I think it's the best looking Lincoln since the model. The firm's other high-profile clients included the Queen of England. In the process, the car gained Secret Service codenames - SSX and X - and the grille of a model, so it appeared right up to date. Its most radical equipment was a six-piece roof system composed of clear plastic panels that were stowed in the trunk and a rear seat that could be hydraulically raised more than 10 inches for better visibility of its occupants.
There were two radio telephones, akin to walkie-talkies or CB radios rigged to telephone handsets. The car's most notable extra was its length, three-and-a-half feet of it, gained by cutting it in half and extending the rear passenger compartment to create more room and to fit a middle row of forward-facing jump seats that folded away when not in use.
The Kennedy limousine, a modified Lincoln Continental, had virtually no safety features. Barack Obama's modern limo, called "the Beast," is a mix of car, truck and tank. It is full of features auto experts speculate about but the Secret Service refuses to discuss. Here are some of the features of both:. On that fateful day in Dallas, those jump seats were occupied by Texas Gov. John Connally and his wife, Nellie. Amidst the noise and excitement, an elated Mrs.
Connally looked back at Kennedy and famously told him, "Mr. President, you can't say Dallas doesn't love you. Moments before the first gunshot rang out in Dealey Plaza, the limousine made the sharp left turn onto Elm Street. The pair of flags mounted on the front fenders of the long car billowed in the breeze. Kennedy waved to bystanders from the open convertible's back seat.
A bouquet of red roses given to her earlier at Love Field lay between them on the button-tufted seat. Even the weather seemed expertly choreographed. The midday sun illuminated the limousine - a calculated effect, thanks to the silver metal flakes mixed into the car's Presidential Blue Metallic paint, designed to gleam under bright lights. That shade was specified instead of traditional black because it looked crisper and more defined in black-and-white photographs and on television.
When three shots rang out at Dealey Plaza, Kennedy and all of the passengers in the limousine were completely exposed. The decision had been made that morning to not put on the car's plastic bubble top. What the public did not know was that the top was neither bulletproof nor even bullet-resistant. A Secret Service agent on detail that day reportedly described the top as bulletproof in a Nov. Gary Mack, curator of Dallas' Sixth Floor Museum at Dealey Plaza, says, "I can only guess that Secret Service personnel may not have wanted another agency to know about the characteristics of the top.
I cannot imagine he didn't know it was not bulletproof. There was no protective armor cladding anywhere on the vehicle. Mack says that for all of the car's upgraded features, it served mostly as an "expensive, fancy limousine.
John F. When it comes to history, people are often less interested in the event and are more concerned about the items a historical person used or that were involved in the event. The same is true of the limousine JFK was riding in at the time of his assassination.
When the topic comes up, one of the first questions people ask is what happened to the car JFK was shot in. The day started as a celebration. The cheers turned to screams as the president was struck by a bullet. The now-famous car, which was called, X was transported from Texas to the White House where it was declared a piece of evidence in the murder. A roof was added to the limo as well as protective armor and bulletproof glass.
Once those features were in place and the limo was declared mechanically sound, it was returned to the presidential motorcade. The assassination on November 22, , shocked the world — and also led to a total rethink of how the presidential cars are designed. The open-roofed Lincoln Continental left the president uniquely exposed, and future models enclosed the president in ever-thicker layers of armor and protection.
Below, Business Insider looks over the evolution of the presidential limo in the last four decades. The vehicle that President Kennedy was riding in on the day of his assassination was a Lincoln Continental. Its low-slung elegance was perfectly suited to the forward-looking image Kennedy sought to project. After leasing the vehicle from Ford, the Secret Service made some adjustments, including a special phone system and a mechanism to elevate Kennedy's seat to give crowds a better view.
But the car had no armor or other protective features. Even had its bubble roof been in place that day in Dallas it would have provided no shield against the assassin's bullets. After Kennedy's assassination, the Lincoln Continental Presidential Limousine model in which he travelled was given a substantial redesign. According to the Henry Ford Museum of American Innovation , the vehicle was given a permanent roof, titanium armor plating, an explosion-proof fuel tank, and run-flat tyres.
At the request of Kennedy's White House successor, Lyndon Baines Johnson, the color of the car was changed from midnight blue to a more sombre black. The next major redesign took place during the presidency of Richard Nixon, with the new model of Lincoln Continental unveiled in Though it wasn't a convertible, the vehicle had opening roof panels if the president wanted to stand and wave to crowds from the vehicle while electioneering or on official visits.
An extra quarter inch of armor was added, bringing its weight up to 5, pounds. The vehicle was put to the test in two presidential assassination attempts, speeding President Gerald Ford from Union Square, San Francisco, after Sara Jane Moore narrowly missed him in a shooting in That year, one of the six bullets, fired by would-be assassin John Hinckley Jr, hit the right window of the vehicle, and another ricocheted from its roof, seriously wounding the president.
He later made a full recovery.
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