From - Tue May 13 19:44:03 1997 From: pamelam@primenet.com (Pamela McElwain) Newsgroups: alt.conspiracy.jfk.moderated Subject: What happened to SS100X after 11/22/63 (Repost) Approved: aja@thuntek.net Date: 12 May 1997 17:33:01 -0700 Organization: Primenet Lines: 160 Message-ID: <5l8crt$fgo$1@nnrp01.primenet.com> Reply-To: pamelam@primenet.com X-Posted-By: @206.165.50.204 (pamelam) X-Newsreader: Forte Free Agent 1.0.82 Content-Type: text Content-Length: 8362 Status: O Originator: jmcadams@homer.thenet.net NNTP-Posting-Host: 206.64.182.2 Path: winter.erols.com!feed1.news.erols.com!news.maxwell.syr.edu!europa.clark.net!newsfeeds.sol.net!mcadams.posc.mu.edu!jmcadams Xref: winter.erols.com alt.conspiracy.jfk.moderated:8323 >From "Three Special Lincolns", Henry Ford Museum Herald, November 1, 1982, from the section "The 'X-100'": Immediately following the assasination, a task force of about 30 people was formed to consider various concepts for a presidential parade vehicle that might avert a similar tragedy in the future. Many government security and technical agencies, as well as several outside consultants, were represented on the task force. After several days of deliberation during which many impractical schemes were considered, the committee was reduced to about six people representing the Secret Service, the Army Materials Research Center, Hess & Eisenhardt, and Pittsburgh Plate Glass. This smaller group crefully considered the suggested plans and concluded that the most practical and effective solution was a thorough rebuild of the a961 "X-100" parade car, which would include armoring the entire vehicle. This plan was quickly approved by the White House, and around December 12, 1963, "X-100" was delivered to the Hess & Eisenhardt Company in Cincinnati, Ohio, where the rebuild was to take place. On about December 20, the car was officially released by the Warren Commission and "project D-2", or what became known as the "quick fix", was born. It was a very intensive project with a great deal of pressure for early completion. The basic elements of the quick fix were: Complete armoring of the vehicle's rear passenger compartment, including both opaque and transparent surfaces; the addition of a permanent, nonremovable top (or "greenhouse") to accommodate the transparent armor; exchange of the original engine for a hand-build, high-compression unit with about 17 percent greater power; Addition of a second air-conditioning unit in the trunk of the vehicle, necessitated by the fixed top and immovable side windows; Addition of certain electronic communication devices; Reinforcement of some mechanical and structural components, such as the front wheel spindles and door hinges, to accept the added weight of the armor; And complete retrimming of the rear compartment to eliminate the damage that had been caused by the assassination. The finished product weighed about one ton more than the original "X-100" and was completed May 11, 1964. It underwent extensive testing by the Ford Motor Company at Dearborn before being delivered to Washington. The cost of the quick fix is estimated to have exceeded $500,000, which was shared by the Ford Motor Company, some Ford suppliers and the federal government. Producing the bullet-resistant glass for teh quick fix was a major engineering feat undertaken by Pittsburgh Plate Glass at a cost rumored to be $125,000. There were 13 pieces of glass altogether (including the windshield) ranging in thickness from 1 inch to 1 3/16 inches. One of these pieces, the rear roof section, was the largest piece of bullet-resistant, curved, cast glass produced up to that time. It weighed approximately 1,500 pounds. The glass used in the "X-100" was a very expensive "water white" glass that provided minimum distortion and discoleration for both onlookers and press photographers. The bullet-resisting feature was achieved by sandwiching polycarbonate vinyl between each of the five layers of plate glass. The principal opaque armor added to the "X-100" during the quick fix was titanium steel, the most traditional armor plate. This armor is made from a steel alloy containing a large amount of the element titanioum. Only small quantities of titanium armor are produced in this country each year. As a result, it is "limited to federal release," that is, controlled by the government. Very difficult to work with, titanium resists all normal methods of cutting and forming. The titanium armour used in the "X-100" was in the form of a 3/8-inch plate and cost $13,572 in 1964. It is found in such places as the back of the car's rear seat, the rear doors, the rear quarter panels, the front roof panel, and the side roof rails. Another type of armor used in the "X-100" was 1/8 inch thick HY-100 steel plate. With a tensile strength of 100,000 pounds per square inch, this material protects against blasts from explosive devices such as grenades and mines. It is found in the car's rear passenger compartment floor, the rear seat cushion base, and the rear seat base riser. Also used to great advantage in the "X-100" was flexible armor constructed of 12-ply nylon fabric. it must be retained at the edges to provide a catcher's-mitt effect for projectiles. Overlapping the titanium armor by one inch, it is found in the back of the front seat, the rear doors, the center body pillar, and the rear quarter panels. While gasoline tanks on armored vehicles have frequently been made bullet resistant by being surrounded with armor, a new development appeared in the 1960's which was utilized on the "X-100" quick fix. An open-pore foamed elastomer made from a polyester-type urethane, and called "Safom" , it was developed by Firestone. When a gasoline tank is completely feilled with Safom, the substance's cell structure occupies only 3 percent of the void, leaving the tank at 97 percent of its original capacity. However. Safom has the incredible property of providing complete and positive suppression of explosions in fuel tanks. A projectile can actually penetrate the tank without causing fire or explosion. This interesting substance represents an important safety breakthrough for vehicles that might be subjected to random gunfire. The "X-100"'s tires were made bullet resistent during the quick fix by fastening a solid secondary "tire" to the rim within the regular pneumatic tire. In the event of a projectile striking the unit and the regular tire going flat, the vehicle could be driven to safety on the solid tire without damaging the rim. During the last several decades, this has been the most common method of making tires bullet resistant. Although the basic format of the "X-100" today remains the same as when it was placed in service for President Lyndon B. Johnson in 1964, countless later, minor changes and additions have been implemented to accommodate changing service conditions, new technologies, and the needs of the Secret Service. In January 1967, a major series of modifications was made to the"X-100" by Hess & Eisenhardt, the original constructors of the car. The revisions, known as "project R-2", included the following: The air-conditioning system was revised to provide even greater cooling capacity; The right rear door, which is 1 13/16 inch thick bullet-resistant glass, was converted to a drop-glass actuated by a heavy-duty power regulator assembly; In response the President Johnson's one-time caper of jumping of the rear deck lid and causing it to collapse, the deck lid was reinforced with fiberglass to accept the weight of a 221-pound man without damage; The entire car was stripped to base metal, all dents were remvoed, and the car was repainted; Many minor items were changed, such as the addition of roof-mounted grab handles. After these changes, the car saw ten more years of service during which time many in-service modifications were performed. For example, the front bumper guards and their built-in red flasher lights were removed and replaced with red lights in the grille. Another alteration, performed at the request of President Rickard m. Nixon, was the elimination of the huge, one-piece bullet-resistant glass roof in favor of a smaller glass area combiend with a hinged panel that would allow the president to stand during parades. The "X-100" could be, from both a technological and socialogical point of view, one of the most interesting automobiles ever built. Certainly it represents an enormous expenditure of time, talent, technical expertise, and money. Just as certainly, it embodies the political sensitivities of our nation more than any other motorcar. JFK Library letter, Ford press release photo of SS100X today, Jackie's WC testimony, Altgens 1-6 windshield, info on "Illuminati and Their Assassination of JFK" at my website http://www.primenet.com/~pamelam/jfk.html Photos of sites relevant to Mozart's life in Salzburg and Paris at my linked Mozart site.