Welp, right here we’re once more. Each 4 years the nervousness, horror and glory of our electoral system performs out, and yearly I feel the identical factor: I’m wondering what sort of automotive the brand new (or previous) president will use? There are such a lot of totally different autos which have transported the Commander-In-Chief round this nice nation of ours, however the first one which springs to my thoughts within the 1961 Lincoln Continental Presidential Limo.
This automotive has all the time loomed massive in my childhood because it is likely one of the first reveals you see once you enter the Henry Ford Museum. Whereas there are a number of presidential autos lined up within the very entrance, this automobile has a particular pull, as it might be essentially the most consequential automotive in the entire assortment. This Lincoln was carrying President John F Kennedy the day he was assassinated in Dallas, Texas, on November 22, 1963.
This automotive is superb to me for a lot of causes. First off, it was a low slung convertible with suicide doorways which, hell yeah, are all the time cool. I’ve all the time cherished late ’50s, early ’60s American land yachts, and Kennedy’s limo was a yacht for the ages. Usually, such a automotive would price a civilian the princely sum of $7,347, however the Ford Motor Firm leased the Lincoln to the White Home for the nominal payment of $500 a month earlier than sending it off for $200,000 in retrofits to make it prepared for President Kennedy.
However it’s not simply the traditional automotive bona fides that I like about this Lincoln. I’ve all the time been a morbid little shit and this automotive was the scene of one of the crucial well-known murders in American historical past; a world-changing assassination that may have lasting repercussions for generations. After which, whereas on what will need to have been my 1,000,000th go to to the Henry Ford Museum, a docent informed me the limo was haunted, and that sealed the deal for me.
Such limos take years to construct from scratch — years that Kennedy’s successor, Vice President Lyndon Johnson, didn’t have. The Lincoln was cleaned up and retrofitted with extra bullet-proofing, a stable roof, black paint (the navy blue reminded People an excessive amount of of their fallen president) and “the biggest in-vehicle air conditioner ever constructed,” in keeping with the Dallas Morning Information, all to the tune of $500,000. Johnson continued to experience round within the limo and it stayed in service by way of President Richard Nixon’s administration and into Jimmy Carter’s first 12 months as prez. All informed, the limo stayed within the presidential fleet for 13 years following Kennedy’s assassination.
Simply the truth that it carried 4 presidents throughout one of the crucial necessary and tumultuous instances in our nation’s historical past is purpose sufficient to provide it the crown of most presidential automobile, however it’s definitely not alone. There’s the Cadillac DTS Presidential State Automobile utilized by Bush and Obama, or the present Beast loved by Trump and Biden. You would even go the opposite method, with autos merely owned by presidents. Lyndon Johnson preferred to scare of us utilizing his Amphicar Mannequin 770, and who may overlook Biden’s traditional 1967 Corvette Stingray?
Ought to the long run president choose a wholly new sort of automotive? Ought to they persist with the Caddys which were utilized in the previous few a long time? Tell us within the feedback beneath.
