William Howard Taft – $12K, White Model M Steamer

President Howard Taft was the first president to bring automobiles to the White House! Before his presidency, carriages pulled by horses were the means of transportation for the President of the United States. But Taft made sure that right before starting his presidency, Congress would allocate part of the national budget to vehicles for the White House. Hence, $12K or equivalent to $330K in the present day was allocated. And what a visionary investment! Considering that it definitely gave a boost to the burgeoning auto industry, Taft certainly was a trendsetter for this decision. He had the stables converted into a garage and he had a gasoline deposit built.