If we’re going to start looking at the discrepancy between what our politicians say and actually do, we could be here a while. Still, props to Autobloggreen (ABG) for pointing out that the diesel-powered Cadillac-shaped tank from which our lastest President will view the rabble is probably not California-compliant. In particular, particulates. “It’s been reported that the limo uses a 6.5L diesel V8 which got me thinking about whether it might be a Tier 2 Bin 5 compliant clean diesel. I contacted Cadillac spokesman David Caldwell who gave me the following response, “We’re just not permitted to discuss that at all — and in fact I don’t even know the engine aspects of the car. So it’s not the case that I’m just choosing not to tell you — I don’t know and would not be permitted to know.” In fact, if they told him, they’d have to kill him. And if we told you, well, didn’t Robert Redford star in a movie about that? ABG has to go that one step further, pointing out that the limo probably runs on military-grade diesel. This from Mr. Ethanol. Who’d a thunk it?
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Maybe it’s technically a truck since it’s built on a truck chassis? Won’t it be registered in either DC (with “Taxation Without Representation” tags) or registered with GSA US Gov’t tags?
This is a special purpose vehicle; neither the engine specs nor the vehicle specs were identified by any politician but by the Secret Service in conjunction with the right experts.
No story here. Move along.
I’m no Pres-Elect Obama fan, but even I can acknowledge that this is one time that cries of hypocrisy are not applicable.
You have to protect the President of the United States at all costs.
At the very least, I think that folks on my side of the aisle will be fair and respectful for the next four years. Impossible to say the same about the Bush-Bashers.
I hope we have an exciting, safe, and uneventful inauguration next week.
I would love to have that engine, though…
I agree — no story here. The days when a President could ride around in a more “normal” limo ended that fateful day in Dallas in late 1963.
Stop crying foul about this car already, it’s a very narrow minded point of view. Not to mention petty and insane, you know, just saying.
What is military grade diesel, and how it it different from highway diesel or even off-road diesel?
Let’s see – the Presidential helicopter, Air Force One, the heating bill for the White House – how far can we go, here?
Maybe Barack will set the thermostats back to 60 degrees at night to appease some critics, but I’m not sure that all of the priceless artifacts at 1600 Pensylvania Avenue would appreciate the temperature shifts…
Work probably started on this limo before Obama was even a candidate – maybe even before he was in the Senate.
I know this has nothing to do with the thread, or is at best tangential to the thread, but the use of standardized fuel is so universal in the military even the motorcycles used by the armed forces are diesels (one lung 650cc engines).
Casual Observer wrote “I hope we have an exciting, safe, and uneventful inauguration next week.”
Hear, Hear!!! Well said.
What is the story here? It’s just another limousine liberal.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Limousine_liberal
Diesel? I thought it ran on hope.
Brickthick:
Military Grade Diesel is effectively Kerosene read all about it here. When the President travels overseas they bring their own fuel for the motorcade.
Casual Observer:
You can have the engine. Just Purchase a HD Chevy pickup. Then add a EGR delete kit and take off the DPF. Of course it is no longer emissions legal and is for “off-road” use only. If you want more power and to clear the codes it will throw with the EGR disable you have dozens of programmers to choose from.
It is even easier on my KJ CRD. You just unplug one sensor and EGR is disabled giving you lower temps and 5-10% better mileage.
Thanks to CAFE regs, this doesn’t qualify as a standard passenger car, so it is exempt – even from California standards.
I have to say this is not a story. I would want my leader to be safe so we won’t have a repeat of Dallas. Ethanol gels at cold temperature and I would not want our leader stranded on the side of the road or have to limit where he would be able to travel.
If it was up to me, the president’s stunt double would ride in the limo. This would free up the leader of the free world to ride in whatever he wants … a Prius, a Dodge 300, or a low-rider. Yeah, that would be cool.
Silly stuff all round. How about ABG goes after the carbon emissions of Air Force One? “Obama could always fly across the country by sheer will power and and harnessing the infinite resource of hope (or its more plentiful counterpart, despair). He’d simply need a pair of wings and gentle push and he’d be soaring through the air, just like the rest of us true Green folk do by harnessing our infinite supply of smug self-satisfaction.”
It’s only NOT a story if the car is NOT compliant. If it IS compliant, it is quite a feather in his cap!
Too bad it doesn’t use the clean diesel that Shell produced for the Audi racing diesels.
The only thing interesting about the article is that it mentions that the military runs its jets and diesel vehicles off the same fuel.
Some people talk about “jet fuel” like it is some kind of high test, exotic blend, but it is very close to diesel fuel.
That’s actually a very huge advantage that modern turbine powered “jets” have, they can run on bottom of the barrel distillery crude instead of the high octane gasoline that piston powered propeller airplanes require.
Anyway, as I said, that’s the only thing interesting about the article.
Well, I can see the tongue-in-cheek humor and (at the same time) the slight hypocrisy of it all; Mr. High-and-Mighty gets to ride in a smog-spewing car and fly on a smog-making plane…
However, I do recognize the importance of the safety of the President; so I do not begrudge him a specialized car.
I too hope for an uneventful inauguration. He’s not my guy, but I’ll probably watch some of it. If for nothing else, just to make sure that he properly and clearly repeats the oath and that he clearly and without qualification makes the promise to protect my country.
Obama has nothing to do with the specs of this car. Government bureaucracy plus GM bureaucracy tells me they started work on this ride back in 2007. Or earlier.
Ethanol gels at cold temperature and I would not want our leader stranded on the side of the road or have to limit where he would be able to travel.
Actually, that would be diesel. Ethanol (alcohol) doesn’t gel; it freezes at -114C. If Obama is touring Mars, this might be an issue, otherwise not so much.
This limo is a presidential protection device, not a commercial vehicle. Thus, the issue of compliance is irrelevant.
@Rod Panhard
It may actually BE his stunt double riding in that car. We wouldn’t know if that were the case, but based on the car he had before he was outed for it durin gthe election–a xler 300 V8–Obama has a healthy enjoyment of driving. Maybe he’ll be the guy in the Corvette.
AND, government vehicles are almost all exempt from all the laws for OUR vehicles. Do as they say…
Non-story. The chances are this thing is flown from city to city in a full size jet with maybe 30 people in it, so what its emissions are like when it is driven are irrelevant. Even if some lucky dude got to drive from city to city it wouldn’t matter.
Get a grip.