Stretch Limos

Although it's difficult to imagine, the history of stretch limos comes from the original idea of chauffeured vehicles in France way back in the 1700’s. They first came about as horse drawn carriages for the rich and wealthy, beautifully crafted and often decorated with gold, pulled by only the finest horses. The actual word limousines is the feminine adjective formed from the word Limoges which is the province in France where it all started. The one thing that made limousines different from other vehicles (or in this case carriages) at that time was that the driver was in an entirely separate compartment from their fare and this is still a feature of stretch limos to this very day.

Before we delve more deeply into the development of today's American stretch limos it's interesting to note that the first automobile limousines were also conceived in France, back in 1902 where the driver sat outside under a covered compartment, remaining true to the origin of the word limousines, and were so called because the covered compartment physically resembled the cloak hood worn by those that resided in Limoges. However, the word has evolved into two meanings today, depending on where you are. In most parts of the world large luxury saloon cars are passed off as limousines. The best examples would be marques such as Audi, Bentley, BMW, Cadillac, Jaguar, Lexus, Mercedes and Rolls Royce. And in some ways it's good because limousines is one of those lovely romantic words which conjures up thoughts of those grand motor cars of the past such as the Cadillacs of the '30's and Rolls Royces of the 60's right through to the Bentleys and Maybachs of today. In fact the German manufacturers add the letter L to the end of their model numbers such as the Audi A8 3.0DL or the Mercedes S500L. This indicates they have a long wheel base, defining them in their eyes as limousines. In the United States and Britain, however, things are literally a world apart where the word limousines is far more commonly used to refer to the stretched variety. This is because stretch limos, as they are usually called, have been around for so long in these parts that they are far more the norm than anywhere else in the world.

In fact the first actual stretch limousine was created over eighty years ago in Arkansas, USA around 1928. These first stretch limos were often referred to as “big band buses” because they were mainly used to transport famous big band leaders, their orchestras and their instruments to various parts of the United States. Then in the 1930’s stretch limos really started to take off. They were used to transport guests of hotels from the airport to the hotel and also on different sightseeing tours and so the name “Airporter Stretch Coach” was born. After seeing the growing popularity of these wonderful machines the movie industry soon jumped on the bandwagon where they used them to carry film crew and stage personnel around movie sets. But, more importantly, stretch limos became an absolute "must" for the top movie actors and actresses where they had to be seen to arrive in one, especially for any grand occasion. This clearly created the glamorous image that stretch limos retain to this very day.

Eventually six-door stretch limos were invented. These were typically funeral cars and were built on Cadillac Chasis’. Over time they continued to become more and more popular. They were used to transport everyone from movie stars to the President of the United States wherever they needed. Today, stretch limos are still used to carry the rich and famous, such as you see outside the great casinos and film awards in the USA, but are also built to carry much larger numbers of people.

The addition of new technologies and different types of vehicles available to stretch has led to a phenominal rise in the “new style” stretch limos. You'll now see everything from Lincoln Town Car and "Baby Bentley" Chrysler 300 stretch limos through to the larger 4x4's such as the Audi Q7 and Hummer stretch limos. These are perfect for transporting large numbers of people around to any possible event you can think of. School proms, weddings, and birthdays are among the most popular but you'll see plenty of other special occasions such as Royal Ascot, Christmas parties and corporate days. At weekends virtually every city in the UK hosts stretch limos running around full of fun loving people who are on stag nights, hen nights and theatre trips, often sipping French Champagne in the process, which is a sight to see and brings a smile to most people's faces. Isn't it great that today's stretch limos are all about fun for everybody - not just the rich and famous.