Armor is strong and limousines are fast

Let us state a bold assumption: Company General Motors could not just disappear in the abyss of bankruptcy, including because it was on his Cadillac DTS Presidential travels today, U.S. President. It may be that we have the first persons to move on and nezazorno German ... By the inauguration of Barack Obama rolled out his brand-new armored limousine which was different from all other cars are not economical (fuel consumption of at least 25 liters per 100 kilometers! ) And neprobivaemostyu. His thick glasses sanimetrov 13 (! ) Can easily withstand not only part of the ...

To put a bulletproof glass in place, required steel ...

According to some reports, the armor car is die-hard even for anti-tank grenade launchers, and the body is so tight that the president does not need a gas mask in case of chemical attack. Do not suffer from the limo and hand grenades, and the not too powerful bombs under the road. Of course, the exact characteristics of the anti-terrorist vehicle kept a closely guarded secret, known only that he had assembled on the chassis of a pickup truck GMC... the huge 2500 and weighs about five tons.

The interior is equipped with a mini White House: the president can carry away any secret talks to secure communication channels, and even start a nuclear war.

Because Barack Obama is known as a supporter of fuel-efficient cars, he enjoys it superlimuzinom only as U.S. President. A citizen Barack Obama recently changed his personal Chrysler 300C Hemi for a hybrid Ford Escape Hybrid, proving in practice that an American car should be great, but with a moderate appetite.

If you recall who else from the presidents of America used the ... In small gaps, ...

The first armored limousines appeared in 1928 through the efforts of the company Mercedes-Benz. And try them out first head of state was in 1930... Japanese Emperor Hirohito. Currently, requirements for protection of these machines are standardized and are divided into classes. The first of them ( B1 - B4 ) are designed to fire from handguns to distances of 10 and 5 meters. Armor class B4, for example, must be capable of getting 44 caliber bullets, flying at a speed of 440 m / s. But against a more serious help rifles classes B5- B7, the latter of which can resist armor-piercing bullet from the ... Classes are designated for glazing is similar, but abbreviated BR.

Who would have thought that the U.S. President's official car - in fact, converted into a limousine pick-up. But as it is un-American!.

Set armor protection can be both producers of cars, and various bodywork studio. In the latter case, it usually goes on collector and similar vehicles. List of original armored vehicles are not too extensive, but contains sometimes unexpected model. For example, until recently there was a Jaguar XJ Sovereign with armor Q7 can be ordered armored class B4 Volkswagen Passat, BMW 330i Security, Audi A6 Security. A BMW X5 Security Plus offers protection level B6! . And apparently, these machines can be distinguished from the ordinary except that the windows.

Booking the car and the requirements for the protection of his riders sometimes lead to a very common technical solutions are not. The most commonplace of them is the remote engine start. This allows you to protect yourself from primitive mining cars in the parking lot when the fuse is activated by turning the ignition key. And here's another question: how to leave a car after the attack? . In such a case using the methods of the emergency exit through the fire back to the trunk of pyrotechnics inside of doors and windshields. And the cutter must not detonate when an external explosion.

Of course, armored limousines which are heavier than their ordinary classmates. Therefore, choosing engines, the horsepower is not stingy, and even an additional boost from the most powerful engines. So the snail these cars are not, the speed of 220 km / h cruising for them soon, and not the maximum. This, in turn, places special demands on brakes, tires (which also does not have to be afraid of leaks ), the suspension. But the most amazing thing is that sometimes all the cunning defense, alas, does not help. Here are a couple of examples. One - a tragic. In 1989, the Mercedes S-Class with the protection of B6 killed the head of Deutsche Bank, Alfred Herrhausen, while the driver escaped unhurt. Detached by the explosion of the inner lining interior carotid artery pierced accident... The second case is rather comical. In 2004 the head of Daimlerchrysler Jurgen Shremppa hijacked secure a limousine, equipped with a note, satellite anti-theft system. And I still do not know who this car now carries.

But, of course, in most cases is quite rare attack this machine saves the riders, but more often simply discourage intruders from attacking the victim was in a car. And these ... Dr.. Runs without a major overhaul at 500,000 miles or more for such cars - not uncommon.

Once the first person of the USSR have used only the domestic production of ZIL limousines (formerly VMS). Photo: Valentin MASTYUKOV / ITAR -TASS.

Our in.

The Russian leadership has now moved, as has been said, the cars Mercedes, but in the USSR, there were other orders. Neither Stalin nor Khrushchev could not think that they wore a ceremonial check out on the hood of the three -, five-way and not a star. Therefore, the ZIL (formerly VMS) was created by special stage, where craftsmen produced pieces of armored vehicles for top officials. And in terms of protection, they in no way inferior to foreign cars (although, unlike the tank, for example, in the Soviet Union has never been a world-class development for the protection of passenger cars ). However, many ... After manually force the Secretary General to raise the weight of bulletproof glass in the tens of pounds have been unthinkable. A driver to facilitate the work of an automatic transmission, which is originally not controlled by a lever and buttons with numbers and letters instead of PX and SX today, such alien P, D and R.

When the protection is not needed....
If we talk about the first people in the business, the vast majority of them do not need armor. And then the choice personal vehicle model becomes truly unlimited. And the results are sometimes surprised by this choice. Enumerate owned by the richest people in the world and their families, Ferrari, Rolls-Royce, Bugatti Veyron, and m. n. auto, perhaps, rather dull and not everyone is interested.

Alexey Vorobyov - Obukhov.




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