Black leather swatch, .75” x .75,” originating from the driver's seat of Barack Obama's Jeep Grand Cherokee—his first new car. Encapsulated by CAG to an overall size of 2.25” x 3.25.”
When Obama became President, he toured the Jefferson North Assembly Plant in Detroit that built the vehicle from which this swatch was removed. He followed up the tour with a speech near the assembly line where he remarked "The first new car I ever bought was a Grand Cherokee," to a thunderous applause, while starting his speech. " …. Up until that point, I had some old beat-up used car...I still remember walking into that showroom and driving out with that new car, that new car smell, everything worked, everything was electronic and I had to roll up my windows up until that point. So I got some good memories of that car ..."
After President Obama owned the Jeep, it ended up at a used-car dealership in the Chicago area, where it was purchased by a woman named Liz Murphy in 2004. By then, President Obama was running for a seat in the U.S. Senate, so with considerable foresight, Murphy photocopied the title, which indicated that the previous owner was Barack Obama of 5450 S. East View Park, Chicago, Ill., 60615, and later auctioned it off with Robert Edward Auction in 2010. The here-offered leather swatch from the driver's seat was removed from that very car.