San Mateo Limo Services & Rental
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Extra History and Information on Limousines. (For our scholarly customers)
You may be curious enough to ask, “What exactly is a limo?”. Well, a limousine (or limo) is an extravagant sedan or saloon car generally operated by a trained chauffeur and with a partition between your driver’s and the traveler’s compartment. Limousines usually have a lengthened wheel-base on the bottom part of the car .
It the past, limos had been simply a particular automobile with widely opened driver's seat. It could be given its name a certain type of cloak and hood that locals of the Limousin region were commonly wearing that later resembled the covering of a carriage and a good deal later used to describe an automobile body with an hard top that widened over the driver's compartment.
In modern times, a limo is an extravagant sedan or saloon car, especially one with an extended wheelbase or operated by a chauffeur. The under-chassis of your limousine may have been extended by the business or by a private automobile shop. They are called "stretch" limousines and are customarily dark-colored or white. Limos are liveried vehicles, and are usually driven by professional individuals. As the utmost expensive type of street transportation, limousines are widely associated with wealth or power and are cited as instances of consumption for the purpose of revealing once wealth or greatness. Among the set of less wealthy commoners, limousines are usually chosen only during special happenings, such as weddings, bachelor parties, or high school proms.
Although some limousines are owned by individuals, many of them are owned by governments to take care of senior politicians, or by companies to move executives and professionals. Most stretch limo, though , operate as rental or service vehicles, and are considered an upgrade from the common taxi. Builders of stretch limos purchase stock autos from manufacturers and adjust and modify them. It is rare that a stretch limousines can be bought or used by private individuals. Some limos offer additional security features such as dark-tinting, armoring and bulletproof glass.
In America alone there are over four-thousand limo companies.
In 1902, the very first limousine was designed in such a way that the driver sat outside under a covered compartment. The term limousine comes from the name of the People from france region Limousin, because this protected compartment physically resembled the elevated hood of the cloak worn by the shepherds there. Another etymology gets the chauffeur putting on a Limousin-style cloak on view driver's area, for security from the elements.
The first “stretch limousine” was made in Fort Smith, Arkansas around 1928 with a coach company named Armbruster. These vehicles were used mostly to transport famous music group leaders, such as Glenn Benny and Miller Goodman, and their band members and equipment. These early on extend limousines were categorised as “big music group buses”.
In 1916, the Modern culture of Automobile Technical engineers identified a limousine as: "a shut down car seating 3 to 5 inside, with driver's couch outdoor." A berline was thought as a limousine where the driver’s seat in within the closing of the car”, while a brougham was thought as a limo where there is no roof for the driver.
In German-speaking countries, a limousine just means a sedan, while a lengthened-wheelbase car is referred to as a stretch limo.
Various Types of Limos
The usual style of limo has a dividing wall separating the driver from the trunk passenger compartment. This partition usually is made up of an often soundproof clear window so that interactions between people in the trunk area may be private and unheard by the chauffeur. Communication with the driver can be done either by opening the dividing window or by using an electronic intercom system.
Usually, the limousine has been a sizable car with an extended wheelbase, allowing the trunk passenger compartment to include a forward-facing passenger seat with a large amount of foot room. Two jump seats are attached usually, facing behind the driver rearward; these seats flip up if they are not being used. This way, up to five folks can be seated in the back area comfortably, and two additional passengers can be taken in the driver's area, for a complete capacity of seven people as well as the driver. This sort of seat settings is becoming less popular in recent limousines.
An identical design, but with only the drivers in front, is employed for the dark cabs of London. The folding seats, display advertising which are visible when the jump seats are folding up.
When a vehicle is designed for the funeral trade, two or three normal, forwards facing seats are added. These may fold into the floor or be fixed.
Today's Modern Limos
Stretch limousines are generally employed to transport much more than 3 passengers, excluding the driver. In American limousine production, the folding seats usually always face forward. The previous limousine, produced by Cadillac, with forward-facing seats was in 1987, the Fleetwood Series 75 model, the past Packard in 1954, and the previous Lincoln in 1939. Lincoln sometimes sold limousines as special order vehicles. Several of these Premier vehicles were built and sold to the wealthy, one being held by Elvis Presley. Limos in this category may contain high-priced music players, televisions, video players, and wet bars, generally with refrigerators. The American Presidents have also ridden in various types of limos dating back to 1899.
One difficulty for limousine manufacturers is that it is difficult to comply with the safety, exhaust, weight, and other specifications for long automobiles that hold more passengers.
Exotic Limos
Occasionally a limousine builder or perhaps a car designer will develop the “ultimate” limo, adding amenities that may be ridiculously impractical but usually make a considerable statement in therms of originality and design. Some limos are even designed to facilitate a full hot tub experience within the limo.
Some car makes that have been extensively converted to limos are: Hummer, Infiniti, Jaguar, Lexus, Lincoln, Bentley, BMW, Cadillac, Chrysler, Ford, Holden, Mercedes-Benz, Volkswagen, Daimler and Rolls-Royce. There has even been Corvettes, Ferraris, Tiny Coopers and VW Beetles that were stretched to support approximately 10 passengers.
San Mateo Limo Services also serves the surrounding areas such as Alameda, Albany, Napa, Contra Costa, Belmont, Atherton, Belvedere, Marin County, Benicia, Solano, Berkeley, Brentwood, Brisbane, Burlingame, Calistoga, Campbell, Santa Clara, Clayton, Cloverdale, Colma, Concord, Core Madera, Cotati, Cupertino, Daly City, Danville, Dixon, Dublin, East Palo Alto, El Cerrito, Emeryville, Fairfax, Fairfield, Foster City, Fremont, Gilroy, Half Moon Bay, Hayward, Healdsburg, Hercules, Hillsborough, Lafayette, Larkspur, Livermore, Los Altos, Los Altos Hills, Los Gatos, Martinez, Menlo Park, Mill Valley, Millbrae, Milpitas, Monte Sereno, Moraga, Morgan Hill, Mountain View, Newark, Novato, Oakland, Oakley, Orinda, Pacifica, Palo Alto, Petaluma, Piedmont, Pinole, Pittsburg, Pleasant Hill, Pleasanton, Portola Valley, Redwood City, Richmond, Rio Vista, Rohnert Park, Ross, St. Helena, San Anselmo, San Bruno, San Carlos, San Francisco, San Jose, San Leandro, San Pablo, San Rafael, San Ramon, Santa Clara Santa Rosa, Saratoga, Sausalito, Sebastopol, Sonoma, South San Francisco, Suisun City, Sunnyvale, Tiburon, Union City, Vacaville, Vallejo, Walnut Creek, Windsor, Woodside, Yountville.