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What It Is Like to Ride In the Presidential Limo
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May 21, 2025
The Presidential Limousine, known officially as "Cadillac One" and called "the Beast" by the Secret Service, is a remarkable machine. The president's car is capable of transporting and protecting him, letting him work undisturbed, and if necessary, unleashing nuclear hell. President Obama's car is a unique vehicle built around a Cadillac DTS that almost everyone has seen, but almost nobody knows anything about. And that's on purpose - the details of its protection and weapons are closely guarded secrets.
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Everyone has heard of Air Force One, the president's plane
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and Marine One, the president's chopper. But few have heard of Cadillac One, the president's limo
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It's a pretty nice ride that's capable of transporting and protecting the president, letting the president
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work undisturbed, and if necessary, allowing the president to unleash nuclear hell
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Today, we're going to take a look at some fascinating facts about the president's limo
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The first president to ride in a car was William McKinley, all the way back in 1900
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The car was a Stanley steamer, invented by F.O. Stanley, who had to reassure the nervous
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McKinley that the machine was safe to ride in. McKinley hated the experience, and later confided in a friend that he felt like the car might
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explode at any minute, or that the driver might lose control. He also called Stanley over-optimistic for thinking that cars would ever replace horses
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Despite McKinley's reaction, U.S. presidents ever since have been early adopters of automobile
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technology. Howard Taft was the first president to regularly use motor transportation as opposed
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to horse-drawn carriages. And successive presidents have had more and more monstrous state cars
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Barack Obama's presidential state car was an armored Cadillac DTS known as
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The Beast. The exact details of the weight and outfitting of Obama's limo were closely guarded
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secrets, but the car was thought to be about 18 feet long and weighed around 7.5 tons. Its speed
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was also classified, and it's been speculated that the car got about 8 miles to the gallon
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not exactly saving the planet, but it wasn't really designed for fuel efficiency
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President Trump's limo, while being a newer model than Obama's, is also called The Beast
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It's believed the Beast II's weight is about 20,000 pounds and is protected by a mix of aluminum, steel
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and ceramic armors and has walls that are about eight inches thick
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Both beasts were designed to keep the respective president safe from a variety of attacks
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And in the modern era, that's no easy task. A United States president can face threats from everything
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from handguns to grenades to missiles. Moreover, the limo is also meant to serve
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as a mobile command center in the event that the White House has to be evacuated
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While the details of both beasts are classified, one of the most speculated about features
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is a reinforced 5-inch steel plate said to run underneath the car
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This innovation protects the president in the event that a bomb is placed under the car a grenade rolls under the car or the car rolls over a landmine or you hit a really really deep pothole
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Given how important the president is, the Secret Service has to anticipate every conceivable type
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of threat when figuring out how to keep the president safe. This includes the possibility
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of a gas attack. To defend against such threats, the main cabin of both beasts were designed to
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completely seal themselves when the doors were closed. This means poison gas or nerve agents can't get in
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The limos also have their own filtration systems to ensure clean air is always being pumped to the president
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It's believed that both beasts had doors as heavy as the ones found on a 757 airliner
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These doors feature bulletproof glass windows that are around 5 inches thick and are covered
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in over 8 inches of armor plating. Standard options might be good for your average car buyer
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but the president of the United States usually requires the premium package
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This can even apply to details as seemingly innocuous as the door handles
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The standard Cadillac DTS door handles were actually replaced on the Beast with special loops
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that allow the Secret Service agents to run alongside the car while holding on
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They're also easier to grab and open in an emergency, providing, of course, that the driver or president
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hasn't locked the car from the inside. If an attacker could stop the limo
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the president would be a sitting duck. So in the event of an attack, the limo must keep moving
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no matter what. To that end, the Beast's tires are heavily protected
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from puncture or flattening. In fact, the limo has special wheels that are Kevlar reinforced
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These super tires can resist shred, puncture, and just about everything else
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Even better, if something does manage to blow out the tires, all isn't lost
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Why? Because the Beast can drive short distances on just its steel rims, thanks to special run-flat devices
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If there's one thing experience has made the Secret Service paranoid about
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it's the risk of someone shooting as the president passes by in the presidential limo
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Therefore, the windows on the Beast are reportedly five to six inches thick
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bomb-proof, and capable of withstanding armor-piercing bullets. Moreover, they're mostly just for show
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The driver's window is the only one that actually opens, and not even all the way
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It only cracks open about 2 3 1⁄4 inches. Why even bother
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Well, it's so the driver can speak with Secret Service agents outside the vehicle
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Another event the president ride is designed for is an attack on its fuel tank After all if an assassin could ignite the fuel in the tank president might meet a crispy end To guard against this the limo fuel tank
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is armor-plated to help repel bullets. As a second line of defense, the lining of the tank
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is filled with a special foam that prevents it from exploding, even if it sustains a direct hit
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This is the same technology race cars use to keep their gas tanks from exploding in a collision
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Let's say you're the president and you want to have an awesome tailgate party. Well, I've got some bad news
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Because while the Beast does have a trunk, it's designed to hold something very specific
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The trunk of Cadillac One is actually said to house an emergency oxygen supply
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along with some basic firefighting equipment. It's also rumored that the trunk holds bottles of blood
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that match the president's blood type, in case an emergency transfusion is needed
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The Beast is a very important vehicle. But the truth is, it's not really a single vehicle at all
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It's actually more of a fleet. There are likely 12 different armored Cadillacs
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that serve as the presidential state car. Each car is completely identical
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and the system that determines which beast is used when is kept highly classified
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In fact, in order to help keep would-be attackers guessing, there's always another beast around whenever
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the president is traveling, usually somewhere else in the presidential motorcade. Like everything else about Cadillac One
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its special features are classified. But rumor has it that the car comes equipped
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with its own night vision camera to be used in case of a blackout
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The limo is also armed with tear gas cannons capable of dispersing a hostile crowd
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and pump action shotguns for close quarters defense. Cadillac One is known to seat seven people
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including a driver and Secret Service agent up front. In the back, the president sits facing forward
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while any guests sit facing toward him. The president also has an array of defensive measures
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available, including a glass partition to the driver that only he can open, and a panic button for summoning help
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Like Air Force One, the beast allows the president to do his work even while he's on the road
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The president can stay connected safely on a fold-away desk that includes a laptop with secure Wi-Fi
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capabilities, as well as a satellite phone with a direct line to the Pentagon and the vice president
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The state of the art communications equipment in the car is actually maintained directly by the White House
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Communications Agency. You ever want to launch a nuclear missile at a guy who
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cut you off in traffic? Well if you president of the United States it an option kind of But should the unthinkable happen and a nuclear war breaks out while the president is in the beast it has everything that needed to make a full response right there
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The president's motorcade always includes a vehicle known as the Roadrunner, or the MC2V
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This car carries equipment that links the limousine control package, which allows the president
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to conduct command and control functions to a Defense Department satellite. Through this satellite, the president
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can send and receive emergency action messages through a special channel. Long and kind of boring story short
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this allows the president to authorize and direct a nuclear weapon release
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That's a new level of road rage. So if you're watching this video and thinking to yourself
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that driving the presidential limo sounds like a job for you, well, it's not an easy gig to get
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First off, you have to be a Secret Service agent, and not just any run-of-the-mill Secret Service agent either
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The driver of the presidential limo has to be trained in CPR and have specialized training in evasive driving techniques
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including the legendary J-turn. Also known as the moonshiners' turn, because it's based on a signature bootlegger driving maneuver
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the J-turn can flip the car 180 degrees while the driver guns the engine at the same time
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Just as the president has a personal airplane, the president's car also has its own plane
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Why? Well, because it has to. Nothing else can carry it. Whenever the president flies anywhere
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the two limos that go with him, as well as the other motorcade vehicles, are fit into a specially designed C-17 Globemaster 3 aircraft
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We're not sure if the limos get an in-flight movie. After hearing all this information about the president's limo
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you might be wondering if you could pick one up for yourself. Well, you can't
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They're specially made for the president. And even if you could, you probably can't afford one
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Each beast reportedly costs somewhere in the area of $1.5 million to build and maintain
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Of course, as with everything else related to Cadillac One, the exact price is actually a closely guarded secret
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At $1.5 million a car, you'd probably expect the presidential limos to function like a, well
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a well-oiled machine. And the vast majority of the time, the complex machine known as Cadillac One functions smoothly
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But when it doesn't, it tends to make the news. This usually happens because the beast
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has terrible maneuverability. and can struggle with narrow roads overseas. It had trouble parking in London in 2009
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appeared to get stuck on a ramp during the president's 2011 visit to Ireland, and broke down completely in Israel in 2013
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However, each time, the president was moved to the backup limo, and the visits went on as normal
#Autos & Vehicles
#Cadillac
#Government