Top 10 Famous Cars Of American Presidents

Power, reputation, honor. Power comes first when we talk about the US, and when we refer to the presidents of this nation, we know they are the commanders of the world. A plethora of medias, bodyguards, secret services and other units prevent us from truly knowing the insides of these role-models. Their personalities seem to come out only during election. Since we can’t know for sure whether appearances match reality, the only possibility of getting close to the hearts of these illustrious personas is by knowing their tastes. But what about their tastes in cars?

List of Top 10 Cars Of American Presidents

We’ve put together a list of the top 10 most famous and (why not?) most beautiful cars of American presidents have ever owned. Since we’re keen on chronology, we’ll take it step by step.

1. William Howard Taft had a presidential term from 1909 to 1913. In the beginning of the century, there couldn’t have been too many choices in terms of cars. And yet William Taft fell for an interesting one: The Baker Electric. In fact, this president was the first one to ever drive a car owned by the White House. Aside from the Baker model, the White House purchased a Pierce-Arrow, but it is said that Taft was more attached to the Baker.

   

2. Next comes Herbert Hoover, who served as president between 1929 and 1933. Hoover had a thing for classy cars, and the model he liked driving accounts for this statement: the 1932 Cadillac 452. The president purchased this car for himself during the last year of his term, and took it with him when he left the White House.

   

3. Franklin Delano Roosevelt was president of the US between 1933 and 1945 and is best known for convincing the American people to join forces with the Europeans in winning World War II. Although a rather open-minded political figure, in terms of cars, Roosevelt was as classic as possible. He drove a 1939 Packard Twelve which was also a convertible. It’s said that Roosevelt was so attached to the car that he drove it all around. Because of this, the Packard became the first presidential car ever to have been armored.

   

4. As for Harry Truman, who served between 1949 and 1953, he was the first one to have more modern taste than his predecessors. Truman enjoyed driving a 1953 Chrysler New Yorker, which wasn’t exactly spectacular because of its design, but because of its history. After finishing his mandate, Truman took his wife on an incredible 2,500 miles road trip, thanks to this particular automobile.

   

5. We don’t know what happened to Dwight Eisenhower, who was president between 1953 and 1961, but he chose a rather ugly classic car. Ultimately, it was revealed that the 1914 Rauch and Lang, which was the head of state’s favorite drive during his election campaign, had belonged to his parents.

   

6. Who’s the American president everyone’s heard of, at least once in a lifetime? You know it, we know it: it’s John F. Kennedy. JFK was the leader of the nation between 1961 and 1963 and his mandate unfortunately ended in a tragic assassination. During his lifetime, Kennedy was keen on a 1961 Ford Thunderbird convertible, and Americans could see him driving this car after his election.

   

7. Lyndon B. Johnson, who was head of state between 1963 and 1969, is best known for his implication in the Vietnam War. When he didn’t ruthlessly intervene in other people’s politics, he liked driving his Amphicar to his country house. Rumor has it that he used to pick up his friends and trick them into believing he no longer had brakes… which always happened in the close proximity of a lake.

   

8. Yet another famous presidential figure is Richard Nixon, who was president from 1969 to 1974. It comes as no surprise that Nixon loved classy and classic cars, and he showed his interest in them by driving a 1950 Oldsmobile 98. He even referred to the car in one of his speeches.

   

9. Let’s ignore for a minute that Bill Clinton’s legislature (president of the US between 1993 and 2001) was full of scandals and critiques. If you’ve managed to do that, you’ll appreciate the man’s taste in cars. Clinton drove an exquisite 1967 Ford Mustang. He did this rarely, but he loved doing it. He unfortunately had to resume to seldomly taking it on the road, because his personal car couldn’t have been equipped with the same safety protection as the official ones.

   

10. Back to the present now, with President Barack Obama’s (2009-present) favorite drive. It’s clear that Obama likes them big, because the Ford Escape Hybrid he chose to be his own is just that. To make an analogy, at the time Obama was prospecting the idea of buying the model, there had been nearly a century since William Taft had chosen the Baker Electric.