More details about Barack Obama’s Presidential Limousine: Cadillac One

Posted by Harvinder

February 5, 2009

U.S President Barack Hussein Obama was inaugurated as the 44th president last month and since we are an automotive web magazine, lets get on with the details about the official vehicle of America’s first African-American president.

President Obama who used to drive a Chrysler 300 with a HEMI power plant during his senatorial days, is now chauffeured in an ultra high tech Cadillac One Limousine. Ever since the late John F. Kennedy was assassinated back in 1963, safety concerns regarding presidential limos have been taken very seriously till today, which is why this new Cadillac One is built like an Abrams tank that is both tough and intelligent.

The Cadillac One which is rumored to be based on the GMC Topkick heavy duty pick up truck (yes, which is also known as Ironhide in Transformers) has a number of features that possibly put the most expensive luxury armored vehicle to shame. Lets go over these features, starting from the front end. First up there’s a night vision camera located at the lower bumper to help make sure that the CIA trained driver knows where he is heading to when the headlights stop functioning.

Built on a reinforced chassis with five inch steel plates which is strong enough to withstand a bomb detonated underneath the car, the body work of the Caddy One features a combination of dual hardness steel; aluminium and titanium, as well as ceramic to help break up possible projectiles.

Then there are the windows and windshields that are tough enough to withstand armor-piercing bullets and the only window which can be wound down by three inches is the driver’s one. These windows are housed in armor-plated doors that are eight inches thick and each of these doors weigh as much as a cabin door of the Boeing 757 jet. The boot at the back is house to an oxygen tank supply and a fire extinguisher system.

Those huge wheels which are about 17-inch in size are wrapped around with kevlar reinforced tires which are shred and puncture resistant. These tires are fitted with steel rims underneath that enables the car to be driven at high speeds even if the tires are blasted off.

Now on to the inside of the limo. The driver’s compartment is equipped with a communications centre with a GPS system. There is also a communications-jammer. Then at the back, for President Obama him self, there is a luxury yet functional rear cabin with a foldaway desktop, laptop with Wi-Fi and a state of the art satellite phone. Other equipments include; pump action shotguns, tear gas cannons and even bottles of the president’s blood in case he needs an emergency blood transfusion.

The super heavy Caddy One which is 18 ft long and 5 ft 10 inches high is powered by a 6.5 liter V8 which is able to propel the vehicle to 100 km/h in 15 seconds to a top speed of only 100 km/h (the vehicle must be as heavy as a tank!). The engine also consumes one gallon just to return 8 miles.

Well there you have it, a lot of thought has gone into producing the president’s ultimate ride, and the best part is, there are definitely more features fitted in the Cadillac One which is unknown to people like you and me.

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