TABLE OF CONTENTS
i. Welcome!
ii. Foreword
iii. Introduction
ii. Introduction
1.The Origins of the Limousine
2. The Traditions of Riding in
the Back Seat
3. Chauffeurs
4. The Coachbuilders
5. The Factory Limousines
6. The
Commercial Limousine Operators
7. Getting
What You Want -- Buying a Limousine
8. The
Limousine -- Inside and Out
9. Building
a Stretch Limousine
10. Exotic
Limousines
11. The
Classics and the Not So Classic: Celebs, High Rollers and Their Limousines
12. Presidential
Rides
13. Fit
for a King -- Royal Limousines
14. Limousine
Etiquette and How to Enjoy Riding in the Back Seat
15. The
Cultured Limousine
16. Glossary
(definitions as seen from the
back seat of a limousine)
Photo Gallery
1. Welcome
2. Back Seat Riding
3. Cadillac Pages
4. Lincoln Pages
5. Lehmann-Peterson Pages
6. Limousines Pages
7. Reader Pages
See also:
Chauffeur and
Passenger stories
Used by permission Society of Automotive Engineers,
SAE Press, Copyright 2002 www.sae.org and by private
contributors, as noted.
Back to Front
Copyright 2002
by
Michael L. Bromley
All Rights Reserved |
|
Total
Service
At Your Service
(Courtesy James F. Bromley)
Marcel H.A. de Kock, resident expert on
chauffeuring at The International Guild of
Professional Butlers and chauffeur par excellence, explains the start to the
perfect ride,
just another typical morning. "First thing, I call half an hour before the pick
up, to let the
boss know I'm on the way. Now he doesn't have to worry if I'm late or not going to be
there. I pick up the newspapers on the way, the latest editions, and I'm there 15
minutes early. When the boss comes out, I take his attache case and hold open the
door." The attache case goes through the opposite door onto the seat next to the
boss,
facing him and open, or, according to one passenger's preference, open and with a seat
belt to hold it when braking. "It's a combination," Marcel says. "The
driver and the
boss. It's a relationship. I had one boss who spoke to me just twice every week: once
Monday morning, with 'good morning, Marcel,' and once Friday afternoon, 'have a
good weekend, Marcel.' You learn from your customer... their particular ways."
In the routine we find the familiar. Routine
brings us order and peace. The last thing that
should happen with a chauffeur is something unusual, particularly involving the laws of
physics. The long standing and professional chauffeur will instinctively know the
situation and how to act. Imagine the chauffeur and boss who have been together
twenty years. Imagine the trust, the natural order between them. This is a relationship
wholly dependent upon the boundaries of the situation. It is those rules that define and
bring order and harmony, that match expectation with reality, such as when the act
precedes the thought or voiced request. In the routine of a long established
client-chauffeur relation we find comfort, consistency and protection
from the world's vagaries...
At Your Service, Eric, Encore Limousine, Vienna, VA
(Photo by Michael L. Bromley)
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