Text from DailyMail:
The image of a smiling and waving
John F Kennedy in his presidential limousine moments before he was
assassinated is burned into the national consciousness.
We
all know the outcome of that tragedy, but one of the key pieces of
evidence from the day - the Lincoln limousine - went on to serve four
more presidents before it was finally retired in 1977.
The car draws crowds at the Henry Ford Museum in Dearborn, Michigan, where it ended its long journey.
Historic artifact: The Kennedy Presidential limo is now drawing crowds at the Henry Ford Museum
Before the storm: The presidential limousine carries President John F and Jackie Kennedy through the streets of Dallas
When President John F
Kennedy was assassinated in 1963, he was riding in a motorcade through
Dallas in the 1961 Lincoln Continental four-door convertible. Completely
open at the top, the car, code-named X-100, had no armor or
bullet-proof elements whatsoever, a fact incomprehensible today. The tires were not bulletproof.
There was no bulletproof glass. It did have a removable plastic top,
but, again, it was just Plexiglas,' Matt Anderson, curator at the Henry
Ford Museum, told CBS.
'It
was no, no bullet resistance in that material. It's amazing to think of
it, but they just didn't anticipate that kind of problem.'
The custom-built car
cost $200,000 and had features including retractable steps for Secret
Service agents and two radio telephones.Following
Kennedy's assassination, the car was driven directly back to the White
House so it could be examined as part of the investigation.'They
determined that the most practical thing to do was just to rebuild this
existing car rather than to start from scratch, so, yes, they took the
car down to the frame and rebuilt it as a true armored vehicle,'
Anderson told CBS. 'The
biggest change they made in modifying the car was putting in a permanent
roof that could not be removed, and they surrounded the whole vehicle
with bullet-resistant glass.'
It
was completely armored, a top was added and it was given a paint-job in
'regal Presidential Blue Metallic with silver metallic flakes that
glitter under bright lights and sunshine.'
Lyndon
Johnson was two cars behind Kennedy the day of the assassination. After
he was sworn in as president, he occasionally had to ride in the car. According to Anderson, he disliked the blue paint job the car had been given because it was too similar to the original color. It was promptly painted black, but Johnson was never comfortable riding in the car and avoided it whenever possible. When
President Nixon had use of the car, he had a hole cut in the roof as a
hatch, so that he could stand up and wave at crowds. Presidents
Ford and Carter also used the car, until it finally reached the end of
the road and came to a stop at the Henry Ford Museum.
Cuando el presidente John
F
Kennedy fue asesinado en 1963, circulaba en una comitiva de vehiculos en
Dallas a bordo de un Lincoln Continental descapotable de 4 puertas.
Totalmente
descubierto, el coche, cuyo codigo interno era X-100, no estaba
blindado ni tenia ningun elemento de protecion antibalas, algo
incompresible hoy en día.
Los
neumaticos no eran antibalas, ni tampoco los cristales. Tenia una
cubierta desmontable de plastico pero, de nuevo, no era antibalas. Es dificil de comprender, pero ellos no anticiparon este problema.
Los
trabajos de personalizacion del coche costaros 200.000 Dolares,
incluyendo los reposapies retractiles para el servicio secreto y dos
radio-telefonos. Después del asesinato de Kennedy el coche se condujo a
la Casa Blanca para ser examinado como parte de la investigacion. Se
determino que lo mas conveniente era reconstruir el coche, asi que se
elimino la carroceria y se construyo como un nuevo coche blindado. El
cambio mas significatvo fue instalar un techo no desmontable con vidrio a
prueba de balas. El coche se blindo totalmente y se pinto con un color
azul metalizado "presidencial" con reflejos metalizados que brillaban
bajo la luz.
Lyndon
Johnson viajaba dos coches por detras el dia del asesinato de Kennedy.
Después de su toma de posesion el tuvo que viajar en el coche
ocasionalmente. No le gustaba el nuevo color azul porque se parecia
demasiado al color original del coche de Kennedy. Se pinto de negro, pero Johnson nunca viajo cómodo en ese coche, y trataba de evitarlo.
Cuando El presidente Nixon tuvo que usar el coche, se le hizo un agujero en el techo a modo de una escotilla para que pudiera saludar a la multitud.
Los presidentes Ford y Carter tambien usaron el coche, hasta que finalmente llego al final de su camino cuando se instalo en el Museo Henry Ford en el año 1977
President Lyndon Johnson
President Richard Nixon
Actor John Wayne campaigns with
President Gerald Ford in the Presidential limo in 1976, the year before
the car was retired from the Presidential fleet
Unforgettable: Despite 50 years passing since
Kennedy's death, the tragic day remains fresh in the collective
consciousness of Americans
