Oct 22: Mr. President, is that your Cadillac?

Let's say you were walking down the street, when this big black car pulls up beside you and Barrack Obama jumps out and goes in to get a coffee. Naturally, you'd follow him to see what he ordered and maybe to exchange a few words. Being a car guy/gal, you'd probably ask him how he liked his new Cadillac, the one they affectionately call, "The Beast". After all, as you can see from these pics, he takes it absolutely everywhere with him........

His answer might surprise you. Sure he likes it, but it is not a Cadillac, it is actually a custom built truck with Caddy design cues added on. So heavy in fact, that he couldn't open the back door by himself to jump out and get that double/double. But these cars haven't always been this way  -  a brief history please........

Truman's Lincoln was almost wide open, with just enough protection to shield him from a slight breeze. Of course, this was long before every terrorist group or nut bar wanted to take a shot at him (the good old days?). This lasted until John Kennedy was shot in 1963, after which each presidential limo received a little more protection, but even then they were "public friendly".

After Kennedy's assassination, open cars like this Imperial used by the president of Peru became far less common. Closed in limos like this Bush era Lincoln became the norm......

Armoured to the hilt, but not near as protective as the Beast would end up being, but at least the adoring crowds could see their president. Similar to the Clinton era Cadillacs.......

These earlier cars were actually the models they were supposed to be, an actual Lincoln or an actual Cadillac. Problem was that as the secret service added more and more things to them, they became more and more technical, they became less and less reliable (even today there are twelve copies just in case), so building a dedicated presidential limo from the ground up made sense. And not so important that your elected official be seen by everyone lining the parade route.

So while Barrack is enjoying his cup of jo and regaling you with stories of cruising in his big, black ride, you can day dream back to the old days, the days when the top official had to let you know who he was, days like the one depicted here.......

But, of course, if you remember, this guy had many other problems.

Until next time........