Today, we celebrate the presidents of the United States, many of whom were adventurous souls (including my seventh great uncle President Washington). Over the past 120 years, they were also driving various vehicles worthy of the classic road trip or even a lap around the globe. Certainly, some presidents were more “car guys” than others, with some even picking Jeeps or Fords we all would drive, Warn winches and all. While some coal roller or virtue signaler will no doubt attempt to make this political, presidents of both leanings have really loved vehicles, and that is the fun of taking this trip down history lane.
Roosevelt’s first car ride was electric (see, nothing new under the sun).
It all started with President William McKinley, who was the first to ride in a car (albeit as a private citizen), and then on August 22nd, 1902, Theodore Roosevelt was the first president to ride in an automobile as part of official duties, climbing aboard a Columbia Phaeton electric car. It was arguably the first presidential motorcade. The car had two 20-volt batteries weighing 800 pounds, four speeds, and a maximum speed of 13 mph. Roosevelt was without a doubt one of our most adventurous presidents, but he still preferred horses to the horseless carriage. Despite that, he did take the wheel, and can be seen here piloting with the intensity any track day enthusiast can muster.
President Taft brought cars into the White House, converting the horse stables to garages, and after that, cars were just part of Presidential life. Things didn’t get interesting again until President Lyndon Johnson, who had a real love for automobiles, and even had a reputation for frightening guests of his estate by veering off the road into the water with his Amphicar. Two even crossed the English Channel.
Harry S. Truman proudly drove a Ford Super Deluxe (the first civilian car produced by Ford after WWII), and John F. Kennedy had a love for Thunderbirds. But it wasn’t until Ronald Reagan that we had a President that loved 4WDs. Reagan had many Jeeps, his favorite being a 1952 model bought for his ranch by Nancy. He also drove a blue Scrambler, which in my mind is just about perfect.
Yep, that is Russian President Mikhail Gorbachev riding shotgun.
If the Gipper’s car choices couldn’t get any cooler, he also ripped around his California ranch in a Subaru Brat (which is the first car I ever lusted after)!
After Ronald Reagan, any presidential overlanding got quiet until George W. Bush rolled into the scene with his long string of F-Series Ford pickups. He would regularly drive around a random Australian president, or German chancellor in his Super Duty, complete with a Warn winch (and what is clear in other photos, a Viking synthetic winch line).
President Barack Obama owned a Jeep Grand Cherokee during his time as senator in Illinois, and President Donald Trump has quite a collection of automobiles. The one in Trump’s collection that comes to mind as being interesting to drive around the world is his 1956 Rolls Royce Silver Cloud. A Rolls Royce is one of the few luxury cars designed to endure bad roads with aplomb.
What about current President #46 Joe Biden? It turns out Joe is quite the car guy, owning numerous classic cars, including the 1967 Corvette Stingray given to him by his father on his wedding day.
We have to say that The Gipper wins the Most Overlandy President award, if there was such a thing. However, we suspect that Teddy may have given him a run for his Jeeps, if born a few decades later.
