JFK's Dallas Limo

ABC World News.

That limo "remains one of the most powerful symbols of his final hours. The 1961 4-door Lincoln Continental is now at The Henry Ford Museum in Dearborn, Michigan.

It had no armor that day but was refurbished and remained in the presidential auto fleet until the 1970s.

It had a removable roof and bubble top, but it had been removed that day in Dallas after the rain cleared as President Kennedy didn't like it. Standing White House orders were to remove the top anytime the weather permitted. However, it wasn't bullet-proof.

Now there is near-silence when people see it. Everyone's images of that day include this car. People can't help to think, "What if the car was moving faster?" "What if the top had been on?"

The car had been flown out from D.C. on a cargo plane accompanying the president's plane. (I know as I asked one of the people at the Air Force Museum this past Nov. 22nd if the limo had been ferried by JFK's Air Force One, which is at the museum, the other iconic image of the assassination). I didn't think a 747's cargo bay was big enough to hold a limo like that.

After the assassination, the limo was brought back to Washington where the Secret Service and FBI intensely studied every square inch of it. It was then refurbished with titanium armor and a permanent top.

It was code-named X-100 and is painted a midnight blue.

Clint Hill, the First Lady's Secret Service Agent that day, will revisit the limo and will be at the car November 22nd. (Was he the one that climbed up on the trunk when Jackie Kennedy appeared to be crawling out of the car?)

A Real Piece of History.