OldSchoolLifter
Banned Member
The presidential state car
MSRP: $473,000 (estimate)
Given how much Conquest charges to protect a guy who plays the low post for a living, $473,000 seems like a lowball estimate for the car that holds the leader of the free world.
The Guardian quoted that figure when the presidential ride colloquially referred to as "Cadillac One" made its debut after President Barack Obama took office in 2009, but the options just don't add up. The body alone is forged from dual-hardness steel, aluminum, titanium and ceramic to withstand projectiles. The doors alone are 8 inches thick and weigh as much as the cabin door on a Boeing 757.
The car, officially a Cadillac, looks like an STS built on an GMC Topkick and is armored everywhere from a 5-inch steel plate running along the undercarriage, a fuel tank also filled with foam to prevent it from exploding in the case of a direct hit and Kevlar-reinforced tires that give way to reinforced steel rims in the event they're blown off. Even the driver's window can withstand armor-piercing bullets and opens only 3 inches to protect the CIA-trained wheelman inside.
While you can put a value on the panic button, president-only glass partition switch and security features such as night-vision cameras, shotguns and teargas cannons, it's much harder to appraise some of the cars' more unique elements. For example, what would you pay for a direct line to the Pentagon or the vice president? What's the value of Obama's blood, stowed aboard in case he needs an emergency transfusion?
The answers may vary based on political leanings, the president's approval rating and the general state of the union, but regardless of occupant -- and it could have just as easily been John McCain, considering the latest state car was unveiled in 2008 -- the car is still a bargain compared with the value of its most valued passenger.
MSRP: $473,000 (estimate)
Given how much Conquest charges to protect a guy who plays the low post for a living, $473,000 seems like a lowball estimate for the car that holds the leader of the free world.
The Guardian quoted that figure when the presidential ride colloquially referred to as "Cadillac One" made its debut after President Barack Obama took office in 2009, but the options just don't add up. The body alone is forged from dual-hardness steel, aluminum, titanium and ceramic to withstand projectiles. The doors alone are 8 inches thick and weigh as much as the cabin door on a Boeing 757.
The car, officially a Cadillac, looks like an STS built on an GMC Topkick and is armored everywhere from a 5-inch steel plate running along the undercarriage, a fuel tank also filled with foam to prevent it from exploding in the case of a direct hit and Kevlar-reinforced tires that give way to reinforced steel rims in the event they're blown off. Even the driver's window can withstand armor-piercing bullets and opens only 3 inches to protect the CIA-trained wheelman inside.
While you can put a value on the panic button, president-only glass partition switch and security features such as night-vision cameras, shotguns and teargas cannons, it's much harder to appraise some of the cars' more unique elements. For example, what would you pay for a direct line to the Pentagon or the vice president? What's the value of Obama's blood, stowed aboard in case he needs an emergency transfusion?
The answers may vary based on political leanings, the president's approval rating and the general state of the union, but regardless of occupant -- and it could have just as easily been John McCain, considering the latest state car was unveiled in 2008 -- the car is still a bargain compared with the value of its most valued passenger.
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