Engine Modifications and Service Life

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

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The video delves into the car's extensive service history, noting that it underwent three engine generations. It originally left the factory in 1938 with a V16 engine. Due to the difficulty of obtaining parts and maintenance for the V16 after World War II, Cadillac replaced it with a flathead V8. Later, in the early 1950s, it was updated again with a 331 overhead valve V8. This highlights the car's continuous adaptation and maintenance to remain in active duty for over 18 years, meeting the President's demanding schedule.

Goal: Learn about the car's engine changes and extended operational use.

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>> 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

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