Even as the US govt. Has decided to shop for new presidential limousines. The current limo, which quite rightly is dubbed as the “Beast,” remains to be the safest presidential ride in the world with some of the most advanced and unparalleled features. But the thing is, no one except a few insiders from the secret service has the slightest clue of those groundbreaking safety features in the closely guarded limo. However, Autoweek has managed to extract some top secret information on the Beast, which has intrigued us. The current presidential limo debuted back in 2009 and was a massive improvement from the previous version. The biggest difference is that
the old limo was built around a stock Cadillac with heavy armor added to it, whereas the Beast is a proper tank guise as a Cadillac. The underpinnings are nothing similar to a usual Cadillac, and rather a General Motors chassis is used for it.
The Beast is packed with thick, military-grade body armor which is eight inches thick on the doors, an armored leak proof fuel tank, special military-grade run-flat tires with Kevlar lining, an encrypted satellite phone system, a fully sealed cabin with its own oxygen supply, and a boot full of advanced weapons and medical equipment that includes a supply of the President’s blood type. The limo weighs 15,000 pounds and is close to 18 feet long. It is powered by a V8 engine and runs on petrol rather than diesel, and according to an agent, the 0 to 60 is very impressive. The secret service guarding the US president operates a fleet of 12 such limos, and each of them costs somewhere around $1.5 million.
[Via – AutoWeek]
