President-elect Donald Trump’s Cadillac One limousine is set to make its debut on Inauguration Day.
The first look at the presidential car also known as The Beast, reveals its features will be more impressive than some of the past ‘beasts’ used by his predecessors.
The Cadillac will be equipped with weapons including tear gas cannons, a shotgun, and even bottles of the President-elect’s blood type in case of emergencies, reports said.
The limo’s doors and windows will be bulletproof and sealed off to withstand chemical and biological attacks, which means only the driver will be able to roll down the window to pay tolls.
Exact details of the car’s features are not revealed to the public, but recent model images have shown the limousine will even protect the new presidential family with an underside that is impervious to road side bombs.
The Secret Service first proposed a replacement for the presidential limo in 2014, and now the new model will replace the fleet of around 12 cars that were used by President Barack Obama since 2009, Autoweek reported in November.
It will also reportedly be plated with military-grade armor, making the doors so heavy that President Trump won’t be able to open them from the inside.
General Motors has been paid a total of $15million to develop the vehicle, according to documents.
The new car will have the same black and silver paint as the previous beast, but it had been covered with camouflage paint to disguise new features.
Externally, the Cadillac One appears to have the same headlight and grille design as past beasts, (Cadillac Escalade sedan) and all body panels will be custom-fabricated.
The previous model was and included eight inches of armor, tear gas canisters, and two pints of the President’s blood.
The vehicle is also fitted with night vision cameras, GPS tracking and a satellite communication system to allow it to run in any conditions and make sure the President is always in contact.
The previous car, described as a ‘Caddy on a tank frame’, weighed eight tons due to the huge amount of armor plating built into the frame.
The doors were around eight inches thick, each weighed the same as the door of a Boeing 747 jet, (eight tons) and concealed in the trunk was an oxygen supply that allows fresh air to be pumped into the cabin in the event that the air outside becomes toxic.
The fuel tank of Obama’s beast was coated with armor plating and contains a special foam which expands on impact and that prevented it from exploding, even if it suffered a direct hit.
The tires were coated in Kevlar to protect them from bursting, but even if they did, the metal rims were strong enough to hold up the vehicle and keep it rolling in case the outer layer was blown away.
The vehicle may be equipped for just about any attacks, but it has ironically broken down on two public occasions.
In 2013, Obama’s limo broke down on his first presidential trip to Israel after his driver accidentally put gas in the tank instead of diesel.
One of the fleet cars got stuck leaving the US Embassy in Dublin in 2011 after it couldn’t overcome a speed hump.
An adjustable suspension may be included in the new model to avoid similar incidents.
The virtually indestructible car has come a long way since past state cars as President Lyndon Johnson’s 1968 custom-built black stretch limousine did not have bulletproof features or weaponry.
Warren G. Harding was the first president to be driven to his inauguration in 1921.
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(Via: CitiFM Online Ghana)
