.

Five decades after those gunshots forever changed a nation, that same limo remains on display at The Henry Ford Museum in Dearborn, Michigan.

"A lot of people assume it was destroyed, or locked away in some warehouse never to be seen again," Matt Anderson, the museum’s curator of transportation, told the News.

THE HENRY FORD

Kennedy's presidential limousine was customized by the Hess & Eisenhardt Company of Cincinnati, Ohio. Click here to see more rare photos of the limousine.

The 1961 Lincoln’s incredible history continued long after the tragic events that unfolded in Dallas. Only five months after Kennedy’s assassination, the car was fully rebuilt, upgraded with bulletproof armor, and returned to the Presidential motorcade.

It would remain in service for another 13 years.

"It’s true," Anderson explained. "[The Lincoln] was fully rebuilt after the investigation and every subsequent President up to Gerald Ford used this vehicle."

The car’s return to official duty didn’t go without a hitch, however. "Lyndon Johnson himself insisted the car be painted black," said Anderson. "I’ve read anecdotally that he was never comfortable riding in the car."

Johnson and his wife, Lady Bird, were riding in the same motorcade in Dallas the day Kennedy was shot and killed.

ZAPRUDER FILM © 1967 (RENEWED 1995) THE SIXTH FLOOR MUSEUM AT DEALEY PLAZA

This frame from the Zapruder film shows the presidential limo right after Kennedy was shot.

First delivered to Kennedy in June of 1961, the Lincoln Continental convertible was originally painted a deep shade of midnight blue and given the code name of "X-100" by the Secret Service.

The clean and elegant lines of the new Continental "was a big shift away from the aesthetics of the 1960s…it was full of youth and vigor," says Anderson. "I think this car is a very special case for a President and a vehicle matching perfectly."

PHOTOS: RARE PHOTOS OF THE JFK PRESIDENTIAL LIMO

While many people are surprised to learn the car wasn’t originally armor-plated, the Lincoln was still highly modified compared to a standard model.

Built by a Hess & Eisenhardt of Cincinnati, Ohio, the Lincoln was cut in half and stretched by more than three feet. Special leather and seat padding was installed, along with a PA system, radio telephone, lights, sirens, and various externally mounted steps and grab-handles for Secret Service agents.

The car’s rear seat could also be raised more than 10 inches by hydraulics.

In total, the modifications pushed the car’s normal base price, which was approximately $7,300, upwards to roughly $200,000. In today’s dollars, that comes out to about $1.5 million, according to Matt Anderson of The Henry Ford.

JUSTIN NEWMAN/AP

Secret Service agent Clint Hill jumped onto the back of the limousine after the shooting.

Three types of tops were constructed for the Lincoln, though most history buffs (and conspiracy theorists) are most familiar with the clear Plexiglas roof – it was nearly used when rain threatened JFK’s trip to Dallas.

"Standard procedure was to not use that top," explains Anderson. "So there was nothing unusual about it that day in Dallas." Neither the clear plastic top, nor any of the others, was bulletproof.

PHOTOS: RARE PHOTOS OF ELVIS PRESLEY'S MANY CARS

After the assassination, the car was taken in a cargo plane and flown in convoy to Andrews Air Force Base. From there, it was taken directly the White House garage, where it was documented and analyzed.

The car’s original windshield, including damage from bullets, remains in the National Archives in Washington, DC.

After months of examination by the Secret Service, FBI and Warren Commission, the Lincoln was returned to the firm of Hess & Eisenhardt for a complete rebuild.

THE HENRY FORD

Just six weeks before President Kennedy was assassinated he was photographed with Ethiopian emperor Hail Selassie I. Click here for more rare photos of John F. Kennedy and his limousine.

Why wasn’t the car quietly removed from the motorcade, or destroyed?

It was simply a matter of time and economic constraints, says Matt Anderson.

"The short answer was expediency," and at the time the Presidential motorcade needed vehicles. "It could take 3-4 years to design and build one of these cars from scratch."

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The first major change was the fitment of a bulletproof and non-removable roof. Titanium plating was installed in the trunk and around the backseat area. The floor was reconstructed with a steel floor capable of withstanding grenades.

Run-flat tires were fitted and all windows were equipped with massively thick bulletproof glass.

A new and more powerful engine was installed to compensate for the extra weight this equipment added to the car. When it was complete, the car tipped the scales at about 10,000 lbs. – roughly double the standard Continental’s curb-weight.

The price had also grown, to approximately $500,000 (the equivalent of $3.8 million today).

Not all of the new features were entirely focused on safety. A second air conditioning unit was installed in the trunk, to help keep rear occupants cool.

Some modifications, made at the behest of other Presidents, would even undo some of the Lincoln’s arsenal of safety features. Lyndon B. Johnson insisted that the rear window could be raised or lowered.

THE HENRY FORD

After the assassination, the presidential limousine underwent a variety of modifications including armor in the rear passenger cabin.

During his time in the car, Richard Nixon asked for a hatch to be built into the roof, so he could stand and wave from the vehicle.  Both of these modifications remain on the car today.

PHOTOS: CONCEPT CARS FROM THE 1950S AND 60S

The Lincoln was never actually owned by the White House. Instead, it was leased from Ford Motor Company on an annual basis for a nominal fee.

Once officially retired from the motorcade, the car took its place amongst the roughly 100 vehicles on permanent display at The Henry Ford. It has been kept in perfectly preserved, though always static, condition for the last 35 years.

"It’s quite a privilege and an honor to have this car in the collection," says Matt Anderson. "I don’t think you had to live through it to realize what a pivotal moment in history this vehicle represents."

by nydailynews.com

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