Posted on 08/17/2011 10:02:33 AM PDT by Justaham
President Obama is barnstorming the heartland to boost US jobs in a taxpayer-financed luxury bus the government had custom built -- in Canada, The Post has learned.
The $1.1 million vehicle, one of two that Quebec-based Prevost sold the government, has been tricked out by the Secret Service with state-of-the-art security features and creature comforts.
It's a VIP H3-45 model, the company's top of the line, and is used by major traveling rock bands.
"That's the more luxurious model," Christine Garant of Prevost told The Post.
"When we have the Country Music Awards, we sometimes see a lot of them," she said, noting that Kid Rock, David Lee Roth and Kenny Rogers also have owned them.
Obama's new ride is equipped to carry all the baggage a president needs -- including the "football" that allows him to remotely control US nuclear weapons.
There's electronic equipment allowing Obama to communicate and teleconference worldwide.
Like his GM-built limousine, nicknamed "The Beast," the bus has armored doors.
The president also has large flat-screen TV sets and comfortable couches.
There's a bathroom, but unlike on Air Force One, no sleeping area.
The bus was ordered by the Secret Service in July 2010 and delivered two months ago.
The feds bought the two coaches for $2.2 million from Hemphill Brothers Coach, based in Tennessee. It installed custom interior upgrades into the Prevost shell, which accounted for about half the cost.
The contract lists the country of origin as Canada and place of manufacture as "outside U.S. - Trade Agreements," a possible reference to the North American Free Trade Agreement.
(Excerpt) Read more at nypost.com ...
Focused like a LASER BEAM on creating US jobs
Be careful everyone. Obama may be setting up the conservative press, like, for instance: who ordered the buses and when? Those beasts arent made overnight. Could it have been in the Bush years? Personally, I think 2 years is sufficient to order, build, and deliver, but you never know with govt contracts.
We have been told about the monster motorcade but they are silent in not saying anything about AF1 also having to leap frog along the route to stay within some reasonable distant in case the need arises to whisk the One back to the WH...
You are right. I don’t think this is a huge scandal. Apparently, the Republican candidate gets a bus, too.
Whether or not it will be equipped with spying devices I don’t know.
Beofore the internet and Fox News, the elite tax and spend liberals were able to get by with this bs. Their buddies the maggot infected mediots in the MSM spiked any news like this.
It is amazing that Owhoreabama and his elite czars still think that they can get by with this bs in today’s world of instant news without the MSM.
WTF? His own car companies couldn’t make it for him?
Aren’t these buses often manufactured as a shell and then outfitted/customized in other places?
“The feds bought the two coaches for $2.2 million from Hemphill Brothers Coach, based in Tennessee. It installed custom interior upgrades into the Prevost shell, which accounted for about half the cost. “
That answered my question-a local company, they do LOTS of buses..
Yes, Baraq’s chassis was mfg by Prevost in Canada and fitted out by a company in Tennessee.
It’s still hard to fathom that a possible non-citizen, Marxist type leader has possession of our “nuclear football”.
Are there any US companies that make these things?
Maybe this is “TMI” but the Quebecois are, among other things, world-leaders and innovators in bus-building. The same spirit that drove Louis Joseph Armand Bombardier to invent the first snowmobiles is alive and well at Prevost and at firms like Girardin, who are behind most if not all of the innovations (such as the TC2000 flat-nosed Blue Bird bus) in motor homes and school-buses.
I’m SURE the American Workers at ALLEGRO BUS, owned by Tiffin Industries in Alabama could have used the work.
But I’m SURE it would have cost more money, due to insane regulatory costs, taxes, and Unlimited Civil Liability, which also happen to be DEMOCRAT POLICIES!!
Strelnikov's armored train seems to be in much the same spirit as Darth Bus.
not up there with Blackberry, Molson or Sid Crosby on their list of finest exports
Yes! Good analogy.
The late Ernie Augat, founder and CEO of Augat, Inc., and once one of the richest men in Massachusetts used to drive a Ford LTD Crown Victoria, made in Canada. He would not drive Detroit iron. His wife drove a Caddy and he would have bought her anything she wanted.
http://www.newellcoach.com/flash.html
Made in Oklahoma. However, it is my understanding they are very busy and probably could not have met the required leadtime.
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