Motor-coach one

[Bumpersbird]

(04-12-2013 15:12)pgchin Wrote:  So yesterday the pack was out exercising the bird. We run it every two weeks about 150 miles round trip and pull into a rest area for the pack to exercise and breakfast. It's about 10:30 am and we're south on I95 in Flagler county. A new white Prevost passes us they are in the center lane, me the right lane. On the side painted in red,white,blue is graphics that say United States of America. So I'm thinking Olympic kids training or some thing to that effect. As it passes by on the back of the bus is the words Motorcoach one with huge presidential emblem on it! It had Virginia plates. I Have no idea who was onboard but it was cool to see POTUS's ride in person!

Anybody know the name designation for the Presidents bus?
Airplane- Air Force 1
Helicopter- Marine 1
Limo- The Beast
Bus- Ground Force 1

It's a Black Prevost H3-V45 VIP

Customized by Prevost/Hemphill Bros.

Here's a little history by: Joe Raedle / Getty Images

President Barack Obama began traveling the United States in a shiny new, state-of-the-art armored bus in August 2011 as he began his campaign for re-election. So how much did that Obama bus, nicknamed "Ground Force One" by some pundits, actually cost?

A whopping $1.1 million.

The U.S. Secret Service purchased the Obama bus from Whites Creek, Tenn.-based Hemphill Brothers Coach Co. so the president could safely travel the country in the run-up to the 2012 presidential election, the agency told several media outlets.

"We've been overdue for having this asset in our protective fleet for some time," Secret Service spokesman Ed Donovan told Politico. "We've been protecting presidential candidates and vice presidential candidates all the way back to the 1980s using buses during bus tours."

Part of Obama Bus Designed in Canada
The Obama bus is unremarkable save for its occupant. The luxury vehicle is painted plain black and isn't stamped with a single campaign or White House logo because it is considered part of the federal government's fleet.

And even though the government's contract for the buses was with a Tennessee firm, the coach's shell was designed in Canada, by the Quebec firm Prevost, according to The Vancouver Sun. The bus model, H3-V45 VIP, is 11 feet, 2 inches high and has 505 cubic feet of interior space.

The U.S. government then fitted the Obama bus with "secret communications technology" and flashing police-style red and blue lights on the front and the back, the paper reported. Onboard, too, are codes to the country's nuclear arsenal.

The Obama bus, like the president's armored Cadillac, is also probably equipped with an highly technical fire suppression system and tanks of oxygen and could likely withstand a chemical attack, according to The Christian Science Monitor. Bags of Obama's blood are said to be onboard in the event of a medical emergency, too.

Contract for the Obama Bus
The Obama campaign does not have to pay for the cost of the buses or their use, Secret Service officials told the media. Obama began using the bus in the summer of 2011 to travel the country and hold town hall-style meetings, where discussed the nation's poor economy and job creation.

There are, however, a couple of things you should know about the bus: It's not just for Obama. And there's another luxury coach just like it, for use by the Republican nominee in the 2012 presidential race.

The Secret Service contract with the Hemphill Brothers Coach Co. was actually for two armored buses, and a total of $2,191,960, according to federal government procurement records.

The Secret Service planned to use the buses beyond the presidential race, for other dignitaries. Though the agency's most important mission is to protect the leader of the free world, the Secret Service never had its own buses before Obama was president.

The agency leased buses instead and equipped them to protect the president.

I deleted the criticisum parts because were talking about busses not politics.