[blackwasp]

Most of us know that the President of the United States of America travels in an armoured car dubbed “The Beast”. Joe Biden, the 46th president, will now be using the car. However, you might be surprised to know that he is a proper car guy.

President Biden grew up around cars since a young age. His father ran car dealerships for over 34 years in Delaware. The first car he picked up was a 1951 Studebaker, followed by a 1952 Plymouth Cranbrook Convertible. In college, he had a 1956 Chevrolet Bel Air and a Mercedes-Benz 190SL. The latter was equipped with a Solex carb and had clocked over 100,000 miles on it (1.6 lakh km).







Image source


Representative Image only

However, the most special car in Biden’s garage is the 1967 Chevrolet Corvette that his father gave him for his wedding in August 1967. It has a 5.8-litre V8 motor good for over 350 BHP. The convertible is finished in Goodwood-green shade and gets tan leather interior. In one of the interviews, he also said that he’s maxed out the speedometer in the Corvette. The car can go upto an indicated 257 km/h (160 mph).




Image source - Joe Biden / Twitter

Here's a short video on the same car:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BQVpzCxumGY

Joe Biden also served as the Vice President of the United States for 2 terms from 2009-2017. Due to his security status, he was barred from driving any cars by the US Secret Service, the agency in charge of his protection amongst others. You know he’s a complete car guy when he does a burnout during an interview with Jay Leno.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mP-hyDSlmUs

He’s also an advocate of electric cars and is expected to announce pro-green car policies during his tenure.

[Aditya]

Thread moved out from the Assembly Line. Thanks for sharing!

[Turbohead]

Maxed out the speedo it seems! Speed junkie! I wonder if he's tried the infamous (and illegal) Cannonball challenge!

Now he'll have to put up with a chauffer for the next few years! Nothing else than that for an auto enthusiast!

[Deeps]

Originally Posted by Turbohead

Maxed out the speedo it seems! Speed junkie! I wonder if he's tried the infamous (and illegal) Cannonball challenge!

Now he'll have to put up with a chauffer for the next few years! Nothing else than that for an auto enthusiast!

I believe the chauffeur will remain for the rest of his life. Even ex-presidents cannot drive on public roads as far as I know.

[for_cars1]

Originally Posted by blackwasp

...However, you might be surprised to know that he is a proper car guy.

.... the most special car in Biden’s garage is the 1967 Chevrolet Corvette..
Here's a short video on the same car:

Man, that car sure has character and what an amazing guy.

[GTO]

Must say, quite a dude and what an incredible life . IMHO, car manufacturers with a base in USA (American & Foreign OEMs alike) will be delighted to have a car guy at the helm of affairs. With the industry going through so many changes due to electrification, Covid-19, car sharing, emission & safety norms, autonomous driving hopes and so on, they will sure be glad to have someone at least understand their POV too.

Having first-hand knowledge of an industry can make a big difference to the decisions one makes.

[SSO]

Originally Posted by Deeps

I believe the chauffeur will remain for the rest of his life. Even ex-presidents cannot drive on public roads as far as I know.

Ex Presidents have Secret Service protection for the rest of their lives. Technically there is nothing that prevents them from driving on public roads but the Secret Service strongly recommends against it. Part of the on-going protection includes both armored cars and highly trained close protection drivers. In a recent interview former President Bush (who was a bit of a car guy) was commenting that he's only allowed to drive around on his ranch in Texas these days.

[TrackDay]

What a dude ! Good fun too

This Jay Leno video shows us the fun side of this guy. Truly puts in the meaning of age is only a number. Him talking about taking dates out during his high school days, gunning that corvette, this guy is the quintessential American boy. And did he say his dad owned the largest Chevrolet dealer in the state ! Wow. He truly has his car roots ingrained properly. And he knows his cars too.
I bet his only regret in becoming VP and POTUS is in him not able to drive on public roads.

I can imagine the whole episode to be stressful for the secret agents on duty that day. Imagine the vice president doing a burnout and nearly getting into a drag race with the newer corvette.

[irdevanand]

man now i understand why 81 million Americans believed he can turn it (USA) around :-) feels great to have a petrol head as head of a state !

[starke]

A petrol-head President! What else you wish for? An added bonus of electrification vision - Time to move back to states it seems

[AZT]

That 1967 Corvette is a beaut! Wedding gift goals just got upped

[aastiksaluja]

Not the right headline, and definitely not a petrolhead he is!

The very first day of his office, he cancelled the much-awaited and highly invested the Keystone XL pipeline project. Also, a major number of the trans-Canadian pipeline are put under the radar for closing, disrupting the OIL market. His envisioned plan is to shift the economy from Oil dominated market to clean fuel.
So EVs might see some growth, but conventional car market for the Petrolhead like us- I don't think so.
Although, this transition is actually the need of the hour- thanks to the bloomer generation and everyone before Millenials'- the unaccounted and irresponsible exploitation of resources has brought us to this brim, that we have to think a lot before planning to bring the next generation on these lands.
Sorry if this went off-topic, but I felt like our enthusiasm for cars and the petrolhead nature should not let us sway from reality and talk on anything just to be relevant to cars.

[DicKy]

Originally Posted by aastiksaluja

Not the right headline, and definitely not a petrolhead he is!...
Sorry if this went off-topic, but I felt like our enthusiasm for cars and the petrolhead nature should not let us sway from reality and talk on anything just to be relevant to cars.

True.
It's almost like expecting Elon Musk to rescue ICE cars since he owned a bunch of iconic cars in the past.
Joe Biden was young in the 1960s, from a pretty well-to-do family. He is bound to have some tyre shredding V8s.

That doesn't mean the current left leaning US government is going to be partial to automobiles, especially ICE.

[dragracer567]

Originally Posted by aastiksaluja

Not the right headline, and definitely not a petrolhead he is!

The very first day of his office, he cancelled the much-awaited and highly invested the Keystone XL pipeline project.

Although, this transition is actually the need of the hour- thanks to the bloomer generation and everyone before Millenials'- the unaccounted and irresponsible exploitation of resources has brought us to this brim, that we have to think a lot before planning to bring the next generation on these lands.

Sorry to say but canceling a pipeline doesn't make you not a petrol-head. As you rightly said, endless consumption and mindless environmental degradation isn't worth anything.

But this isn't the thread to discuss to this topic, so lets stop at that!

[Samurai]

Joe Biden Tests the EV Pickup... even does a launch at the end.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X9zCJVUxKSk