They never said it. They did not want to admit it: the real motivation of Kamala Harris and of Donald Trump to run for the mandate of President of the United States was to be able to have the Cadillac limousine which is parked in the White House garages.
Because this is not the average cowboy’s Cad’. Nicknamed The Beast, it is a monster weighing several tons, a limousine with multiple armor, built on a sturdy chassis like that of a truck.
It has been several decades since the prestige brand was chosen by the White House special services. Completely transformed to meet the strictest safety standards, the presidential Cadillacs On serial models, only the front side is retained, which allows the original vintage to be identified.
In 1983, Ronald Reagan inaugurated the list of Cadillac-emblazoned parade cars (pictured above). Already at this time, the bodywork was profoundly modified compared to the standard Fleetwood limousines with a significantly raised passenger compartment, both for the comfort of the passengers, but also so that they were clearly visible to onlookers waving star-spangled banners along the routes taken by the processions.
Before Cadillac, it was the luxury brand of the Ford group – Lincoln – which carried several generations of presidents. We saw Eisenhower in a Cosmopolitan convertible in the 1950s, but we mostly remember la Lincoln Continental de John F. Kennedy.
On November 22, 1963 at 12:30 p.m., the hope that the election of the young president had raised was shattered in Dallas, on Dealey Plaza. The president collapses, mortally wounded, in the back seat of on the Continental. It’s the end of an era. The following year, America led by Lyndon Johnson would be drawn into the spiral of the Vietnam War.
Whether it is Lincoln or CadillacAmerica has two prestigious labels, worthy of rivaling Charles III’s Bentley, Putin’s Aurus, Xi-Jinping’s Hongqi or Naruhito’s Toyota.
It would be too easy to ironize about the depressing Élysée garage with the DS 7 SUV – now used alternately with the Renault Rafale – to defend and illustrate the creativity and good taste that characterize France.
