Previous Page
Next Page
First Page
Back to Front

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Photo Gallery

1. Welcome
2. Back Seat Riding
3. Cadillac Pages
4. Lincoln Pages
5. Lehmann-Peterson Pages
6. Limousines Pages
7. Reader Pages

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

The Original
(Courtesy Carey International)

A Novel Idea: J.P. Carey

"What could be more time saving and elegant, than to have your
own private chauffeur drive you to and from the terminal?"

So asked one James P. Carey That is, J.P. Carey,
barber, shoe and apparel vendor, garage and rental car operator,
and founder of the present day $120 million dollar limousine empire
that carries his name. From his barber shop in a prized location
at Grand Central Station, Carey came to understand the habits,
needs, and wants of the wealthy who ventured to
and from New York City.

...Reliable, formal motorized chauffeured transportation in 1921 was a far cry
from the next cab in line. Carey’s savvy eye recognized that visitors to New York might
wish for a more comfortable and socially-prominent display than that available from the
curbs of Park Avenue and 42nd Street. Carey cut straight to it, and, make no mistake,
with the best and most expensive cars of the day, Packard and Cadillac. Followed by
son J. Paul Carey and, later, grandson, Paul Carey, Jr., the Grand Central Packard
Renting Corporation earned its reputation for consummate service that continues
to this day in the form of Carey International.

(Courtesy BostonCoach)

A Whole New Market: The Stretch Limousine Meets Dav El

Stretch limousine builders and operators popped up everywhere...
The stretch limousine was both cultural fad and get-rich-quick scheme. A decade
earlier, one such schemer was David Klein. "One of the smartest guys in the
business... he had foresight," says Patti of the New York stretch limousine pioneer.
"David told me back in ‘80, ‘Some day you’re gonna see stretch limos coming out of
every crack, even in your city.’" Scott Solombrino, owner today of Klein’s company,
Dav El, puts it more resolutely: "Klein invented the limousine."

Klein had a beautifully New York start to the business. During a December, 1970, taxi
strike that paralyzed the city, the energetic Klein took to the streets and hustled rides
to stranded passengers, especially Upper East side executives whom he drove to Wall
Street. Klein never stopped. With J.P. Carey-like foresight, he looked upon future
streets filled with stretch limousines, and he set about to singlehandedly make sure
that would happen. "He was a smart businessman, a little wacky, an incredible
personality," says limousine notable and Klein associate, Bruce Cirlin. "He was a
people magnet, threw the most extravagant parties. He put this industry on
the map. He had a flair, he made it popular, made it glamorous..."

Before then, Klein worked as a Volkswagen salesman and ran a valet parking
concession in the suburbs of New York City. Klein leveraged the valet experience with
partner and high school friend, Elliot Lazarus, into the Dav El Parking Facilities, a
"stamp-sized" parking lot on the upper East Side of Manhattan. With the taxi
strike Klein had tasted blood. A used Cadillac later and Klein launched Dav El
Chauffeured Transportation.... In wonderfully American fashion, entrepreneurs
across the country joined the fray as stretch limousine builders, dealers, and
operators. Typical of the spirit and type of operator that joined the industry was the
young Boston Dav El franchisee, Scott Solombrino. While a Freshman in college and
facing expenses that would force him to leave school, Solombrino parlayed his last six
hundred dollars into a new business. Like so many others, he started with one car, a
used 1968 Cadillac, and a garage, his parents’. By graduation, Solombrino had turned
the tiny investment into a thirty car operation and a general nightmare for the
neighbors, as Solombrino had converted the street into a limousine depot.

Solombrino’s Fifth Avenue Limousine went from funeral home to prom to Goldman
Sachs, right out of the pockets of his Boston competition. Brahmin Boston had long
been a tough nut for the limousine business, and Fifth Avenue alone put the clamps on
it. In 1981, Solombrino "had heard of this guy Klein" and ventured to New York to see
what the commotion was all about. He booked a Dav El car and demanded the driver
take him to see the boss. "You’ll never get in there," he was told. When he got into
Klein’s office, the secretary reiterated the sentiment, to which Solombrino objected.
Klein overheard the conversation, invited Solombrino in, and three hours later
Solombrino walked out of the meeting as the new Dav El local talent in Boston.
Solombrino generated so much business so quickly he was invited to the board of
directors of the company, which included, in beautifully Klein fashion, celebrity
chronicler Robin Leach.

Next Page