Where is…The Kennedy Car Now?

I would have thought this car would have been preserved and never touched after the Kennedy assassination on November 22, 1963…I was completely wrong.

The car started out as a standard 1961 Lincoln that had some upgrades of course. The changes and upgrades made to the car cost nearly $200,000 in 1961. After the changes, the car was known as the X-100.

The car’s special features included the removable steel and transparent plastic roof panels; a hydraulic rear seat that could be raised 10-1/2 inches to elevate the president; a massive heating and air conditioning system with auxiliary blowers and dual control panels; dark blue broadcloth lap robes with gray plush linings and hand-embroidered presidential seals housed in special door pockets; four retractable steps for Secret Service agents; two steps on the rear bumper for additional agents; flashing red lights; a siren; a blue mouton rug in the rear compartment; lamps that indicated when the door was ajar or the steps were out; dual flagstaffs and spotlights; auxiliary jump seats for extra passengers; two radio telephones; and interior floodlights.

I thought the car was retired after the assassination. But no… the X-100 was given a $500,000 redesign, complete with bullet-resistant glass, a roof and 1,600 pounds of armor.

The car got additional modifications in 1967 and was used by Presidents Johnson, Nixon, Ford, and Carter before it was retired in 1977.

It’s now on display at the Henry Ford Museum in Dearborn, Michigan

By 1963, the SS-100-X was fitted with a variety of roof options.

Author: Badfinger (Max)

Power Pop fan, Baseball, Beatles, old movies, and tv show fan. Also anything to do with pop culture in the 60s and 70s... I'm also a songwriter, bass and guitar player.

10 thoughts on “Where is…The Kennedy Car Now?”

  3. Both Lincoln and Kennedy were shot in the back of the head, on the Friday before a major holiday, while seated beside their wives, neither of whom were injured. I heard that Abraham Lincoln rode in a carriage built by the Kennedy Buggy Company, but maybe that is just a rumor as I could not find any evidence to back it up.

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    2. Kennedy was shot from the front, his head was thrown back and parts of his brain were all over the back of the car…and Jackie. The Zapruder film proves that. Oswald was, indeed, a ‘patsy’ and they killed him to shut him up:

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  5. I could have sworn they had that car on loan at the Gilmore one of the times I went. They had a whole exhibit set up for Presidential cars. Maybe they just had the exhibit and a small model of the car. So interesting they spent so much money on it and they left him an open target in the parade. So many mysteries still surrounding JFK’s assassination. Have you ever seen a copy of The Warren Report? I think just the highlights is the book I have and the actual report filled many volumes. Almost as if someone didn’t want the truth to be known…

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    1. No I haven’t seen the Warren Report. It really interests me. All the theories and questions and we will never know. I would love to see what is sealed up.

      They could have loaned it out. The part that got me Lisa is they kept using the car until Carter. That is what surprised me.

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