Here's What Happens To The Presidential Limo After Service

The president of the United States rides around in a limousine nicknamed "The Beast" — a term first used during George W. Bush's presidency. This limo is easily the most advanced protection vehicle in the world, and is scrapped when its service is done. The F-117 Nighthawk, America's first "invisible "stealth jet that flew over a thousand sorties in Operation Desert Storm, can be put on display in a museum for the public to admire when it's no longer in use. Air Force One, which can fly across the U.S. in under four hours, might end up in a presidential library. The presidential limousine, on the other hand, is destroyed.

GM builds the car with a good amount of stock components. This keeps costs down in case something breaks and needs to be replaced. However, the U.S. Secret Service has a big hand in developing the car, which requires everyone involved in its development to have top-secret security clearance. The current Beast weighs roughly 20,000 pounds and comes with a price tag of $1.5 million, considerably more than the super-luxurious $300K Cadillac Celestiq, GM's most expensive Caddy.

Features known to the public include bulletproof 3-inch-thick windows, 8-inch bulletproof armor, a night-vision system, ability to fire tear gas in case it's overrun by a mob, and door handles that can deliver an electric shock to prevent intruders from opening them.

The first president to ride around in an armored vehicle was Franklin Roosevelt with his Cadillac convertible in 1941. It had originally belonged to gangster Al Capone, but the only armor it had was bulletproof windows. 

By 1942, the Secret Service outfitted presidential cars with actual armor, including a 1939 Lincoln Sunshine Special. Presidents rode around in Lincoln limos for a good part of the 20th century after that. There was Dwight Eisenhower's brief detour when he rode in a 1955 Chrysler Crown Imperial, but John F. Kennedy went right back to Lincolns in the '60s — he and subsequent presidents used a Lincoln Continental. Of course, after his assassination in 1963, the Secret Service reinforced the limo with additional armor, adding an extra ton to its original weight. 

It wasn't until President Ronald Reagan in the '80s that the chief executive used a Cadillac again. He had a 1972 Lincoln Parade Limousine for his inauguration day, but he also rode in a Cadillac Fleetwood. GM has been manufacturing the president's limo ever since, but it wasn't until George W. Bush in 2001 that a research and development team at General Motors was put together to custom-build the president's limo. The current version is built to resemble a Cadillac XT6, but it's built on the chassis of a Chevrolet Kodiak truck.