Speaker 1: Hello friends, this is your Friendly neighborhood podcast or Chuck
Speaker 1: Bryant here How Limousines Work from November. There's more to
Speaker 1: it than you think. It's not just a big long car.
Speaker 1: Oh what kind of is? But there's more to it
Speaker 1: than that. Check it out How Limousines Work. Welcome to
Speaker 1: Stuff you Should Know, a production of I Heart Radio. Hey,
Speaker 1: and welcome to the podcast. I'm Josh Clark with Charles W.
Speaker 1: Chuck Bright, and Jerome Jerry Do we say your last
Speaker 1: name these days? Now? We've never said it? Okay, She's like,
Speaker 1: keep it that way, yeah, Jerome Jerry Blank, Jerry Blank.
Speaker 1: That's a real person, right. No. She was on Strangers
Speaker 1: and TV. Yeah, yeah, okay. I was like, man, I
Speaker 1: know that name. Yeah, that name that was the character,
Speaker 1: right yeah. Yeah. She really cleaned herself up and went
Speaker 1: on to become a spokesperson for Dawney Any Sadarius Jay Blake,
Speaker 1: Oh yeah they're one and the same. Yeah. I love
Speaker 1: any Saderus like the Siderius is. Some people, don't, aren't
Speaker 1: they fighting? Oh, Amy and David like a lot of
Speaker 1: David and everybody else. I think he wrote like some
Speaker 1: New Yorker article about his dead sister. There's sister who
Speaker 1: I think I can't remember what happened, but she wrote
Speaker 1: like a memoir about her, and I think the New
Speaker 1: Yorker I got mad and the rest of his family
Speaker 1: like called him out on like the inconsistencies and errors
Speaker 1: and in fact, and maybe they were tired of it
Speaker 1: because all he's done is right about his family. Yeah.
Speaker 1: I guess they're like, that's it, David. Yeah, no more,
Speaker 1: we're done. Cut us in or we're gonna cause big
Speaker 1: trouble for you. I was about to do my David
Speaker 1: Sedaris and then I realized, like, I don't do a
Speaker 1: David Saderis in person. So I could, but yeah, I'm
Speaker 1: not going to go there. So limos, Yeah, at least
Speaker 1: some of the siderius is ride around in limit zines.
Speaker 1: I bet they have, uh, And I can guarantee they
Speaker 1: have because Chuck. It turns out the definition of a
Speaker 1: limousine is way broader you would think, Yeah, it's it
Speaker 1: doesn't necessarily mean some super stretch, no, but it can. Basically,
Speaker 1: a limousine technically is any car with a roomier back
Speaker 1: seat than the average car. And if you throw in
Speaker 1: a driver, you're you're there's nobody who's going to say
Speaker 1: that's not a limo. You can be like, yes it is,
Speaker 1: yeah and be right. Yeah. Like, technically, if you want
Speaker 1: to get a hire a town car to take you
Speaker 1: to the airport, technically that's a limousine. Yeah, you know
Speaker 1: the car services in New York, those are limos. That's right.
Speaker 1: They have me in Atlanta too, Do they have a
Speaker 1: car service here in Atlanta? Yeah? Are you getting me?
Speaker 1: All I see are just the worst? Oh yes, yeah, yeah, yeah,
Speaker 1: because there's a special tag. Yeah. Did you know that
Speaker 1: Atlanta taxi drivers are the worst taxi drivers on the planet? Um?
Speaker 1: Have you noticed from experience that it's pretty bad? But
Speaker 1: I just uber it. Now, that's different. That's different than
Speaker 1: the taxis. Oh no, that's what I'm saying. That's why
Speaker 1: I uber it, because they're different than the taxis. Yeah. Seriously,
Speaker 1: anybody who comes to Atlanta, if you make it out
Speaker 1: of Hartsfield, look around at the taxis and how they drive,
Speaker 1: your mind will be scrambled. It's crazy. I think cabbies
Speaker 1: are kind of like that everywhere. No, no, like, very
Speaker 1: frequently they are the best drivers in the entire city.
Speaker 1: They know where they're going. They don't just meander, they
Speaker 1: don't like drift into lanes, they don't drive super slow.
Speaker 1: I've had the opposite experience most most cabs that I've
Speaker 1: been in, the driver was pretty great. Usually when I'm
Speaker 1: in a cab in New York City, I wonder, is
Speaker 1: this the ride where we hit somebody or some other car. Yes,
Speaker 1: but you don't, and they're going really fast. In Atlanta,
Speaker 1: they drive ten miles an hour and hit everything. They
Speaker 1: just sideswipe everything. Slow and lousy come to Atlanta. So anyway,
Speaker 1: we're talking limousines. Man, let's get back on track. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I should say to I hate limousines like I love
Speaker 1: a good town car ride to or from an airport,
Speaker 1: but as far as a stretch limousine, I just hate
Speaker 1: that whole thing, just a little kind of hey look
Speaker 1: at me. It's just dumb. It's longer, and it's got
Speaker 1: a bar. It's just I don't know, I think the
Speaker 1: whole thing is stupid and like just part of that
Speaker 1: whole narcissistic culture that I despise. You know, I've got money,
Speaker 1: so I wanted to be in a longer car with
Speaker 1: a TV in it. Well, for a very long time.
Speaker 1: If you wanted a TV in your car or a phone, Yeah,
Speaker 1: your car better be double the size of the normal
Speaker 1: version of it. All right, I just had to get
Speaker 1: on my soapbox, like if it's for prom and you're
Speaker 1: all going in, like I get like a fun thing
Speaker 1: like that, but or a fur bus, the fur bus
Speaker 1: for your niece's birthday, like we did that was fun?
Speaker 1: What you never done that? No? I thought you were
Speaker 1: saying we rented it for my niece's birthday. No, my
Speaker 1: niece's birthday. You weren't a part of it. This is
Speaker 1: my family and it wasn't invited. Scott invited me. This
Speaker 1: is before I knew you, my friend. Um. Anyway, I
Speaker 1: can see the fun of occasionally, but just as a
Speaker 1: means of transportation, I think it's pretty obnoxious, especially those huge,
Speaker 1: huge like hammer stretches. I just wanted, like to de
Speaker 1: materialize those with my eyes. I wish I could shoot
Speaker 1: laser beam indeed me and expose the people within just
Speaker 1: all all of a sudden they're on the street with
Speaker 1: their bourbon and coke on what happened to my super
Speaker 1: stretched summer. I wonder how you'd have to do that. So,
Speaker 1: like your your laser b my eyes would have to
Speaker 1: just just kill people fiberglass, like destroy fiberglass and steel
Speaker 1: and upholstery and rubber. Yeah, there you go. So uh,
Speaker 1: I think, as we've stayed in, a limousine doesn't necessarily
Speaker 1: have to be what you hate. It can all to
Speaker 1: be just a car that's driven by somebody where you
Speaker 1: got a roomy back seat for the passenger, my big trunk.
Speaker 1: But even before that, even if you want to say, wow,
Speaker 1: it's a broad definition of limousine, man, let's go even
Speaker 1: further back and include clothing as a limousine in the
Speaker 1: definition of limousines. That's right, because I learned, as I
Speaker 1: imagine you did, the word limousine comes from a town
Speaker 1: in France called Limousine. Limousine. We'd like to introduce our
Speaker 1: new principal, Skinner principal. See we're skinner that that is
Speaker 1: one of the all time greats. Um. Yes, it was
Speaker 1: limousine without the E on the end. And like you said,
Speaker 1: the original limousine wasn't a car. It was a kind
Speaker 1: of like a little hooded raincoat that protected you. Yeah,
Speaker 1: like little red riding hood wore a limousine. Yeah it was. Yeah,
Speaker 1: a hooded cloak. And it was invented in limousin France,
Speaker 1: and it became synonymous with limousine France because they called
Speaker 1: it a limousine. That's right. Uh. So as people started
Speaker 1: um building coaches that protected the rider the passenger from
Speaker 1: the elements, they're like, wow, that's kind of like a
Speaker 1: hooded cloak in a really weird way, a little bit
Speaker 1: of a stretch. Let's start calling these limousines. Yeah, even
Speaker 1: if it was a horse carriage. Um, the idea that
Speaker 1: you were not driving this carriage and you had a
Speaker 1: nice little comfy seat that's covered in the back, they
Speaker 1: called it a limous scene and very frequently, probably all
Speaker 1: the time is a better way to put it. Um,
Speaker 1: The driver himself wasn't covered, like there was just the
Speaker 1: passengers that were covered. Now you'll get reined on and
Speaker 1: like it exactly if you complain, we'll put you on
Speaker 1: the rack, that's right. Uh. And this continued until the
Speaker 1: they started building regular as I think Jonathan Strickland wrote
Speaker 1: this what he calls horseless carriages very cheekily a k a.
Speaker 1: The automobile. Uh. And they called those limousines. And they
Speaker 1: started like very early on in New York City they
Speaker 1: started someone started a limousine service, I think in the twenties. Yeah,
Speaker 1: is not too bad. Um. And these cars, the first early,
Speaker 1: the earliest limousines were basically built from the ground up.
Speaker 1: Like you, you built a car with the intention of
Speaker 1: building a like a stretch, longer car, a limousine as
Speaker 1: we understand it today. Um. And it might not be
Speaker 1: like a stretch sedan. Some of the early limousines, um
Speaker 1: looked a lot like station wagons or like an old
Speaker 1: model T station wagon, you know what I'm saying. Um.
Speaker 1: But very quickly these companies figured out that it would
Speaker 1: be vastly easier to take an already manufactured car and
Speaker 1: stretch it, basically do a conversion. And that became the
Speaker 1: tradition for a very long time, thinks, starting in the twenties. Yeah.
Speaker 1: And luxury cars obviously from the beginning were the prime
Speaker 1: targets because this is what rich people were used to
Speaker 1: having their fannies sit upon while they were being driven around.
Speaker 1: So Mercedes, Benz and Cadillacs and Fleetwoods and LeBaron's, we're
Speaker 1: all prime candidates. Even the famed Bentley had a limousine.
Speaker 1: The ar Arnage that they made only twenty of Did
Speaker 1: you look at that? It's pretty sweet? Yeah, I gotta admit, Yeah,
Speaker 1: for a non limousine guy, I was like, that's kind
Speaker 1: of nice. That's a very nice car. Uh. You ever
Speaker 1: written in a Bentley for a new reason? I haven't either.
Speaker 1: Now you can get a Chrysler that looks like a Bentley.
Speaker 1: Was that the three hundred, I don't know. I call
Speaker 1: I think it is the three Call him Fentley's for
Speaker 1: some reason. Um. John Varvatos had a three hundred edition edition.
Speaker 1: He's a clothing designer, and in the ad for his
Speaker 1: edition of the Chrysler three hundred, it's him and Iggy Pop.
Speaker 1: Just randomly. Iggy Pop is in the ad with him.
Speaker 1: I guess they were getting wasted together that day that
Speaker 1: he had to film. Did he have a shirt off?
Speaker 1: I probably, I can't remember. Yeah, you don't seem with
Speaker 1: a shirt that much. Uh. He's very proud of his wiry,
Speaker 1: muscular body. I don't blame him. All right, I think
Speaker 1: we've wasted enough time, So let's right after this break
Speaker 1: talk about that limo conversion, because to me, that's about
Speaker 1: the most interesting part of limousines. All Right, we're back,
Speaker 1: and we were talking about limo conversion. Like you said,
Speaker 1: early on they used to build a limo to be
Speaker 1: a limo. Yeah, like just some guy would build a
Speaker 1: car from the ground up and he would build an
Speaker 1: extra long and that's where the early limousines came from. Yeah,
Speaker 1: it was a company called arm Brewster in n Were
Speaker 1: they Arkansas? It was, I think they're American. I don't
Speaker 1: they are American. I don't remember if it's in Arkansas
Speaker 1: or not, but it was actually I found in a
Speaker 1: right up on the company from seven. It says three
Speaker 1: is when they built their first limousine, and that by
Speaker 1: at least six they were doing conversions. Because there's a
Speaker 1: picture of an early stretched Buick that they made, and
Speaker 1: they realized that conversions was where it was at. Right,
Speaker 1: Let's take an existing car, cut it in half and
Speaker 1: stick something in the middle of those two pieces, right,
Speaker 1: because somebody else is going to the trouble of building
Speaker 1: the engine, of designing, like the dynamics of figuring out
Speaker 1: how to put the tires where and all that. Why
Speaker 1: do all that? Like, Yeah, when you can just cut
Speaker 1: a car in half, add more car, and yeah, add
Speaker 1: more car than obam you have a stretched limousine. I
Speaker 1: had no idea they did it this way. No. When
Speaker 1: I read it the first time, I was like, surely
Speaker 1: he just made a he has made a horseless carriage joke.
Speaker 1: I know this must be a joke as well. Now
Speaker 1: that's how a lot of limousines are made. And it's
Speaker 1: funny you bring up the three hundred Chrysler three said,
Speaker 1: the one that looks like a Bentley. Um, because I
Speaker 1: saw um. I guess a test of one of them.
Speaker 1: That was, like, Chrysler builds these three hundred stretch limousines.
Speaker 1: How they do? Yeah, So if you see it Chrysler limousine,
Speaker 1: it was built by Chrysler most likely, which is very
Speaker 1: unique these days. Right, Yes, because for the most part,
Speaker 1: like you're saying, the industry standard is some company will
Speaker 1: get ahold of a Cadillac or a Lincoln town Car
Speaker 1: cut in half like you say, and then add to
Speaker 1: it and there's a stretched limousine. Yeah. The process goes
Speaker 1: a little something like this. Uh. They stripped that sound
Speaker 1: like I was gonna sing it, and they strip all
Speaker 1: the interior out. They protect everything that's in there, obviously. Uh.
Speaker 1: Strickland says, they use fire resistant paper on everything. Yeah, which, okay, sure,
Speaker 1: why not? I guess you don't want it to catch
Speaker 1: on fire. We're doing it. Um, you're going to mount
Speaker 1: it on a set of rails that can be adjusted
Speaker 1: to get your car off the ground. Keep it all
Speaker 1: aligned properly because when you're adding more car you have
Speaker 1: to have it super aligned. And then they cut the
Speaker 1: thing in two pieces. Yeah, and not lengthwise, No, No,
Speaker 1: that'd be weird. I guess you can make it a
Speaker 1: lot wider, but you're you're looking for length, and maybe
Speaker 1: that's the new limousine just wide. Um. Apparently the industry
Speaker 1: agrees that you typically can't go more than double the
Speaker 1: size the original size of the car. Um. Other than
Speaker 1: after that, it's just probably not going to pass any
Speaker 1: safety tests, which we'll talk about a minute. But once
Speaker 1: the car is cut in half, hopefully you remember to
Speaker 1: put the car on these rails that elevate it, and
Speaker 1: that some of the rails are attached to a dolly,
Speaker 1: so you can separate the car to the length you want.
Speaker 1: If not, you have to basically throw it away and
Speaker 1: started over. But so if you you pull one, usually
Speaker 1: the rear back from the front and then you go
Speaker 1: and add um ray basically the extenders that that are
Speaker 1: going to lengthen the car. That's right. Uh, And like
Speaker 1: I said, your car is is temporarily braced to keep
Speaker 1: it from twisting or moving around because you want it
Speaker 1: like to be super exact. Obviously, because if the front
Speaker 1: of your car is a half inch to the right
Speaker 1: from the rear of your car, because it's bad, you're
Speaker 1: in um you then you're gonna add what's called the
Speaker 1: floor plan or floor pan. Sorry, And it's basically the
Speaker 1: floor of the lima, which will later on become carpeted
Speaker 1: and upholstered and everything, but for the time being, it's
Speaker 1: just a piece of metal that is the floor of
Speaker 1: your new addition. Yeah, and that is after you have
Speaker 1: done all the other boring stuff like extending the drive
Speaker 1: line and making sure you have because you know you're
Speaker 1: wiring is not long enough. Nothing is long enough and
Speaker 1: you just have to know because you just cut in half. Yeah,
Speaker 1: like he's a huge gap. You literally just have to
Speaker 1: extend all those parts. Uh, you know, the brake line,
Speaker 1: all that boring stuff. You have to just extend all
Speaker 1: that stuff. Yeah, I excited about the floor pan and
Speaker 1: you stick in your floor pan. And then you well,
Speaker 1: hold on, I want to say something about the floor
Speaker 1: pan and the drive line. So you've extended the power train, right,
Speaker 1: the thing that that big thing that like powers the
Speaker 1: back wheels, that no one knows what it is, right,
Speaker 1: but you've extended that thing. Yeah, you just hear like
Speaker 1: powertrain WARRANTINAM. People are always like, that's like the steering
Speaker 1: and the axles and the thing that that spins around
Speaker 1: and spins your rear axle and all that. That's your
Speaker 1: power train. It's true. So you have to add to
Speaker 1: that because you've just cut through it again. And then
Speaker 1: you add the floor pan, which is the floor of
Speaker 1: the limousine. Um. And do you remember that limousine fire
Speaker 1: from I think last year a couple of years ago
Speaker 1: killed the bride to be on the San Mateo Bridge. Um.
Speaker 1: Apparently they the California Highway Patrol investigated and ruled in
Speaker 1: an accident. But it was because the floor pan of
Speaker 1: the limousine that had been added later was up against
Speaker 1: the drive train and the friction created enough heat and
Speaker 1: spark that apparently there's a crack in the floor pan
Speaker 1: and that heat came up and caught the upholstery on fire,
Speaker 1: and that's where the fire came from, was from this
Speaker 1: modification that had taken place years before. Well, which is
Speaker 1: one reason why uh, Cadillac doesn't want their name on
Speaker 1: that limo, let's say, because it has been modified by
Speaker 1: someone other than Cadillac. Right, but Cadillac's name is still
Speaker 1: on the limo as far as the US government is concerned.
Speaker 1: Once you cut a car in half and extend it,
Speaker 1: you're the new manufacturer. Cadillac says, well, that's great. We've
Speaker 1: got a bunch of yahoo's running around cutting our cars
Speaker 1: in half, making them longer. But if somebody sees it
Speaker 1: on the road, or somebody sees a photo of it
Speaker 1: with the trunk burned out, they see the Cadillac. So
Speaker 1: Cadillac and other companies like Ford have programs to basically
Speaker 1: certify train and go back and um investigate uh the
Speaker 1: people who are doing these conversions. Yeah, because we didn't mention.
Speaker 1: But when you make a car uh substantially longer and heavier,
Speaker 1: you might have to modify the brakes some you might
Speaker 1: have to modify how it turns. You might have to
Speaker 1: reinforce the suspension or the frame itself. Because You can't
Speaker 1: just make a car twelve feet longer and expect it
Speaker 1: to behave the same way right, exactly like the original
Speaker 1: stopping power was for the twelve ft car at the
Speaker 1: four car. So you do have to do some modifications. Yeah,
Speaker 1: but those companies are super smart to have official programs,
Speaker 1: I think, because every car, even if it is UH
Speaker 1: modified later, has to to be roadworthy, has to pass
Speaker 1: the federal Motor Vehicle Safety standards. That's right. Cadillacs program
Speaker 1: is called the Cadillac Master Coach Builder Program. It's pretty awesome. Yeah.
Speaker 1: Ford has something called the Qualified Vehicle Modifier Program, And
Speaker 1: so basically they're saying, hey, if you're going to be
Speaker 1: doing this, and you can really do this, we're going
Speaker 1: to make sure you do it right. That's right, all right.
Speaker 1: So we mentioned that the limo generally speaking, even though
Speaker 1: they've gotten ridiculous these days, shouldn't be more than twice
Speaker 1: as long as it originally was. UH. And since you
Speaker 1: can't get that much longer, what you can do is
Speaker 1: if you want to impress UH people and get their
Speaker 1: business is trick it out on the interior as much
Speaker 1: as possible. Yes, with you name it man and they've
Speaker 1: got it. Yeah, plasma TVs and hot tubs and bars
Speaker 1: and sound systems and like anything you can of. It's
Speaker 1: it's a it's littered with neon and tacky things hit.
Speaker 1: My opinion, tachy's the right word. I think, not for me.
Speaker 1: Did you see um? If you go to the Ripley's
Speaker 1: Believe it or Not Museum in Branson? Have you been there?
Speaker 1: I saw a picture. I want to go to Branson
Speaker 1: some day before Smirnov has his own place. Yeah, I'm going. Sure,
Speaker 1: Humi's gonna take me surprise. That hasn't happened. I'm kind
Speaker 1: of We've been going other places, but um, in Branson
Speaker 1: there's a thirty ft pink Cadillac Stretch limousine that has
Speaker 1: a heart shaped hot tub in the trunk area that
Speaker 1: also has Josh's forty birthday written all over. Ye maybe
Speaker 1: forty birthday present would be the limo itself. I like
Speaker 1: to own it. Yeah. Yeah, just drive around Atlanta, that'd
Speaker 1: be awesome. Drive around anywhere you can drive around Ransom,
Speaker 1: it'd be fine. You've got like a hot tub in
Speaker 1: your car. Uh. I love how Strickland also points out
Speaker 1: I don't know when this was written. Muslims also have
Speaker 1: telephones installed in case all fourteen of your cell phones
Speaker 1: are broken. I made note of that as well. All right,
Speaker 1: there's some other considerations if you want to drive a limo,
Speaker 1: because you can be a private person and drive a
Speaker 1: limo just like hire yourself out or go work for
Speaker 1: some rich person. I thought you meant like the kind
Speaker 1: of person who keeps to himself for herself. No, no, no no,
Speaker 1: I mean you don't have to necessarily work for a
Speaker 1: limousine company. You can just buy your limo and say
Speaker 1: I'm I'm Chuck the limo driver, you know, or I
Speaker 1: want to long as you have the proper hat. That's right,
Speaker 1: You're fine and call yourself betterman. Um Licensing it depends
Speaker 1: on what states you're in. Uh, it depends wildly. Some
Speaker 1: states you can don't need any kind of special license.
Speaker 1: Some states to say, fill out this form, probably give
Speaker 1: us fifty bucks. Some say bring your limo, and although,
Speaker 1: how would you do that if you're not licensed? I
Speaker 1: guess tow truck. Yeah, get your limo here and take
Speaker 1: this test in your limo to make sure you can
Speaker 1: drive that behemoth blindfolded. Blindfolded part of the test, so
Speaker 1: it all depends on what states you live in. Um,
Speaker 1: safety standards are the same for any other car. Like
Speaker 1: we said, yeah, and and the car that you bought
Speaker 1: to convert already before you ever bought it went through
Speaker 1: the the safety tests, but now that you've converted it,
Speaker 1: it has to go through safety tests again. So they
Speaker 1: include things like crash tests. And if you're interested in that,
Speaker 1: there's Limo crash tests on YouTube. Does it show rich
Speaker 1: people inside, like with their drinks flying around? Man? But
Speaker 1: you you, uh, you're you're not down with the one percent,
Speaker 1: are you? No? I just think a crash test dummy
Speaker 1: and an eating gown might look funny. That's a funny
Speaker 1: you say that because one of the ones, Um, I
Speaker 1: guess it's some It is Australian Fifth Gear. Maybe it
Speaker 1: seemed like it was pretty cheeky. They were clearly drunk
Speaker 1: in the on the show. But it was like, um,
Speaker 1: it was a Limo crash test and uh, they put
Speaker 1: their clothes, their evening gown and tucks on crash test dummies.
Speaker 1: So I mean, yeah, you have to look up fifth
Speaker 1: Gear Limo. Um, I guess Limo crash test is what
Speaker 1: would bring it up. And yeah, they're clearly drunk because
Speaker 1: they spend the first like three minutes drinking and then
Speaker 1: mooning people out of the limo. And I'm like, what
Speaker 1: where is this thing from? And I saw as Australian o,
Speaker 1: those wacky ausies. But it's pretty cool crash test because
Speaker 1: they have some great cameras set up in like they
Speaker 1: don't put seatbelts on the on the dummies. Fund Yeah,
Speaker 1: it's pretty neat crash test. I do need to see
Speaker 1: that because that's exactly what I was describing. And there's
Speaker 1: another crash test too, it's way more boring. It's just
Speaker 1: basically a series of still photos, which I guess you
Speaker 1: can make the case like that's what all videos are,
Speaker 1: but sure this is like really slow still photos. And hey, listen,
Speaker 1: I don't want to We always say do what you
Speaker 1: want to do. I'm not gonna poopoo. If you want
Speaker 1: to go out and higher limo and with your friends
Speaker 1: and drive around and get drunk and go to a
Speaker 1: bunch of bars, it's fine, you know, it's just not
Speaker 1: don't expect me to get in the car. Although I
Speaker 1: would say the Wine Country limo is not a bad idea,
Speaker 1: oh sure. Yeah. In fact, I think people in Wine
Speaker 1: Country aren't too happy about them, you know, Oh, because
Speaker 1: it's like a party bus kind of thing. Yeah. Basically like, well,
Speaker 1: hey man, if you like have wine tastings every five feet,
Speaker 1: what do you expect. Everybody there seems very cool because
Speaker 1: you don't want to drink and drive. We went when
Speaker 1: it was it was the off seasons all but everybody
Speaker 1: was a little like more mellow. Yeah, because there weren't
Speaker 1: a bunch of tourists around. Oh yeah, no, but you're right.
Speaker 1: The people that live in Wine Country northern California, they're
Speaker 1: a nicely back a lot. They are fairly laid back.
Speaker 1: I think it is a good way to put because
Speaker 1: they have the best job in the world. Um, we
Speaker 1: have the best job in the world. That's right, if
Speaker 1: we only made wine. Um, gas's got some going in
Speaker 1: the toilet, some pruno. Gas mileage is a big consideration
Speaker 1: because you're not going to get good gas mileage at all,
Speaker 1: and you may as a company or an individual, I
Speaker 1: have to pay an extra gas guzzler tax on each
Speaker 1: vehicle in your fleet. On top of that, it's basically
Speaker 1: like you know how you pay a lot of money
Speaker 1: for gas, Well, now you have to pay even more
Speaker 1: money because your thing uses up so much gas. Although
Speaker 1: Strickland mentions a thirty two ft stretch Hummer limo that
Speaker 1: a guy named Sean Murphy he misspelled his own name
Speaker 1: on the cool Fuel road trip he used. He drove
Speaker 1: Hummer limousine that ran on um a bunch of different
Speaker 1: alternative fuels like biodiesel, methane, ethanol, vegetable oil, sugar. Wow.
Speaker 1: It could also use geothermal, solar and wind energy. And
Speaker 1: he got the limo up to seventy five an hour,
Speaker 1: which sounds illegal to me. Yeah, you should not be
Speaker 1: driving a thirty two ft anything sent I agree. Uh,
Speaker 1: If you are interested in owning your own limousine to
Speaker 1: be your own private little driver, it depends on what
Speaker 1: kinds you get. Of course, you ma can get one
Speaker 1: like a Lincoln Stretch for thirty to forty grand, or
Speaker 1: you may pay three thousand if you want that super
Speaker 1: stretch Hummer with the hot tub. I have the impression
Speaker 1: that that the thirty grand Lincoln stretched like the hub
Speaker 1: caps come off when you take corners and stuff like that. Yeah,
Speaker 1: and I also bet that the one of twenty Bentley's
Speaker 1: yeah go for way more than three k each. Do
Speaker 1: you ever see someone driving around in an old limo
Speaker 1: it's clear it's just their car. Then it's like a nine.
Speaker 1: It's pretty sweet. It is sweet, but at the same time,
Speaker 1: it's like, that's a really poor choice, especially if like
Speaker 1: you're you're on a tight budget, right live in the
Speaker 1: city with tight streets. How much money do you spend
Speaker 1: on gas? Yeah, that's true? Should shout to him out
Speaker 1: the window? Should we talk about presidential limousines a little bit?
Speaker 1: Because I think those are kind of interesting. Um. They
Speaker 1: call it the Secret seven and this great uh was
Speaker 1: it popular mechanics article? Um in ninety nine and the
Speaker 1: Sunshine Special. And up until this point, I think standard
Speaker 1: automobiles had been used to drive presidents around and shuttle them.
Speaker 1: But in nine this is we need something for the
Speaker 1: secret Service. And we have a president uh in a
Speaker 1: wheelchair that his name is Roosevelt, and he has certain
Speaker 1: considerations right, plus at least one attempt has been made
Speaker 1: on his life already, so we might want to think
Speaker 1: about adding a little more security to these cars. And
Speaker 1: that's exactly what they did. It was armored. The body
Speaker 1: was armored. Was built by UH Coach Builders in Buffalo,
Speaker 1: New York had oversize hinged doors, I guess to account
Speaker 1: for that enormous wheelchair that they had back then, and UM,
Speaker 1: lots of armor plating and even bulletproof glass UM, which
Speaker 1: is kind of impressive. It looks like al Capone's car
Speaker 1: if you ask me, it's pretty sweet. Uh. Then there's
Speaker 1: the Lincoln Cosmopolitan. This was awesome. It was a Truman
Speaker 1: Presidential Um limousine UM and it was basically for every
Speaker 1: with every new limousine that came along, UM, there were
Speaker 1: new innovations. It became heavier and more armor plated and
Speaker 1: just safer. And this one came with a bubble top
Speaker 1: UM because it was a convertible. But Truman realized that
Speaker 1: like if he had the top up when it was
Speaker 1: super safe, no one could see him. So he had
Speaker 1: the bubble top installed, kind of like the Popemobile. Yeah,
Speaker 1: that's what I was gonna say. Is that what it's like?
Speaker 1: I think? All right? Um, And that one UM was
Speaker 1: retired to the Henry Ford Museum, as was the Sunshine
Speaker 1: Special in Dearborn, Michigan. So if you've ever been there,
Speaker 1: you've probably seen a few of these on display. Kennedy's
Speaker 1: famous car that he was in in November nineteen when
Speaker 1: he was assassinated. Was a nineteen sixty one Lincoln Continental convertible. Obviously,
Speaker 1: but it was still safe. Um. Not with the top
Speaker 1: down obviously, but they had certain safety features built in. Um.
Speaker 1: They had a rear seat that was well, this wasn't
Speaker 1: a safety feature, but that had a rear seat that
Speaker 1: could be raised and lowered to give people a better view.
Speaker 1: They had a metal hoop behind the driver, behind the
Speaker 1: driver's seat so when the president's standing up they can
Speaker 1: hold onto something. But it was armored after his assassination
Speaker 1: with a permanent bulletproof hardtop and then aft in the fleet,
Speaker 1: which really surprised me. Yeah. I would have thought they
Speaker 1: would have completely retired that car or just given it
Speaker 1: to a museum or destroyed it or something. But yeah,
Speaker 1: leaving in the fleet. That's Penny pension. Yeah, and that
Speaker 1: is in the Henry Ford Museum now as well. Oh
Speaker 1: bet the Lincoln Continental that President Ford and Reagan, the
Speaker 1: same car that they were both shuttled into after assassination attempts. Famously,
Speaker 1: this this this is the limousine that reminds me of
Speaker 1: like Old Times Square in New York, like where like
Speaker 1: basket Case was set, you know like this. I never
Speaker 1: saw that. It's worth seeing at least once just to
Speaker 1: say you saw a basket case Old City Times Square. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I got ad just a taste of that when I
Speaker 1: first started going to New York in the in the nineties.
Speaker 1: There were there were still some peep shows and stuff around,
Speaker 1: and it was just starting to be like Disney Fight.
Speaker 1: As it said, I missed it entirely. He did miss much,
Speaker 1: but man alive. You can go to Red Lobster there. Now.
Speaker 1: I know. It's funny how people pine like remember when
Speaker 1: it was crappy and those crime and drugs. I mean,
Speaker 1: I can understand being like, yes, this corporate stuff is
Speaker 1: just dumb or whatever, but people are very nostalgic for
Speaker 1: for old crappy Time Square. Yeah. Uh. The nine eight
Speaker 1: three Cadillac Fleetwood was used in the early nineteen eighties,
Speaker 1: and that one one of those, there was a pair
Speaker 1: of him was used in the movie In the Line
Speaker 1: of Fire with Clint Eastwood. Yeah, pretty neat. Remember he
Speaker 1: played the the guy who didn't get to Kennedy in
Speaker 1: time when he was assassinated. It haunted him. Oh was
Speaker 1: that his backstory? Yeah? And John Malkovitch was like a
Speaker 1: total weirdo. Sure he was right, who used a wooden gun?
Speaker 1: I don't remember a lot about that movie for some reason.
Speaker 1: It's a lot of detail, Josh. Then there's the Bush era. Yeah,
Speaker 1: Cadillac Deville, which is I mean I associate that with
Speaker 1: Bush down I'm looking at it. Yeah, it was a
Speaker 1: g m oh, I'm sorry. It was a Cadillac Devil,
Speaker 1: of course. But it was built on the frame of
Speaker 1: a GM SUV. Supposedly smart. Yeah. Um, five inch thick
Speaker 1: armor doors, bulletproof glass so thick it blocks out parts
Speaker 1: of the light spectrum apparently, so everything looks blue maybe
Speaker 1: from the inside, and you go insane. Uh. And it
Speaker 1: was rumored to feature a what they called the self
Speaker 1: contained passenger compartment with its own secure air supply. So
Speaker 1: I guess, just like a chamber to hide someone in
Speaker 1: inside there. Crazy. And then lastly, check the most recent one.
Speaker 1: Um came out in two thousand nine, and it's a
Speaker 1: Cadillac too. Um. And it came out I guess just
Speaker 1: in time for Obama's inauguration. Yeah. And this one they
Speaker 1: started to be a lot more secretive about um, like
Speaker 1: how they're made. Yeah, exactly, Um, but they have pretty
Speaker 1: speculation that you know, it's armor plated underneath all around. Um,
Speaker 1: they think it's diesel powered, but they don't know for sure.
Speaker 1: And uh, good luck, Like this thing is like a
Speaker 1: tank on wheels. Good luck penetrating that Cadillac. Yes, you know.
Speaker 1: So there's one other thing I want to point out
Speaker 1: if you are into limos, especially extreme limos. There's another
Speaker 1: popular mechanics um article called stretched out ten extreme limos
Speaker 1: that you sent like Lamborghinis and stuff. Yeah, Lamborghini's monster
Speaker 1: trucks and I looked it up. Apparently there's a lot
Speaker 1: of monster chuck limos. Yeah. I also found online DeLorean limo.
Speaker 1: Oh wow, yeah, I'd like to see that. Yeah, it's
Speaker 1: worth looking at. Um there's a semi limo. Yeah. That
Speaker 1: one is basically like a large apartment on wheels, like
Speaker 1: you can have a party for fifty people. There's multiple bars.
Speaker 1: Did you see inside It looks like an Applebe's on wheels.
Speaker 1: Is it a fern bar? Yeah. There's a lot of like, um,
Speaker 1: polished brass railings and like the carpeting and the poulster.
Speaker 1: It looks like an apple Bee's. It's very strange. Well,
Speaker 1: you can't account for good taste. It looks pretty sweet though. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I'm sure that anybody who there's through like three three
Speaker 1: different lounges in there, wow. Three. And then a Mexican
Speaker 1: company converted us I think a seven forty seven O
Speaker 1: seven into um a limo. It took the wings off.
Speaker 1: There are TV shows out there that you can view
Speaker 1: all these things, uh extreme everything. Oh, I'm sure. I'm
Speaker 1: sure there's also TV shows about the people who repo
Speaker 1: them to. So if you want to know more about limos,
Speaker 1: you can start by typing that word in the search
Speaker 1: bart how stuff works dot com. And since I said that,
Speaker 1: it's time for a listener, male, I'm gonna call this
Speaker 1: funny homeless story, if there is such a thing. Uh
Speaker 1: this um April has been working in New York City,
Speaker 1: but I gather that she is in Atlanta and she's
Speaker 1: just there for work for a period of time. You're
Speaker 1: Josh and Chuck, I missed the Old Times Square. She
Speaker 1: she did say that, now I'm kidding. Um. She talks
Speaker 1: about how she listens to us on the train there
Speaker 1: in her community, New York City, and she feels really
Speaker 1: bad for homeless people, but especially when she sees a
Speaker 1: homeless person with a dog. Um, She says, after passing
Speaker 1: several homeless people in New York people dog combos this weekend,
Speaker 1: my grand plan is to stop at a pet store,
Speaker 1: get some dog food and treats, and have cash available
Speaker 1: for the next homeless pair so I could help out
Speaker 1: and hopefully you have a conversation with him to make
Speaker 1: them feel human for a little bit. This is April,
Speaker 1: You're awesome, by the way, UM, I bought my supplies,
Speaker 1: and two blocks from the store, I see a homeless
Speaker 1: man with a husky, and I think perfect. One of
Speaker 1: my dogs is a husky, so I'm partial to them.
Speaker 1: After having a five minute conversation with Michael petting his dog,
Speaker 1: giving him dog food and some money for a nice meal,
Speaker 1: I get ready to leave, and as I'm about to
Speaker 1: walk away, he said, thanks for the dog food, but
Speaker 1: it's not my dog. I'm just watching it for someone
Speaker 1: in the building. Awkward, I ultimately asked if the dog
Speaker 1: had a home and food. He said yes, so I
Speaker 1: asked if I could take the dog food back so
Speaker 1: I could give it to a dog in need. He agreed,
Speaker 1: and hopefully he was able to get a nice meal
Speaker 1: himself and appreciated my conversation and didn't think I was
Speaker 1: too crazy, and then went on to walk thirty blocks
Speaker 1: to my hotel with a relatively heavy bag of dog
Speaker 1: food without seeing another almost bet good thing because it
Speaker 1: didn't have any more cash with the person and it
Speaker 1: probably would have been weird to give a person dog
Speaker 1: food but nothing to help him or her. Um Me
Speaker 1: and my bag of food will be walking around various
Speaker 1: New York City neighborhoods this weekend, though, because now it
Speaker 1: is my mission to help someone out. It's been a
Speaker 1: good little reminder for me to be thankful for what
Speaker 1: to have, especially as we approach winter up here. And
Speaker 1: that is from April Cummings. That's very nice of your April.
Speaker 1: Very cool. I hope you find a homeless dog in
Speaker 1: person that you can help out. If you want to
Speaker 1: share a story about you how you're making the world
Speaker 1: a better place, we want to hear about it. You
Speaker 1: can tweet it to us at s y SK podcast.
Speaker 1: You can join us on Facebook dot com slash stuff
Speaker 1: you Should Know. You can send us an email to
Speaker 1: Stuff Podcast at how Stuff Works dot com, and as always,
Speaker 1: join us at our home on the web Stuff you
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