The FIRST Custom Built Secret Service Car: FDR’s 1938 Cadillac V16

This is a museum, you're not supposed to touch things. Unless you're with the guy who owns it. Today we're at Historic Attractions and this is the presidential car room. >> I'm uh feeling honored to show you some of these presidential cars here because they're very special to my heart. They're hard to find and it's hard to find a museum that has to has these to share with the visitors. >> We're going to start with this one. What is this car here? >> This is a 1938 Cadillac. Um this was used through the administration of President Franklin Roosevelt. >> So dimensionally this does not look like a factory vehicle. >> Yeah, this ain't factory. When you get it from the factory it all gets uh redone. If you look between the front doors here, you will notice this here gap. On a stock one these doors would touch each other. This car is extended 11 in and the wheelbase from stock to right now it's 165 in. Um the reason that they extended it an extra got the extra length is they put jump seats in the middle so everybody, all the Secret Service guys they got a lot of extra room, legroom. So it ain't crowded. >> Can we see them? >> Oh, honored to show you. >> This is a museum, you're not supposed to touch things. Unless you're with the guy who owns it. >> Well Mitch, I got to show you something else special. Would you look behind the front seat? Do you see that up there? That's to hold weapons and guns and everything for the Secret Service for protection of our president. See, this was mainly used for Secret Service but when the president was in it, the Secret Service would be in it. There's grab handlebars there where they would stand up here on the running boards. If you look and see how wide the running boards are. >> Yeah, here's iPhone for reference. It's very wide. >> Now another thing I'd like you to see, Mitch. Do you see these handle bar these grab handles? >> Uh-huh. >> May I step up on top? Show you? >> Yeah. >> They would stand here while it was in a parade and they would do this here and they'd keep their eyes out at all angles. There would be one here. There'd be one on the other side. And I want to show you the trunk because there's the Secret Service would all be be standing in the back. That's some of the reason and also why the car is so extended. They have room where they could have two, four, and six Secret Service just on the outside of the car at all times. >> How did you get this car? >> Well, I got this car from the Imperial Palace in Las Vegas. The gentleman's name that owned it was uh Ralph Engelstad. And he went and sent people all over the world for world leader cars, presidential cars through the United States for them, but he got a heck of a collection cuz he liked that kind of car. But he become terminally ill in '98 and decided to sell off the collection, so I uh I purchased 12 various cars. >> Do you know how he got this car? Like what happened to it after the government let it go? >> The government sold it direct uh to a gentleman and then that gentleman ended up selling it to Ralph Engelstad. >> I wonder how you get on that list to buy a surplus presidential car from the government. >> could kind of tell you that. >> Yeah. >> Uh cuz the guy that bought the car, he was a large Cadillac dealership man and he had a an in with the with the GM and the government. >> Well, that makes a lot of sense. Hey, let's let's see what's back in here. >> Okay, for instance, see these grab handlebars here? >> Mhm. >> See these steps here? The Secret Service would stand here, hold on these, and all this time the top would be down. And if the president was aboard, he'd always usually sit in the right rear corner. And then we have a photo of it up front that uh you can uh get a nice look of Roosevelt sitting in it. >> Is there a reason he used the right rear corner? >> I don't know. That was just standard where the president always sat. >> What's in the trunk? >> Well, I got to tell you something. I ain't looked in there for a long time, but let's take a look. Well, I see a jack. I see curtains for when the top is down. I see license plates. >> 1975 >> Yeah. >> 74 Iowa >> Yeah. >> So, that was probably like the guy who had it before [snorts] >> That is correct. >> Imperial Palace. >> This one got decommissioned uh from the Secret Service in 1956 because this they had two of these cars. That was called the Queen Mary and the Queen Elizabeth. This one's the Queen Elizabeth. >> What's crazy about this car is what happened under the hood over its 18 years of service. It left the factory in 1938 with a V16 engine, but back then they didn't fly these cars on cargo planes. The Secret Service drove them all over the country to meet FDR's train or airplane, whatever. They racked up a ton of miles. And sometime after World War parts for the V16 were difficult to get. It's harder to work on, so Cadillac pulled it for a flathead V8. Then in the early '50s they updated it again with a 331 overhead valve V8. It literally went through three engine generations while remaining on active duty. Which kind of stinks they took the awesome V16 out and just threw V8 in there, but I'm sure it was more reliable and easier to work on if it broke down somewhere in the middle of nowhere on a tight deadline to meet the president. >> Then they come out with two more and they were called the same thing, Queen Mary, Queen Elizabeth II. The Queen Mary, which we have in our inventory here, was the one that was behind Kennedy the day he got assassinated. >> Oh, wow. So, that this was the car that preceded that one in the the fleet? >> Yes. >> That's crazy. I didn't know that. I wonder if they did anything to beef up the suspension or the the frame to handle the extra weight of having all the guys on there? >> Well, they did beef up the frame uh because that the extra length in there they had to put extra channels of steel in it. >> I'd like to see what's in here like the uh the driver's area. Wow, that's >> Well, that's pretty well standard. >> That's a door. So, [snorts] all the Cadillacs of this year looks like this inside? I wouldn't know, I wasn't around. >> Um pretty well. The doors are pretty standard. All the addition to it is between the front and rear doors. >> It's got some extra switches and buttons down here. >> Well, now I'm not too educated to know what some of them are, Mitch. >> Quick break before we get back to it. Today's video is sponsored by FreeCash. It's an online platform where people can get rewarded for testing apps, answering quick surveys, or trying out new offers. 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If you want to check it out, Freecash is offering our viewers a $10 sign-up bonus when you sign up using my link or scan the QR code right here and complete your first offer. Hit the link in the description to claim it and let's get back to the video. >> I'm not either, but it's interesting to look at and hypothesize. There's a lot of a lot of little do-dads down here. There's a There's a knob that says air. >> I just found this on the inside here. It's been laying here. But if you see this right here, Cadillac motor car for the White House use only. This was the certificate that come with the car when >> Date issued 1938. >> Yep. >> So, they used this from 1938 until '56? >> Yeah. >> That's >> They sure did. >> So, this was the car during all of World War II. >> Yes. And another thing about this here, when President Roosevelt died, then President Truman used it. And President Eisenhower also, even though we have both cars for the other ones, they'd still use these cuz these were still the Secret Service follow-up car through all them other the uh administrations. >> That's >> So, this was used through quite a few years. Like I say, this car's pretty well my favorite. I like the color. I like the stretch. I like the looks. This just catches my eye. And the visitors come here, they like this car quite a bit, too. That's kind of why I put it up front here, cuz as you walk in the room here, it really catches your eye. >> Yeah, it does. No Nobody can resist a big Cadillac. >> Oh, yeah. It's like a magnet. It draws you right to this car. You got to examine it. And if it looks so good, it's it just helps the rest of the fleet I got in here because you already got your eye drawn towards it. >> We're going to make some other videos about cars in here. So, if you like this one, stay tuned for more. Hit subscribe. But, I like We did a video in here a couple years ago. It was kind of run through the whole place, but you can see the building is like half a mile long. But, we thought it would be good to do specific videos on the individual cars like in detail like this cuz uh They're they're worthy of it. >> Here's a Here's a picture of Mr. Roosevelt President Roosevelt riding in the back. If you notice, he's in the right rear of this one. >> That is so cool. >> Always rode in the right rear. >> I noticed this little siren thing on here. Is that >> No, that siren is as they're going through the streets and if they were going through intersections or whatever, they'd always use the sirens. >> Does this still have a spare tire in the container? >> Oh, yeah. Now, here's another thing. And I wasn't really realizing that that's got a lot to hold the the hood shut. >> [clears throat] >> That must have been something they added on. So, if this car was parked, it couldn't be uh popped open sabotaged or You see all the old mob movies and car blows up when someone opens the door. >> Well, they don't want nobody get in there. Now, look at these here flags. Don't they talk and how old it is? There's that elegance when you see a pair flags like that and know one that's the presidential car. >> I think they even got some kind of heat or fire suppressing gasket in there. I don't I wonder if that was a factory piece, too. I'm hoping people speak up in the comments that know these cars well in their original form because it would be [snorts] interesting to know what little details are uniquely added to this car by Hess and Eisenhardt versus how it came out of Cadillac. >> Yeah. Mitch, I'm sure that there's people out there who will comment and they can tell you more on this car that a lot of people don't know. >> There was a knob that said air in there. I don't know if it maybe if that had an air compressor on board or if that's like air horn. >> I there ain't one of those in there, but I think that air meant there there was a lever comes up and it lets fresh air come in. >> Oh. >> Got a lot of ground clearance for a car. >> They all did back then. They didn't ride too close to the ground. >> So, if you say this is your favorite car, when you bought it, did you ever just take it around town just to see what it feels like? >> No, there's a few of my kind of wanted to, but there isn't one car in this place I've ever took out for a ride. And that's another thing I never ever started any of them up. Uh as I I shared before, I feel once you start them, you create condensation and condensation creates rust. So, I just leave them sit. They're in a good um humidity controlled. >> I don't know how you have that much self-control to just not even pull it out here and just take a loop around the parking lot just one time. >> Would you? >> I I'd have to. If I If I were you and I had this whole collection of cars, I'd be like, I got to drive >> [snorts] >> this car at least one time before I put it in here. Especially something like this, I mean >> So, where would you go with this car? >> Well, I'd be afraid to mess it up. So, I'd probably do it on like a Sunday when there's nobody out. And I might just go down to the end of the street and turn around. I don't know if I even trust myself to go on the road. But >> I wonder what would happen if you took it on the road. There ain't no license plates on it and the police pulled you over and they seen that it was a presidential's uh Secret Service car. >> They'd probably think you stole it from the Smithsonian or something. Like you would not ever expect to see something like this just out on the road. >> I have a funny feeling they'd probably let you go and say I'm following your back. >> Yeah, I think I think so, too. I see there's like a little amp meter on the on the dashboard, too. Little umbrella pocket, maybe. >> So, would you like to be the owner of this car? >> Yeah. >> Yeah. >> Who wouldn't? >> Yeah. Well, like I say, see, there's a lot of people they don't have museums, but they got private collections, and there's a lot of special cars like this throughout the United States and around the world that are in their own collections, and nobody ever gets to see them. What do I got? I'm sharing it. >> What's this place called, and where is it so people know? >> Well, it's Historic Auto Attractions, and we're at 13825 Metric Drive, Roscoe, Illinois. We're kind of a suburb of Rockford, and we're like about an hour from Chicago, an hour from Milwaukee, an hour from Madison, and 2 hours from Dubuque. We're kind of like in a little central sub. So, people can come here very easily within a 2-hour drive. >> What car in here do you want to talk about next? >> Look on the wall back there. You'll see President Truman sitting in it. >> Does this one have a lock on the hood, too? >> Let's check that out. >> Oh, flathead. >> Does it got that smell of old to it? >> Oh, man. >> I hope you didn't lock us in here. >> [laughter] >> Sponsors, put all your favorite cars on the racetrack, and sponsors help keep these videos coming to you. Thank you to Free Cash for sponsoring today's video.