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What will the next Presidential limo look like?

With recent news that the Secret Service has begun soliciting proposals for a new armored limousine, we've been wondering what the next presidential limo might look like. The current machine, nicknamed "The Beast", has a design based on a car that's no longer sold: the Cadillac DTS. If General Motors gets the job again, which wouldn't be a surprise considering the government still owns a chunk of the company, the next limo's shape would likely resemble the new XTS (below, left). But Cadillac hasn't always been the go-to car company for presidential whips.
Lincoln has actually provided far more presidential limousines throughout history than Cadillac. In fact, the first car modified for Commander-in-Chief-carrying duty was a 1939 Lincoln K-Series called "Sunshine Special" used by Franklin D. Roosevelt, and the last Lincoln used by a president was a 1989 Town Car ordered for George H.W. Bush. If President Obama wanted a Lincoln today, it would likely be an amalgam of the MKS sedan and MKT crossover, as illustrated above.
And what about Chrysler? The only record we could find of a President favoring the Pentastar is Nixon, who reportedly ordered two limos from the company during his administration in the '70s, and then another one, known today as the "K-Car limo," in the '80s after he left office. Obama, however, has a personal - if modest - connection to Chryslers, having owned a 300 himself before he took office. A 300-based Beast (above, right) would certainly earn the U.S. some style points.

Cadillac hid more than two dozen Easter eggs in its Blackwings

Everybody loves Easter eggs, right? Finding one is a great moment, especially if you happen upon it by accident, preferably while simply cleaning or poking around, but maybe because you had to dig around in some far-flung corner of the cabin in search of a persistent rattle or some other issue. A hidden symbol or message from the manufacturer helps remind us that some cars aren't just appliances.  The 2022 Cadillac CT4-V and CT5-V Blackwings are perfect candidates. Not only are they niche enthusiast vehicles whose owners are likely to turn them inside out, but they also benefited greatly from Cadillac's racing efforts, providing ample source material for subtle references all over the car, both inside and out. Enough, in fact, that Cadillac managed to stick more than two dozen of them into its two flagship sport sedans. And since I took delivery of my Blaze Orange CT4 last week, I decided to see if I could spot a few of them myself – because I don't spend enough time crawling all over car interiors already.  Cadillac called several of them out in a press kit Tuesday. Manual-transmission cars like mine have blank-off plates installed where the paddles would go on the back side of the steering wheel, for instance. Rather than just leaving bare plastic that nobody would ever have a reason to look at, Cadillac had a small map of its Milford proving grounds printed on the plates.  Each Blackwing also gets a serial number on the wheel. 46-146 translates to CT4-V Blackwing 6-speed #146. CT5-V Blackwings decode similarly, though their model indicator digit is an 8 rather than a 5. While a steering wheel plaque is not exactly hidden, it's among the items Cadillac noted, as are the "Blackwing" tags on the front seats; the subtle logo in the seatback Alcantara is something I spotted on my own. CT5-V Blackwing models with the carbon fiber seat package get their logos embossed in the seatback. This brings us outside. While I know for a fact that there are several items hidden on the CT4-V's underbody (we got to look at these on a lift back in July), there are a couple of obvious items scattered in more accessible locations. The subtle Cadillac crests in the taillights aren't unique to Blackwing, but they're still nicely done. The stylized "V" in the hood insulation layer looks pretty nice too.  The hidden items differ between the CT4 and CT5-V too, as illustrated by the two wheel images above.

Timothee Chalamet is 'Edgar Scissorhands' in Cadillac's Super Bowl commercial

Filmmaker Tim Burton's 1990s classic "Edward Scissorhands" explored the unusual challenges of a boy who had scissors for hands. One challenge that was not touched on in the original film was that of driving a car. For its Super Bowl commercial, Cadillac revisits the theme, and the brand's Super Cruise hands-free driving feature proves perfectly suited to "Edgar Scissorhands," another young man with scissors for hands. Playing Edgar is Timothee Chalamet, reprising the role that Johnny Depp made famous as Edward. Edgar's mother is portrayed by Winona Ryder. While Edgar's unique hands do give him some special talents — he makes one heck of an artful salad, for instance — they present a challenge in many others, such as playing football. A virtual reality headset affords Edgar the ability to drive, and that gives his mother an idea. She presents him with a Cadillac Lyriq, the not-yet-on-sale EV crossover. Edgar sets the button to activate Super Cruise, and the Lyriq steers itself. The perfect solution for someone with scissors for hands. Why feature a vehicle that doesn't go on sale until late 2022 when Super Cruise is available in other Cadillac models now? The answer seems to be that GM is using its Super Bowl commercials to also showcase its pivot to EVs. Certainly, that's the theme of "No Way, Norway," which stars Will Ferrell along with the Lyriq and the Hummer EV.   Related Video: