The Beast Arrives at Jay Leno’s Garage
How do you talk about a car you can’t say anything about? How do you explain features that you can’t discuss or explore? How do you present a mystery to the public without actually revealing it? That was the challenge Jay Leno accepted in his latest video dedicated to “The Beast,” the official car of the President of the United States. Despite the obvious restrictions and the presence of two agents who are clearly not used to that kind of exposure, Jay managed to extract some juicy details.
What Is Known About the Beast?
This is not a car that goes unnoticed or maintains a low profile. On the contrary, it’s a magnet for attention, and it turns heads every time it appears. I imagine Secret Service agents aren’t thrilled about that, but they have to work with it. Of course, they have huge advantages: the car is basically a tank, they have more than one unit at their disposal, and any technical or mechanical detail can be resolved quickly. I’m talking about The Beast, the nickname for the official vehicle of the President of the United States. Jay Leno had the opportunity to welcome The Beast into his famous garage, and here’s what he shared:
Agent Insights: Generation 3 and Its Improvements
What do we really know about this car? Jay Nasworthy, one of the agents in the video, explains that the current “Generation 3” is more comfortable to drive compared to previous generations, which suffered from blind spots and forced the driver to constantly adjust their position (that problem still exists, but it’s not as severe as before). Available information (and highly speculative) suggests that The Beast was built on the GMC TopKick platform or a variant. Reports about its weight range from 6,800 to 9,100 kilograms… but none of that is explored in the video because it’s classified information. Jay couldn’t even open a door! One thing is certain: The Beast is enormous. Jay Leno stands 1.8 meters tall and barely reaches the roof.
Stories from the Road: Fuel Contamination and Door Repairs
Midway through the video, Jay mentions the challenges of validation and homologation for The Beast, including resources like fluids, components, and even the fuel itself. Steve Abel (the other agent) is one of the mechanics, and he explains that during a trip to North Carolina, one of the vehicles stopped working. After several diagnostics, he determined the problem was in the fuel: the region had seen rain for several days, water managed to seep into local storage tanks, and contaminated the fuel that ended up in one of the Beasts. But the story doesn’t end there: the replacement vehicle had a problem with one of its doors (it didn’t close properly), and Abel had to take the part from the first vehicle to fix it.
Life on the Road and How They Join the Team
The agents also confirmed that the Beasts don’t accumulate a lot of miles, and when the president needs to spend an extended period “on the road” (mainly during election campaigns), he travels in one of the armored buses known as Ground Force One. The video becomes more personal when Jay asks the agents about their backgrounds: Nasworthy joined the force thanks to a friend who was part of Chelsea Clinton’s protection detail, who told him they were hiring new personnel. Abel has 16 years of experience as a mechanic (working for a Ford and GM dealership) and found the job on USAJobs. Both now drive and maintain what is probably the safest car on the planet.
