It’s not every week that a major world leader’s vehicle comes up for sale but this week two did. We’ve already told you about HM King Charles’ Jaguar I-Pace EV400 but this 2018 Cadillac ATS-V might just outdo it. President Joe Biden called for a specific feature that would ultimately make this build the only ATS-V of its kind. Now, it can be yours as it’s available at auction right now.
For the most part, this ATS-V for sale at CarsAndBids is like any other example. It comes with a 3.6-liter twin-turbocharged V6, an eight-speed automatic gearbox, and rear-wheel drive. It’s factory-rated at 464 hp and 445 lb-ft of torque and gets some notable factory options like the Luxury Package with sport alloy pedals, HID headlights, and integrated navigation. At the hands of a capable driver, it should be capable of going from 0-60 mph in under 4 seconds.
What’s a bit different about the car is its unique blend of colors. Plenty of ATS-V examples are available in Raven Black like this car but none also come with a Kona Brown interior. This is the only one in the world with that specific combination and it was Biden himself who requested that change.
Documents included in the auction show correspondence indicating that Biden initially requested Dark Adriatic Blue Metallic paint but changed his mind at the direction of the Secret Service. He also specified the Kona Brown interior and wanted it enough that he indicated a willingness to make his request to GM CEO Mary Barra if it would help get it accomplished.
A few days later, emails say that he drove a CTS but ultimately decided to stick with the ATS-V and even acknowledged that he’d accept a stock black interior if needed.
Nevertheless, the team at Cadillac made the combination happen and the result looks great. On top of the cool Kona Brown/Raven Black combo this car benefits from bronze 18-inch Blackwing wheels, red-painted Brembo brake calipers, and genuine Sapele wood interior trim. Notably, the wood trim is linked to other ATS models with the Kona Brown interior and Cadillac maintained that relationship here too.
As it sits it has 15,900 miles on the odometer and is in good condition. The selling dealer indicates that it’s had minor damage at various points in its short lifespan. The Michelin tires are from 2018 and 2019 respectively and there are creases on the outer bolster of the driver’s seat.
A note from the originally selling dealer says that the production team had to pull this car off of the line during the build to manually install the interior. Biden leased the car and kept it until March of 2020.
Evidently, he called the dealer personally to indicate that the Secret Service would no longer allow him to drive. “If there’s one thing I don’t like about running for President, it’s that I’m not allowed to drive. Because I like to drive,” he reportedly said. Lots of us would like to drive a car like this ATS-V and soon, someone who wins this auction will.
If I’m ever elected President, I’m enacting a law that allows Presidents to drive again. That or I’d disguise myself as a secret service agent so I can drive lol
President Dark Brandon knows that the second best way to burn off the stresses of the office isn’t found on a fareway, but on a racetrack.
I think it’s obvious that just like back in the day, ol’ Diamond Joe appreciated that this was basically a Camaro, but nicer, just like that Trans Am he’d wash on the White House lawn. You know, only tells the right people you know how to party.
I do miss those onion stories about Joe washing his Camaro shirtless on the Whitehouse lawn…
This guy has some serious taste, hard to argue with an ATS-V when the alternative would have been a black Suburban. Sharp looking car.
Sleeper Joe. Heh.
Dark Adriatic Blue Metallic paint with those seats? Make that a standard combination, Caddy. That’s a great combo. Throw in a pair of Aviators whole you’re at it.
I don’t have anything meaningful to add that isn’t confusing, aroused grunting in the affirmative so I’ll just say
Fuckin a
Midnight blue metallic with tan/brown interior is the best of choice.
Along with the bronze wheels *chef’s kiss*
Why did the Secret Service not let Biden have blue paint?
I am sorry President Biden, you are only not allowed to drive black cars.
I’m assuming so it blends in with the general motorcade vehicles instead of really standing out as “former Vice President in this one right here”
I don’t get the no driving rule for Presidents, main reason I can find is due to Kennedy but he wasn’t even driving when he was killed. Off public roads seems like they can still, like Biden with the F150 Lightning. It just seems a very un-American thing to have the President and even ex-Presidents prohibited from driving. Even the Pope can drive his own car if he wants to.
I just listened to the Joe Biden episode of Conan O’Brien Needs a Friend. POTUS indicated he sometimes gets wheeltime on the Secret Service training course. He said he hit 130+ in his Corvette on the runway there.
That episode was really interesting. Some of the behind the scenes stuff like this story, but it also puts lie to the claims that he can’t form coherent sentences. He’s old and he has a stutter, but he’s clear and focused in conversation.
I’d prefer him to be the Joe of 2008, too. He was actually my primary choice that year — primary because of foreign policy expertise. Still, I’ll take a few verbal stumbles here and there over the alternative.
Username does not check out! You get back in line! /s
Probably a couple good reasons for not allowing presidents to drive themselves on public roads. First, driving is (statistically) one of the most dangerous activities many people will ever participate in. Second, coordinating with other vehicles in a protective convoy requires skill and training that a protectee just doesn’t have, not to mention focus; driving and keeping their charge safe is the sole task for the Secret Service detail, while a president has dozens of other responsibilities their mind at any given time. Far down the list, but also a factor is that the president is often going to be reviewing briefs, taking calls, or otherwise working while being driven.
Long story short, it’s the Secret Service’s job to protect the president, and that works better when they’re in as complete control of movement as possible.
“Comedians in cars getting coffee” with Obama had some fun with that.
Obviously the greatest custom order in the history of the Presidency will always be LBJ calling Haggar to get some pants that could accommodate his big bouncy balls while keeping his taint unchaffed.
https://d29j0x7vue4ie8.cloudfront.net/2021-05/WH6408-16-4851%20-%20LBJ%20Orders%20Some%20New%20Haggar%20Pants.pdf
Now that all of Biden’s calls are part of the official record, I want to hear him order a custom car with some PG-13 language. “Look Jack, I know you can’t usually get the cooled seats with this package. But I have a Presidential package that needs all the help it can get in July. My oval orifice doesn’t handle the heat like it used to.”
I never thought I would read a presidential quote (pre-2017) using the terms “nuts” and “bunghole”
LBJ was ahead of the times in that way. If any president was going to break the bunghole barrier, it was him.
COTD
So can I, a simple positronic brained android, call up Mary Barra and make custom requests? Asking for a friend…
You used to, it was called COPO- Central Office Production Order. It’s how Don Yenko got those Camaros with 427s.
I’m pretty sure it was C3PO. 🙂
We’re doomed.
My FIL wanted a black Camry (first year in the US) and was told by the dealer that they can’t get one, even though it was shown in the brochure. The story is the my FIL wrote to the head of Toyota about the incident and was then one was made available.
Are we sure he spec’ed this out? Mary Barra also likes Blacked out cars like her Z06 Vette. Does Mary Barra’s Black Corvette Z06 make her Detroit’s Fastest CEO? (autoweek.com)
What are you saying? This ATS-V was specifically ordered to not be blacked out with its brown interior and bronze wheels. Mary ensures that they are all blacked out from factory.
https://media.tenor.com/-r1ePyYKL5AAAAAM/king-history.gif
Regardless of where you sit on Biden’s age or politics or whatever, it’s impossible to deny the man has style. A tailored suit in the sea of ill-fitting Men’s Wearhouse crap that is DC politics. Honestly, I can’t think of a better presentation of the ATS-V than this, right down to the bronze wheels. That’s a sharp car, Jack!
I will say that, yes, his suits are very sharp, and he seems to get them in the correct weight of wool to resist wrinkles.
Also, his Corvette is about the best color combo, emerald green over tan leather
I also appreciate that he’s kept the Corvette, his dad gave it to him as a wedding gift (first wife).
It’s highly possible that someone else is choosing his clothes, for him. To be honest I kinda hope someone is, so he can concentrate on more important things like running the country.
Jill.
or not drooling.
Had to go there eh? At least he isn’t a radioactive orange spray painted bankrupt rapist with a comb over that may or may not actually be a living animal.
Yes, better drool than bile.
Not as long as cult members will send him their nest eggs.
I work with a couple people, both men, who own 5 copies of the same outfit. That’s all they wear to work and never have to think about their wardrobes.
I have 5 different golf shirts I wear to work and I wear the same shirt on each day of the week. so I never have to think about what to wear.
There’s a few high profile people that wear or wore the exact same shirt, Steve Jobs was one of them.
I used to work with a guy who wore a white Oxford button down with black jeans Mon-Thu. On Friday he would wear a blue plaid button-down with the black jeans.
I don’t know that it takes much brainpower to put together a suit. He does seem to have style which, granted, not everyone has.
He dresses very well for an 81 year old.
Yeah, that’s kind of the whole point of a suit, the pieces match, just add a shirt and tie and go.
You would think so. It seems to be a hard skill for even billionaires (well…) to master.
His are actually very good quality, he just has them purposely made to fit horribly (and he has to be getting them made like that, because I doubt any off-the-rack Brioni is going to fit that badly even without alterations).
He also uses the lightest superfine wools, because in his mind its more expensive, therefore better, even though it looks like shit after 6 hours or so because of all the rumples and wrinkles.
It’s tough to tailor a trouser to fit around a full diaper…
It also helps when you’re not mobidly obese and trying to cover it up..
Hey! He was one pound under obese, remember?
It must be the bone spurs then…
I think the blue would have been even better and also don’t really get why the Secret Service would be so against it. Still, great that he got the brown and wood interior. That looks fantastic.
They probably wanted it to match the rest of their fleet vehicles so it wouldn’t stand out so much, but the blue would have been a lot more attractive
That seems like a reasonable assumption. And yeah, blue would have been MUCH better.
That makes sense, but I also think that it’s already a Cadillac ATS-V with bronze rims. It’s already different. But I guess they probably know a thing or two about protecting folks.
I don’t think it had the bronze rims when he had it, the dealer switched them out afterward, along with the grille and blacked out badges
Oh, that makes a little more sense.
There may be 2 black base model ATSs with those bronze rims somewhere in circulation now.
I personally think that, when the Emperor is wielding the Dark Side of the Force, blue, even a very dark blue, is just not evil enough. It has to be black.
For your edification:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E3vbxIjA2rM