Presidential State Car (United States)

The United States presidential state car (nicknamed "The Beast", "Cadillac One", "Limousine One", "First Car";code named "Stagecoach") is the official state car of the President of the United States.

The current model of presidential state car is a unique Cadillac built upon a medium-duty truck platform. The car is equipped with many life-saving, offensive, and defensive measures, and is built to the United States Secret Service's standards. When riding in the state car, the president is cut off from the outside world, but has extensive 21st-century communications gear at hand. In a recent change, the vehicle bears standard Washington, D.C. license plates. The next generation of presidential state car is currently under development.

United States presidents embraced automotive technology in the early 20th-century with President William Howard Taft's purchase of four cars and the conversion of the White House stables into a garage. Presidents rode in stock, unmodified cars until President Franklin D. Roosevelt's administration bought the Sunshine Special, the first presidential state car to be built to Secret Service standards. Until the assassination of John F. Kennedy, presidential state cars frequently allowed the president to ride uncovered and exposed to the public. After President Kennedy's assassination began a progression of increasingly armored and sealed cars until the current state car which is hermetically sealed with its own environmental system on board.

Modern presidential state cars are dismantled and destroyed with the assistance of the Secret Service to prevent their secrets from being known to outside parties.

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