•
BEHIND THE WHEELS
THE FIRST PRESIDENTIAL AUTOMOBILE
Bob Sherwood’s ‘55 Chevy Bel Air convertible was, is, and always will be a classic Photos: Richard Greene
In the early 1900s William Howard Taft rode in a Pierce Arrow just like this classic model • By Richard Greene Photos: Richard Greene
W
e begin this month’s classic car story with a brief review of the nation’s 27th president. Stay with me for a couple of minutes, and I’ll make the connection. President William Howard Taft, who was elected in 1908 with the endorsement of his famous predecessor, Theodore Roosevelt, is perhaps best known as the only man to serve both as president and later as the chief justice of the Supreme Court. At somewhere near 350 pounds, Taft is the largest man to hold the office of president, and stories still abound about him requiring a giant bathtub to hold his expansive frame. But he also was the first president to acquire a “motor car” for use by America’s chief executive. Actually, he acquired two of them – stellar Pierce Arrow automobiles very much like the one featured here. Taft was an enthusiast of the new mode of transportation that, by the time of his inauguration that he attended in a horse-drawn carriage, had been made available to the
44
ARLINGTON TODAY • February 2021 • arlingtontoday.com
