Once Donald Trump takes the oath of office, he'll ride to the White House in a new custom-built Cadillac limousine known as The Beast.
Built on a General Motors truck chassis and heavily armored, its specifications and construction have been managed by a small government group that has run the program for years. Aside from styling, the limousine shares little with Cadillac production cars.
Yet that wasn't always the case.
For most of the 20th century, presidential limousines were modified production cars. That changed with the 1993 Presidential Brougham, which was custom-built for President Clinton. Custom rides have been the order since.
And while Cadillac is the White House's modern-day marque of choice, it's not the only brand that has provided presidential transportation. In fact, the first presidential car wasn't even gasoline-powered; it was powered by steam.
The car was the choice of our rotund, 27th president, William Howard Taft, who went on to become the Supreme Court's chief justice.
More than an ardent admirer of cuisine, Taft was an early automobile enthusiast and, after a fight with Congress, spent $12,000 on the first White House automotive fleet.
Like any modern-day gearhead, Taft had to have the fastest thing on the road, which explains why he chose a 1909 White Model M, a seven-seat touring car built by the White Motor Company of Cleveland, Ohio, Taft's home state. It cost the government $3,000.
White produced its first car, powered by steam, in 1899. And while the choice may seem odd today, steam cars held sway with consumers of the time, who were used to steam-powered locomotives. And while steam cars accounted for 40 percent of sales when White was founded, their popularity was declining by the time Taft's car was built. In fact, by then, they accounted for 2 percent of sales, as other types of powerplants proved more convenient.
Producing 40 horsepower, Taft's Model M _ the only member of its fleet still around _ has a 20-gallon tank that holds kerosene or gasoline, an 18-gallon water tank and a 150-mile range. It takes 10 minutes to warm up and produce steam.
In addition to the White, the White House bought two Pierce-Arrow limousines and a Baker Electric. A remainder of the budget was used to convert the White House stables to garages and pay a chauffeur.
White would go on to concentrate solely on trucks after World War I. The company filed for Chapter 11 in 1979, and truck manufacturer Volvo bought its assets the following year.
Taft's successor, Woodrow Wilson, bought his 1919 Pierce-Arrow Vestibule Suburban Limousine for $3,000 but never drove the car. He didn't know how to drive. Warren G. Harding was the first president-elect to ride to his inauguration in a car, a Packard Twin Six.
Lincoln supplied President Coolidge with a 1924 Model L, but it was replaced by a 1928 Cadillac Series 341 town car and its 90-horsepower V-8, three-speed manual transmission and tilting headlamps. His successor, Herbert Hoover, opted for a 1930 Cadillac V-16 and loved it enough to buy it after leaving office.
But in 1933, after an assassination attempt was made on President Roosevelt while he was riding in a convertible in Miami, the feds had FDR use Al Capone's armored 1928 Cadillac. The government acquired the car after Capone's indictment on tax-evasion charges.
Eventually, the government turned to Lincoln to supply presidential vehicles, providing a 1939 Lincoln, nicknamed the Sunshine Special, to FDR. Built on a Lincoln Model K platform, the V-12-powered car transported presidents Roosevelt and Truman before being retired in 1950. A fleet of Brunn-bodied Lincoln Cosmopolitan Limousines replaced it. Later, a plastic bubbletop was fitted to it after President Eisenhower was rained on during an appearance in Richmond, Va.
Perhaps the most famous presidential Lincoln is the 1961 Continental built for President John F. Kennedy. Modified by the Ohio-based coachbuilder Hess and Eisenhardt, it was the car Kennedy was riding in when he was assassinated in Dallas in 1963.
Despite its ghoulish history, the car was modified for security purposes and used by President Johnson. A 1968 Lincoln Continental was ordered for President Nixon, later replaced by a 1972 model that was used through the Reagan administration. It was replaced with a pair of Fleetwood Brougham limousines in 1983, which were supplanted a decade later by Clinton's custom Cadillac.
Since then, Cadillac has remained the presidential car of choice.
And while a surprising number of presidential limousines survive, don't expect to see Obama's Cadillac any time soon. Upon retirement, all presidential cars are now destroyed by the Secret Service.
