The presidential motorcade has become a familiar site in Washington, D.C., and in communities visited by the President. Crowds gather to try to get a glimpse at the Commander-in-Chief, who rides in a limousine flanked by the Secret Service.

For security reasons, only limited information is released about the current fleet of White House vehicles. However, observers have been able to estimate some of the specifications on everything from the engine to armor.

For more than a century, the automobile has been an integral part of the President's life. The automotive history of the White House is one of increasing prevalence and innovation, with quite a few humorous incidents.

The age of steam

For a time during the early development of automobiles, it seemed that steam power would be the prevalent source of power. After all, steam had already proven useful for locomotives and ships.

William McKinley was the first President to ride in an automobile. In November 1899, he was taken for a ride in a Stanley Steamer. This vehicle was built by the Stanley Motor Carriage Company, established by brothers Francis and Freelan Stanley. The company would go out of business in the early 1920s, as steam vehicles were supplanted by more inexpensive gasoline-powered vehicles.

Two years later, McKinley had a much less enjoyable ride in a vehicle. After he was shot by assassin Leon Czolgosz, he was taken to the hospital in a Columbia electric ambulance. He died of his wounds on Sept. 14, 1901, and Theodore Roosevelt was sworn in as President.

Roosevelt was the first President to own a vehicle during his administration, as the White House had a Stanley Steamer available for his use. He also became the first President to make a public appearance in a vehicle when he toured New England in August 1902. He completed this journey in a Victoria Phaeton, which was powered by two 20-volt batteries and manufactured by the Columbia Electric Vehicle Company in Hartford.

Roosevelt also has the distinction of being the first President stopped for speeding, although he was not driving at the time. In June 1905, his vehicle was stopped by policemen riding on bicycles after his driver exceeded the speed limit of 15 miles per hour in Washington, D.C. The officers allowed the vehicle to proceed once they saw its passenger, but Roosevelt cautioned his chauffeur to slow down.

Given his renown as a rugged outdoorsman and cavalry leader in the Spanish-American War, it is not surprising that Roosevelt wasn't a big fan of the automobile. He reportedly preferred horses to cars, although he began allowing the Secret Service to tail his carriage in steam-powered vehicles manufactured by the White Sewing Machine Company of Cleveland.

"Motor cars are a trial, aren't they?" Roosevelt wrote in an October 1905 letter. "I suppose that ultimately we will get them into their proper place in the scheme of nature, and when by law and custom their use is regulated in proper fashion their objectionable features will probably be eliminated; but just as present I regard them as distinct additions to the discomfort of living."

Perhaps the Marmon Motor Car Company of Indianapolis did not know about this objection when they named an eight-cylinder coupe and sedan option for the former President. The Roosevelt only lasted from 1929 to 1930, after which the company changed its name to the Marmon.

The auto takes hold

President William Howard Taft was more appreciative of the automobile. During his administration, the White House stables were converted to garage space. Taft also won a $12,000 appropriation from Congress for a presidential motor pool. The funds were used to purchase a White Model M steam-powered car, two gas-powered Pierce-Arrow models, and an electric Baker vehicle.

Like Roosevelt, Woodrow Wilson was not a fan of the automobile at first. While president of Princeton University, he declared, "Possession of a motor vehicle is such an ostentatious display of wealth that it will stimulate socialism."

Although Wilson carried on the tradition of riding to his inauguration in a horse-drawn carriage, he grew to admire the motorized vehicle while in office. He joined the American Automobile Association in 1917, and enjoyed a presidential Pierce-Arrow limousine so much that his friends purchased it for his personal use after he left the White House.

Warren Harding was already familiar with the automobile when he was elected. While serving in the Senate, he had driven a Locomobile—a model manufactured by a Bridgeport company—from his home in Ohio to the nation's capital. Harding was the first President to ride to his inauguration in a vehicle, traveling in a Packard Twin-Six during the procession.

Calvin Coolidge became the first President to use a Lincoln limousine, which became a particularly popular choice for the White House motorcade. Vehicles also played a prominent part in his 1924 campaign, as an automobile caravan toured the country and advocated for the candidate. However, Coolidge seemed somewhat reticent about using a vehicle; he reportedly asked his chauffeur to never exceed 16 miles per hour.

Automobiles were becoming more prominent when Herbert Hoover went to his inauguration in a Pierce-Arrow. Though his promise of "a chicken in every pot and two cars in every garage" is apocryphal, Hoover did declare, "The slogan of progress is changing from the full dinner pair to the full garage."

The onset of the Great Depression torpedoed Hoover's chances at re-election in 1932, and he didn't exactly endear himself to the public when he bought a Cadillac 452B V-16 Fleetwood Imperial during the election year. To so many voters suffering from economic hardship, the President's purchase of a luxury vehicle seemed insulting.

Sunshine Special

Franklin D. Roosevelt spent more than 12 years in the White House, and the presidential motor pool saw a number of changes over the years. FDR's administration also marked the point where the Secret Service became more concerned that the President's vehicle should have adequate protection against assassination attempts.

The Secret Service had a rule in place forbidding a sitting President from getting behind the wheel of a car, and FDR's paraplegia prevented him from operating a standard car. But in 1936, the President defied the Secret Service by ordering a specially made Ford Phaeton coupe that could be driven with hand controls. It even had a mechanism to dispense pre-lit cigarettes.

Roosevelt used the vehicle to drive around his Hyde Park estate in New York. According to some contemporary British figures, he was a bit of a risky driver.

"He was conversing more than watching the road, and drove at great speed. There were several times when I thought we could go right off the road and tumble down the hills," said Queen Elizabeth, who rode in the Phaeton during a visit to Hyde Park in June 1939. "It was frightening, but quite exhilarating."

British Prime Minister Winston Churchill also recalled being uneasy about how close FDR took the Phaeton to the edges of the steep hills during a visit to Hyde Park in June 1942. Churchill said he did his best not to distract Roosevelt from driving as they talked about matters related to World War II.

"I confess that when on several occasions the car poised and backed on the grass verges of the precipices over the Hudson, I hoped the mechanical devices and brakes would show no defects," Churchill later wrote.

One enduring legend holds that FDR spent the early days of the war riding in Al Capone's former car. The armored 1928 Cadillac Town Sedan had been seized by the Treasury Department after the gangster was charged with tax evasion. The story goes that the vehicle offered more protection than any of the White House vehicles, so it was used after the Pearl Harbor attack until FDR's official car could be upgraded.

Although this story seems to have originated with an imaginative Secret Service agent rather than the facts, it is true that FDR had the first presidential vehicle built to Secret Service specifications. The "Sunshine Special" was a black Lincoln convertible, which was modified after the nation went to war to have armor, bulletproof windows, and reinforced tires.

One suggestion for the origin of the Sunshine Special's nickname is that the President continued to enjoy riding with the top down, thus negating many of the added protections. The vehicle traveled with him to many historic summits, including Casablanca, Tehran, Malta, and Yalta.

In 1938, two Cadillac convertibles nicknamed Queen Mary and Queen Elizabeth joined the presidential motor pool. These included generators, ammunition stores, two-way radios, and other features to help protect the President. The vehicles were used during the next two presidential administrations, then followed up by updated models nicknamed Queen Mary II and Queen Elizabeth II.

Tragedy in Dallas

After riding in an armored Lincoln Cosmopolitan convertible while in office, Harry Truman eagerly returned to driving in his private life. In 1953, just six months after leaving office, he and his wife Bess traveled from Missouri to the East Coast in a 1953 Chrysler New Yorker. At one point, Truman was pulled over for driving too slowly in the left lane of the Pennsylvania Turnpike. He purchased his last automobile, a 1972 Chrysler Newport, six months before his death.

One of the best-known accomplishments of President Dwight D. Eisenhower was the investment in an interstate system for improved automobile travel across the country. According to the Dwight D. Eisenhower Presidential Library and Museum, the President was likely influenced by a transcontinental military convoy he joined in 1919. These vehicles traveled from Washington, D.C., to San Francisco, and Eisenhower saw firsthand how inadequate many of the nation's roads were.

Eisenhower went to his inauguration in a 1953 Cadillac Eldorado, one of the first vehicles of this model ever produced. He continued to use the Lincoln Cosmopolitan as the presidential vehicle, but it was modified at his request to add a Plexiglas dome at the back.

The dome allowed Eisenhower a better view of his surroundings and gave spectators a clear view of the President, but it seriously compromised the vehicle's safety. It was not bulletproof, or even bullet resistant. Nevertheless, the "Bubbletop" remained in service until 1965 and brought John F. Kennedy to his inauguration in 1961.

When Kennedy began his term, a 1961 Lincoln Continental was brought in to serve as the official presidential vehicle. Nicknamed the X-100 by the Secret Service, it boasted a highly customizable roof including removable steel and transparent panels.

The shortcomings of the X-100 were infamously demonstrated on Nov. 22, 1963, when Kennedy paid a visit to Dallas, Texas. As the Continental drove past Dealey Plaza with its top down, Lee Harvey Oswald shot and killed the President from the nearby Texas Book Depository.

Following the assassination, the X-100 was impounded as evidence. It was then completely revamped with added protections such as new armor, a permanent non-removable top, and a foam matrix in the gas tank to minimize spilling if the tank was punctured. It was returned to service with the White House in May 1964 and modified again three years later.

The X-100 remained part of the White House motor pool for the next four presidential administrations. It was retired in 1977 and is currently an exhibit in the Henry Ford Museum in Dearborn, Michigan.

Car enthusiasts

While the Lincoln Continental remained the model of choice for the presidential state car, many of the Commanders-in-Chief were notable car aficionados when it came to their private vehicles. Kennedy owned a Ford Thunderbird, and Lyndon B. Johnson had several vehicles on his Texas ranch. These models included a 1915 fire engine, a 1934 Ford Phaeton, and a rare Jolly 500 Ghia.

LBJ was particularly fond of pranking his passengers when he drove his Amphicar, a German-built amphibious vehicle. Pretending to panic, he told his guests that the brakes had given out as it headed straight for a lake. After plunging into the water, he calmly resumed driving the now floating vehicle.

Richard Nixon was not as interested in vehicles. In his 1952 "Checkers" speech, he cited his 1950 Oldsmobile 98 as one example of how he led a modest lifestyle.

During a summit at Camp David in 1973, Nixon gifted a Lincoln Continental to Soviet leader Leonid Brezhnev, a noted collector of luxury vehicles. Brezhnev offered to take the President for a spin, and terrified the President and Secret Service by flying through a dangerous curve at 50 miles per hour.

Instead of criticizing Brezhnev for his recklessness, Nixon complimented him on his driving ability and said he personally wouldn't have been able to pull off such a maneuver. "Diplomacy is not always an easy art," Nixon commented in his memoirs.

After Gerald Ford became President, the Continental limousine played an essential role in helping him escape an assassination attempt. When Sara Jane Moore opened fire on Ford in San Francisco, Secret Service agents quickly pushed the President into the car and ordered it to speed away to safety.

Ford was also involved in a minor car accident while visiting Hartford in October 1975. James Salamites, a 19-year-old Meriden resident driving a Buick LeSabre, crashed into the side of Ford's limousine as his motorcade was proceeding through the city. Police had missed the intersection while blocking off the President's route.

Ford was uninjured in the accident, although GOP state chairman Frederick Biebel suffered a broken hand. Salamites and his passengers were questioned by the Secret Service, but ultimately cleared of any wrongdoing.

President Jimmy Carter used the same 1972 Lincoln Continental that was first introduced during the Nixon administration. He also pushed for the development of more fuel efficient vehicles while in office to help reduce the nation's reliance on Persian Gulf oil imports.

Like LBJ, Ronald Reagan owned a ranch and kept a number of vehicles there. These included a 1952 Army Jeep and a Subaru BRAT. Reagan also had a rare Dual Ghia convertible at one point, but lost it to Johnson in a high stakes poker game when LBJ was President.

The presidential state car helped save Reagan's life after a March 1981 assassination attempt, but also played a role in injuring him. When John Hinckley Jr. opened fire on the President in Washington, D.C., one bullet ricocheted off the vehicle's armored side and struck Reagan in the chest. The Secret Service quickly got Reagan into the limousine, which was used to drive the President to the hospital.

Reagan began using a Cadillac Fleetwood limousine in 1983. President George H.W. Bush used a modified Lincoln Town Car while in office.

Bill Clinton's father owned a Buick dealership, and Clinton owned a 1967 Mustang convertible while serving as the governor of Arkansas. A 1993 Cadillac Fleetwood Brougham limousine was delivered for his inauguration and used throughout his two terms.

In a 2012 interview, Clinton said that one of the things he missed most from his pre-presidential life was the ability to go driving. He joked that he now insists on driving the cart whenever he goes golfing.

A new era of vehicles

When George W. Bush took office, he began using a 2001 Cadillac DeVille limousine. The vehicle included a truck engine that gave it enough power to ram through obstacles, a self-contained passenger compartment with its own air supply, and run-flat tires. A second limo, a Cadillac DTS, was delivered for his second inauguration in 2005.

After the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, the Secret Service instituted a policy to destroy any presidential limousines once they are retired. In addition to protecting the vehicle's confidentiality, the policy allows the Secret Service to test how well the car can stand up to bullets, bombs, and other attacks.

As a result of this policy, Clinton's presidential limousine is the last one that is publicly displayed. It now resides at the Clinton Presidential Center, but the keys aren't with it. The center has to ask permission from the Secret Service if it ever wants to display the limo with its doors open.

Barack Obama once used a Chrysler 300C sedan for his personal car. When he started his 2008 presidential campaign, he traded it in for a Ford Escape Hybrid crossover.

Obama's presidential vehicle has been nicknamed "Cadillac One" or "The Beast." While its specifications have been kept secret, it has been suggested that it is the first White House limousine to be diesel-powered. The Beast is also said to boast eight inches of armor, five inches of bulletproof glass, firefighting equipment, tear gas canister launchers, and a supply of the President's blood in case an emergency transfusion is needed.

If Obama needs to travel with a larger group of people, he sometimes uses a heavily armored bus. This mode of transport has been nicknamed "Ground Force One."