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How Limousines Work · Stuff You Should Know

0:01
Speaker 1: Welcome to you stuff you should know from house Stuff
0:04
Speaker 1: Works dot com. Hey, and welcome to the podcast. I'm
0:12
Speaker 1: Josh Clark with Charles W. Chuck Bright and Jerome Jerry
0:18
Speaker 1: Did we say your last name the day? We've never
0:20
Speaker 1: said it? Okay, She's like, keep it that way, Jerome
0:24
Speaker 1: Jerry Blank, Jerry Blank. That's a real person, right. No.
0:30
Speaker 1: She was on Strangers with TV. Yeah yeah, okay. I
0:33
Speaker 1: was like, man, I know that name. Yeah, the name right? Yeah. Yeah.
0:37
Speaker 1: She really cleaned herself up and went on to become
0:39
Speaker 1: a spokesperson for Downe. Amy Saiderius Jerry Blank, Oh yeah,
0:44
Speaker 1: they're one and the same. Yeah, I love Amy, Saidaris.
0:47
Speaker 1: I like the Siderus is some people, don't, aren't they fighting? Oh?
0:52
Speaker 1: Amy and David like a lot, David and everybody else.
0:56
Speaker 1: I think he wrote like some New Yorker article about
0:59
Speaker 1: his stid sister. There's sister who I think I can't
1:03
Speaker 1: remember what happened, but she wrote like a memoir about her,
1:07
Speaker 1: and I think the New Yorker. They got mad and
1:09
Speaker 1: the rest of his family like called him out on
1:11
Speaker 1: like the inconsistencies and errors and and facts, and maybe
1:15
Speaker 1: they were tired of it because all he's done is
1:17
Speaker 1: right about his family. Yeah. I guess they're like, that's it, David. Yeah,
1:20
Speaker 1: no more, we're done, cut us in or we're gonna
1:24
Speaker 1: cause big trouble for you. I was about to do
1:29
Speaker 1: my David Sadaris and then I realized, like, I don't
1:32
Speaker 1: do it, David Sadarison. I could, but yeah, I'm not
1:35
Speaker 1: gonna go there. So limos. Yeah, at least some of
1:39
Speaker 1: the saidarus Is ride around in limousines. I bet they have, uh,
1:43
Speaker 1: and I can guarantee they have because Chuck, It turns
1:47
Speaker 1: out the definition of a limousine is way broader you
1:51
Speaker 1: would think, Yeah, it's It doesn't necessarily mean some super
1:54
Speaker 1: stretch No, but it can sure. Basically, a limousine technically
2:01
Speaker 1: is any car with a roomier back seat than the
2:04
Speaker 1: average car. And if you throw in a driver, you
2:08
Speaker 1: you there's nobody who's gonna say that's not a limo.
2:11
Speaker 1: You can be like, yes it is, yea and be right. Yeah.
2:14
Speaker 1: Like technically, if you want to get a hire a
2:17
Speaker 1: town car to take you to the airport, technically that's
2:20
Speaker 1: a limousine. Yeah, you know the car services in New York,
2:24
Speaker 1: those are limos. That's right to have me in Atlanta too?
2:27
Speaker 1: Do they have a car service here in Atlanta? Are
2:29
Speaker 1: you kidding me? All I see are just the worst?
2:33
Speaker 1: Oh yes, yeah, yeah yeah, because there's a special tag. Yeah.
2:36
Speaker 1: Did you know that Atlanta taxi drivers are the worst
2:39
Speaker 1: taxi drivers on the planet? Um? Have you noticed from
2:42
Speaker 1: experience that it's pretty bad? But I just uber it
2:44
Speaker 1: now that's different. Yeah, that's different than the taxis. Oh no,
2:49
Speaker 1: that's what I'm saying. That's why I uber it because
2:51
Speaker 1: they're different than the taxis. Yeah. Seriously, anybody who comes
2:56
Speaker 1: to Atlanta, if you make it out of Hartsfield, look
2:59
Speaker 1: around at the town next season, how they drive, your
3:01
Speaker 1: mind will be scrambled. It's crazy. I think cabbies are
3:05
Speaker 1: kind of like that everywhere with no no, like very
3:07
Speaker 1: frequently they are the best drivers in the entire city.
3:10
Speaker 1: They know where they're going. They don't just meander, they
3:13
Speaker 1: don't like drift into lanes, they don't drive super slow.
3:16
Speaker 1: I've had the opposite experience most most cabs that I've
3:20
Speaker 1: been in, the driver was pretty great. Usually when I'm
3:23
Speaker 1: in a cab in New York City, I wonder, is
3:26
Speaker 1: this the ride where we hit somebody? Or some other car. Yes,
3:30
Speaker 1: but you don't. And they're going really fast. In Atlanta,
3:34
Speaker 1: they drive ten miles an hour and hit everything. They
3:37
Speaker 1: just sideswipe everything. Slow and lousy, come to it, Lanter.
3:43
Speaker 1: So anyway, we're talking limousines, man, let's get back on track. Yeah,
3:47
Speaker 1: I should say to I hate limousines. Like I love
3:51
Speaker 1: a good town car ride to or from an airport,
3:54
Speaker 1: but as far as a stretch limousine, I just hate
3:57
Speaker 1: that whole thing, just a little kind of hey, look
4:00
Speaker 1: at me. Oh, it's just dumb. It's longer, and it's
4:04
Speaker 1: got a bar. It's just I don't know. I think
4:06
Speaker 1: the whole thing is stupid and like just part of
4:09
Speaker 1: that whole narcissistic culture that I despise. You know, I've
4:15
Speaker 1: got money, so I wanted to be in a longer
4:17
Speaker 1: car with a TV in it. Well for a very
4:21
Speaker 1: long time. If you wanted a TV in your car
4:23
Speaker 1: or a phone, yeah, your car better be double the
4:26
Speaker 1: size of the normal version of it. All right. I
4:28
Speaker 1: just had to get on my soapbox. Like if it's
4:30
Speaker 1: for prom and you're all going in, like I get
4:32
Speaker 1: like a fun thing like that, but or a fur bus,
4:35
Speaker 1: the fur bus for your niece's birthday, Like we did
4:39
Speaker 1: that was fun? What you never done that? No? I
4:43
Speaker 1: thought you were saying we rented it for my niece's birthday. No,
4:46
Speaker 1: my niece's birthday. You weren't a part of it is
4:48
Speaker 1: my family, and I wasn't invited. Scott invited me. This
4:52
Speaker 1: is before I knew you, my friend. Um. Anyway, I
4:55
Speaker 1: can see the fun of it occasionally, but just as
4:58
Speaker 1: a means of transportation, I think it's pretty not just
5:00
Speaker 1: got especially those huge, huge like hammer stretches. I just
5:05
Speaker 1: wanted like to de materialize those with my eyes. I
5:09
Speaker 1: wish I could shoot a laser beam and d me
5:13
Speaker 1: and expose the people within just all all of a
5:16
Speaker 1: sudden they're on the street with their bourbon and coke
5:19
Speaker 1: on what happened to my super stretched summer. I wonder
5:21
Speaker 1: how you'd have to do that, so like your your
5:23
Speaker 1: laser be my eyes would have to just just fiberglass,
5:29
Speaker 1: like destroy fiberglass and steel and upholstery and rubber. Yeah,
5:34
Speaker 1: there you go. So uh. I think, as we've stayed in,
5:37
Speaker 1: a limousine doesn't necessarily have to be what you hate.
5:40
Speaker 1: It can also be just a car that's driven by
5:43
Speaker 1: somebody where you got a roomy back seat for the
5:45
Speaker 1: passenger and I speak trunk. But even before that, even
5:49
Speaker 1: if you want to say, wow, it's a broad definition
5:51
Speaker 1: the limousine. Man, let's go even further back and include
5:55
Speaker 1: clothing as a limousine in the definition of limousines. That's right,
6:00
Speaker 1: because I learned, as I imagine you did, the word
6:03
Speaker 1: limousine comes from a town in France called Limousine. Limousine.
6:09
Speaker 1: We'd like to introduce our new principal Skinner. Principal see
6:13
Speaker 1: war Skinner. That's that is one of the all time greats. Um. Yes,
6:18
Speaker 1: it was limousine without the E on the end. And
6:22
Speaker 1: like you said, the original limousine wasn't a car. It
6:25
Speaker 1: was a kind of like a little hooded raincoat that
6:28
Speaker 1: protected you. Yeah, like little red riding hood wore a limousine. Yeah.
6:32
Speaker 1: It was, yeah, a hooded cloak. And it was invented
6:35
Speaker 1: in limousin France, and it became synonymous with limousine France
6:39
Speaker 1: because they called it a limousine. That's right. Uh. So
6:43
Speaker 1: as people started um building coaches that protected the uh,
6:50
Speaker 1: the rider, the passenger from the elements, They're like, wow,
6:54
Speaker 1: that's kind of like a hooded cloak in a really
6:56
Speaker 1: weird way, a little bit of a stretch. Let's start
6:59
Speaker 1: calling these limousines. Yeah, even if it was a horse carriage. Um,
7:04
Speaker 1: the idea that you were not driving this carriage and
7:06
Speaker 1: you had a nice little comfy seat that's covered in
7:09
Speaker 1: the back, they called it a limous scene. And very frequently,
7:13
Speaker 1: probably all the time is a better way to put it. Um,
7:16
Speaker 1: The driver himself wasn't covered, like there was just the
7:20
Speaker 1: passengers that were covered. Now you'll get rained on and
7:22
Speaker 1: like it exactly. If you complain, we'll put you on
7:26
Speaker 1: the rack, that's right. And this continued until the they
7:32
Speaker 1: started building regular as I think Jonathan Strickland wrote this
7:36
Speaker 1: what he calls horseless carriages very cheekily a k a.
7:40
Speaker 1: The automobile. Uh. And they called those limousines. And they
7:43
Speaker 1: started like very early on in New York City they
7:46
Speaker 1: started someone started a limousine service, I think in the twenties. Yeah,
7:51
Speaker 1: not too bad. Um. And these cars, the first early,
7:55
Speaker 1: the earliest limousines were basically built from the ground up,
8:00
Speaker 1: like you you built a car with the intention of
8:04
Speaker 1: building a like a stretch, longer car, a limousine as
8:09
Speaker 1: we understand it today. Um. And it might not be
8:13
Speaker 1: like a stretch sedan. Some of the early limousines um
8:17
Speaker 1: looked a lot like station wagons or like an old
8:20
Speaker 1: model T station wagon, you know what I'm saying. Um.
8:24
Speaker 1: But very quickly these companies figured out that it would
8:27
Speaker 1: be vastly easier to take an already manufactured car and
8:31
Speaker 1: stretch it, basically do conversion, and that became the tradition
8:35
Speaker 1: for a very long time, thinks, starting in the twenties. Yeah,
8:39
Speaker 1: and luxury cars obviously from the beginning where the prime targets,
8:42
Speaker 1: because this is what rich people were used to having
8:45
Speaker 1: their fannies sit upon while they were being driven around.
8:48
Speaker 1: So Mercedes, Benz and Cadillacs and Fleetwoods and le Baron's,
8:53
Speaker 1: we're all prime candidates. Even the famed Bentley had a
8:58
Speaker 1: limousine the ore Nag that they made only twenty of.
9:01
Speaker 1: Did you look at that? It's pretty sweet? Yeah, I
9:05
Speaker 1: gotta admit, yeah, Vernon limousine guy, I was like, that's
9:09
Speaker 1: kind of nice. That's a very nice car. Uh. You
9:11
Speaker 1: ever written in a Bentley for any reason? I haven't either.
9:15
Speaker 1: Now you can get a Chrysler that looks like a Bentley.
9:18
Speaker 1: Was that the three hundred? I don't know I called
9:21
Speaker 1: I think it is the three Call him Fentley's for
9:24
Speaker 1: some reason. Um, John Varvatos had a three hundred edition?
9:29
Speaker 1: Was that edition? He's a clothing designer, And in the
9:31
Speaker 1: ad for his edition of the Chrysler three hundred, it's
9:35
Speaker 1: him and Iggy Pop. Just randomly. Iggy Pop is in
9:39
Speaker 1: the ad with him. I guess they were getting wasted
9:41
Speaker 1: together that day that he had to film. Did he
9:43
Speaker 1: have a shirt off? I probably, I can't remember. Yeah,
9:46
Speaker 1: you don't seem with a shirt that much. Uh. He's
9:50
Speaker 1: very proud of his wiry, muscular body. I don't blame him.
9:54
Speaker 1: All right, I think we've wasted enough time, So let's
9:57
Speaker 1: right after this break talk about that limo conversion because
10:00
Speaker 1: to me, that's about the most interesting part of limousines.
10:12
Speaker 1: All Right, we're back and we were talking about limo conversion.
10:15
Speaker 1: Like you said, early on, they used to build a
10:17
Speaker 1: limo to be a limo. Yeah, like just some guy
10:20
Speaker 1: would build a car from the ground up and he
10:23
Speaker 1: would build an extra long and that's where the early
10:25
Speaker 1: limousines came from. Yeah. It was a company called arm
10:28
Speaker 1: Brewster in ninety eight where they Arkansas. It was I
10:33
Speaker 1: think they're American. I don't they are American. I don't
10:35
Speaker 1: remember if it's in Arkansas or not, but it was.
10:37
Speaker 1: Actually I found in a right up on the company
10:40
Speaker 1: from seven. It says three is when they built their
10:45
Speaker 1: first limousine, and that by at least ninety six they
10:49
Speaker 1: were doing conversions. Because there's a picture of an early
10:52
Speaker 1: stretched buick that they made, and they realized that conversions
10:56
Speaker 1: was where it was at. Right, Let's like an existing car,
11:00
Speaker 1: cut it in half and stick something in the middle
11:02
Speaker 1: of those two pieces, right, because somebody else is going
11:05
Speaker 1: to the trouble of building, the engine of designing, like
11:08
Speaker 1: the dynamics of figuring out how to put the tires
11:11
Speaker 1: where and all that. Why do all that? Like, yeah,
11:13
Speaker 1: when you can just cut a car in half and yeah,
11:17
Speaker 1: add more car and then bam you have a stretched limousine.
11:20
Speaker 1: I had no idea they did it this way. No.
11:22
Speaker 1: When I read it the first time, I was like,
11:24
Speaker 1: surely he just made a he's made a horseless carriage joke.
11:27
Speaker 1: I know this mus to be a joke as well.
11:28
Speaker 1: Now that's how a lot of limousines are made. And
11:31
Speaker 1: it's funny you bring up the three hundred Chrysler three D, said,
11:35
Speaker 1: the one that looks like a Bentley. Um, because I
11:38
Speaker 1: saw um, I guess a test of one of them
11:42
Speaker 1: that was, like, Chrysler builds these three hundred stretch limousines. Yeah,
11:47
Speaker 1: so if you see it Chrysler three M limousine, it
11:50
Speaker 1: was built by Chrysler most likely, which is very unique
11:53
Speaker 1: these days. Right, Yes, because for the most part, like
11:55
Speaker 1: you're saying, the industry standard is some company will get
11:59
Speaker 1: a hold of a Cadillac or a Lincoln town car
12:03
Speaker 1: cut in half like you say, and then add to
12:06
Speaker 1: it and there's a stretched limousine. Yeah. The process goes
12:09
Speaker 1: a little something like this. Uh. They stripped that sound
12:12
Speaker 1: like I was gonna sing it, and they strip all
12:17
Speaker 1: the interior out. They protect everything that's in there obviously. Uh.
12:21
Speaker 1: Strickland says, the use fire resistant paper on everything, which okay, sure,
12:27
Speaker 1: why not? I guess you don't want it to catch
12:28
Speaker 1: the fireway you're doing it. Um, you're going to mount
12:32
Speaker 1: it on a set of rails that can be adjusted
12:35
Speaker 1: to get your car off the ground. Keep it all
12:38
Speaker 1: aligned properly, because when you're adding more car. You have
12:41
Speaker 1: to have it super aligned, and then they cut the
12:44
Speaker 1: thing in two pieces. Yeah, and not lengthwise, No, No,
12:48
Speaker 1: that'd be weird. I guess you can make it a
12:50
Speaker 1: lot wider, but you're you're looking for length and maybe
12:53
Speaker 1: that's the new limousine just like UM. Apparently the industry
12:58
Speaker 1: agrees that you typically can't go more than double the
13:02
Speaker 1: size the original size of the car UM. Other than
13:06
Speaker 1: after that, it's just probably not going to pass any
13:09
Speaker 1: safety tests, which we'll talk about a minute. But once
13:11
Speaker 1: the car is cut in half, hopefully you remember to
13:14
Speaker 1: put the car on these rails that elevate it, and
13:18
Speaker 1: that some of the rails are attached to a dolly
13:21
Speaker 1: so you can separate the car to the length you want.
13:24
Speaker 1: If not, you have to basically throw it away and start.
13:28
Speaker 1: But so if you you pull one, usually the rear
13:31
Speaker 1: back from the front, and then you go and add
13:35
Speaker 1: UM rails basically the extenders that that are going to
13:40
Speaker 1: lengthen the car. That's right. Uh, And like I said,
13:43
Speaker 1: your car is is temporarily braced to keep it from
13:47
Speaker 1: twisting or moving around because you want it like to
13:50
Speaker 1: be super exact. Obviously, because if the front of your
13:53
Speaker 1: car is a half inch to the right from the
13:55
Speaker 1: rear of your car. That's bad. Um. You then you're
13:59
Speaker 1: gonna ad what's called the floor plan or floor pan. Sorry,
14:03
Speaker 1: and it's basically the floor of the limo, which will
14:06
Speaker 1: later on become carpeted and upholstered and everything, but for
14:09
Speaker 1: the time being, it's just a piece of metal that
14:12
Speaker 1: is the floor of your new edition. Yeah, and that
14:15
Speaker 1: is after you have done all the other boring stuff
14:18
Speaker 1: like extending the drive line, making sure you have because
14:21
Speaker 1: you know your wiring is not long enough. Nothing is
14:24
Speaker 1: long enough, and you just have to know because you've
14:26
Speaker 1: just cut in half. Yeah, like he's a huge gap.
14:28
Speaker 1: You literally just have to extend all those parts. Uh,
14:32
Speaker 1: you know, the brake line, all that boring stuff. You
14:34
Speaker 1: have to just extend all that stuff. Yeah. I got
14:36
Speaker 1: excited about the floor pan and you stick in your
14:39
Speaker 1: floor pan and then you well, hold on, I want
14:41
Speaker 1: to say something about the floor pan and the drive line.
14:43
Speaker 1: So you've extended the power train, right, the thing that
14:46
Speaker 1: that big thing that like powers the back wheels that
14:49
Speaker 1: no one knows what it is. Yeah, but you've extended
14:53
Speaker 1: that thing. Yeah, you just hear like powertrain warrantinam people
14:55
Speaker 1: are always liked, that's like the steering and the axles
14:59
Speaker 1: and the the thing that that spins around and spins
15:02
Speaker 1: your rear accle and all that. That's your power train.
15:05
Speaker 1: It's true. So you have to add to that because
15:07
Speaker 1: you've just cut through it again. And then you add
15:10
Speaker 1: the floor pan, which is the floor of the limousine. Um.
15:14
Speaker 1: And do you remember that limousine fire from I think
15:17
Speaker 1: last year, a couple of years ago, which killed the
15:20
Speaker 1: bride to be on the San Mateo Bridge. Um. Apparently,
15:25
Speaker 1: they the California Highway Patrol investigated and ruled in an accident,
15:29
Speaker 1: but it was because the floor pan of the limousine
15:33
Speaker 1: that had been added later was up against the drive
15:36
Speaker 1: train and the friction created enough heat and spark that
15:40
Speaker 1: apparently there's a crack in the floor pan and that
15:43
Speaker 1: heat came up and caught the upholstery on fire. And
15:45
Speaker 1: that's where the fire came from, was from this modification
15:49
Speaker 1: that had taken place years before. Well, which is one
15:51
Speaker 1: reason why, uh, Cadillac doesn't want their name on that limo,
15:58
Speaker 1: let's say, because it has been modified by someone other
16:02
Speaker 1: than Cadillac. Right, But Cadillac's name is still on the
16:05
Speaker 1: limo as far as the US government is concerned. Once
16:09
Speaker 1: you cut a car in half and extend it, you're
16:12
Speaker 1: the new manufacturer. Cadillac says, well, that's great. We've got
16:17
Speaker 1: a bunch of yahoo's running around cutting our cars in
16:19
Speaker 1: half making them longer. But if somebody sees it on
16:22
Speaker 1: the road, or somebody sees a photo of it with
16:24
Speaker 1: the trunk burned out, they see the Cadillac. So Cadillac
16:28
Speaker 1: and other companies like four it have programs to basically
16:31
Speaker 1: certify train and go back and um investigate uh, the
16:37
Speaker 1: people who are doing these conversions. Yeah, because we didn't mention.
16:41
Speaker 1: But when you make a car uh substantially longer and heavier,
16:45
Speaker 1: you might have to modify the brakes some You might
16:47
Speaker 1: have to modify how it turns. You might have to
16:51
Speaker 1: reinforce the suspension or the frame itself, because you can't
16:55
Speaker 1: just make a car twelve feet longer and expect it
16:58
Speaker 1: to behave the same way right exactly like the original
17:01
Speaker 1: stopping power was for the twelve ft car at the
17:06
Speaker 1: car So you do have to do some modifications. Yeah,
17:09
Speaker 1: but those companies are super smart to have official programs.
17:12
Speaker 1: I think because every car, even if it is UH
17:15
Speaker 1: modified later, has to to be roadworthy, has to pass
17:18
Speaker 1: the federal motor Vehicle safety standards. That's right. Cadillacs program
17:23
Speaker 1: is called the Cadillac Master Coach Builder Program. It's pretty awesome.
17:28
Speaker 1: Ford has something called the Qualified Vehicle Modifier Program. And
17:32
Speaker 1: so basically they're saying, hey, if you're gonna be doing this,
17:35
Speaker 1: and you can legally do this, we're gonna make sure
17:37
Speaker 1: you do it right. That's right. Um, I guess what
17:41
Speaker 1: time it is time to getting her lima. Not yet,
17:44
Speaker 1: it's time for a message preak all right. So we
17:50
Speaker 1: mentioned that the limo generally speaking, even though they've gotten
17:54
Speaker 1: ridiculous these days, UH, shouldn't be more than twice as
17:57
Speaker 1: long as it originally was. UH. And since you can't
18:01
Speaker 1: get that much longer, what you can do is, if
18:04
Speaker 1: you want to impress UH people and get their business
18:08
Speaker 1: is trick it out on the interior as much as possible.
18:12
Speaker 1: Yes with you name it, man, and they've got it. Yeah.
18:16
Speaker 1: Plasma TVs and hot tubs and bars and sound systems
18:22
Speaker 1: and like anything you can think of. It's it's a
18:26
Speaker 1: it's littered with neon and tacky things. In my opinion,
18:30
Speaker 1: tachis the right word. I think, Yeah, not for me.
18:33
Speaker 1: Did you see um if you go to the Ripley's
18:36
Speaker 1: Believe it or Not Museum in Branson? Have you been there?
18:41
Speaker 1: I want to go to Branson some day before SnO
18:44
Speaker 1: has his own place. Yeah, I'm going. Sure, Humi's gonna
18:49
Speaker 1: take me surprise. That hasn't happened. I'm kind of We've
18:53
Speaker 1: been going other places, but um, in Branson there's a
18:57
Speaker 1: thirty ft pink Cadillac Stretch limousine that has a heart
19:04
Speaker 1: shaped hot tub in the trunk area that also has
19:08
Speaker 1: Josh's forty birthday written. A birthday present would be the
19:16
Speaker 1: limo itself. I like to own it. Yeah yeah, just
19:21
Speaker 1: drive around Atlanta, that'd be awesome. Drive around anywhere you
19:24
Speaker 1: can drive around Branson, it'd be fine. You've got like
19:26
Speaker 1: a hot tub in your car. Uh. I love how
19:29
Speaker 1: Strickland also points out, I don't know when this was written.
19:31
Speaker 1: Muslims also have telephones installed in case all fourteen of
19:36
Speaker 1: your cell phones are broken. I made note of that
19:39
Speaker 1: as well. All right, there's some other considerations if you
19:42
Speaker 1: want to drive a limo, because you can be a
19:45
Speaker 1: private person and drive a limo, just like hire yourself
19:49
Speaker 1: out or go work for some rich person. I thought
19:51
Speaker 1: you meant like the kind of person who keeps to
19:54
Speaker 1: himself for herself. No, no, no, I mean you don't
19:56
Speaker 1: have to necessarily work for a limousine company. You can
19:59
Speaker 1: just buy your limo and say I'm I'm Chuck the
20:02
Speaker 1: limo driver, you know, or I want to long as
20:05
Speaker 1: you have the proper hat, that's right, You're fine and
20:08
Speaker 1: call yourself betterment. UM licensing, it depends on what states
20:13
Speaker 1: you're in. Uh, it depends wildly. Some states you can
20:17
Speaker 1: don't need any kind of special license. Some states just
20:19
Speaker 1: say fill out this form, probably give us fifty bucks.
20:23
Speaker 1: Some say bring your limo and although, how would you
20:27
Speaker 1: do that if you're not licensed, I guess tow truck. Yeah,
20:31
Speaker 1: get your limo here and take this test in your
20:33
Speaker 1: limo to make sure you can drive that behemoth blindfolded.
20:36
Speaker 1: Blindfolded part of the test. So it all depends on
20:39
Speaker 1: what states you live in. UM safety standards are the
20:42
Speaker 1: same for any other car. Like we said, yeah, and
20:45
Speaker 1: and the car that you bought to convert already before
20:48
Speaker 1: you ever bought it went through the the safety tests.
20:52
Speaker 1: But now that you've converted it, it has to go
20:54
Speaker 1: through safety tests again, so they include things like crash tests.
20:59
Speaker 1: And if you're interested in that, there's Limo crash tests
21:02
Speaker 1: on YouTube. Does it show rich people inside like with
21:06
Speaker 1: their drinks flying around? Man? But you you uh, you're
21:12
Speaker 1: you're not down with the one percent, are you? No?
21:15
Speaker 1: I just think a crash test dummy and an evening
21:18
Speaker 1: gown might look funny. That's a funny you say that
21:21
Speaker 1: because one of the ones, Um, I guess it's some
21:24
Speaker 1: Is it Australian Fifth Gear? Maybe it seemed like it
21:28
Speaker 1: was pretty cheeky. They were clearly drunk in the on
21:32
Speaker 1: the show, but it was like, um, it was a
21:34
Speaker 1: Limo crash test and uh they put their clothes their
21:39
Speaker 1: evening gown and talks on crash test dummies. So I mean, yeah,
21:44
Speaker 1: you have to look up Fifth Gear Limo. Um, I
21:49
Speaker 1: guess Limo crash test is what would bring it up.
21:51
Speaker 1: And yeah, they're clearly drunk because they spend the first
21:54
Speaker 1: like three minutes drinking and then mooning people out of
21:58
Speaker 1: the limo. And I'm like, what where is this thing from?
22:02
Speaker 1: And I saw it was Australia oh, those wacky Aussies.
22:05
Speaker 1: But it's pretty cool crash test because they have some
22:07
Speaker 1: great cameras set up in like they don't put seatbelts
22:10
Speaker 1: on the on the dummies, they're just flying around. Yeah,
22:13
Speaker 1: it's pretty neat crash test. I do need to see
22:15
Speaker 1: that because that's exactly what I was describing. And there's
22:17
Speaker 1: another crash test too, it's way more boring. It's just
22:21
Speaker 1: basically a series of still photos, which I guess you
22:25
Speaker 1: can make the case like that's what all videos are.
22:27
Speaker 1: But sure, this is like really slow still photos. And hey, listen,
22:33
Speaker 1: I don't want to We always say do what you
22:35
Speaker 1: want to do. I'm not gonna poopoo. If you want
22:36
Speaker 1: to go out and hire a limo and with your
22:38
Speaker 1: friends and drive around, get drunk and go to a
22:40
Speaker 1: bunch of bars, it's fine, you know, it's just not
22:44
Speaker 1: don't expect me to get in the car. Although I
22:47
Speaker 1: would say the Wine Country limo is not a bad idea,
22:52
Speaker 1: oh sure. Yeah. In fact, I think people in Wine
22:55
Speaker 1: Country aren't too happy about them, you know, oh, because
22:59
Speaker 1: it's like party bus kind of thing. Yeah. Basically, well,
23:02
Speaker 1: hey man, if you like have wine tastings every five
23:05
Speaker 1: ft what do you expect. Everybody there seems very cool
23:09
Speaker 1: because you don't want to drink and drive. We went
23:12
Speaker 1: when it was it was the off season, so I'll
23:15
Speaker 1: butt everybody was a little like more mellow because there
23:19
Speaker 1: weren't a bunch of tourists around. Oh yeah, no, but
23:21
Speaker 1: you're right. The people that live in wine country northern California,
23:24
Speaker 1: they're a nice laid back a lot they are fairly
23:26
Speaker 1: laid back. I think it's a good way to put it.
23:28
Speaker 1: You have the best job in the world. Um, we
23:31
Speaker 1: have the best job in the world. That's right. If
23:33
Speaker 1: we only made wine. Um gas got something going in
23:38
Speaker 1: the toilet some pruno. Gas mileage is a big consideration
23:42
Speaker 1: because you're not going to get good gas mileage at all,
23:44
Speaker 1: and you may as a company or an individual, I
23:47
Speaker 1: have to pay an extra gas guzzler tax on each
23:51
Speaker 1: vehicle in your fleet. On top of that, it's basically
23:53
Speaker 1: like you know how you pay a lot of money
23:56
Speaker 1: for gas, Well, now you have to pay even more
23:58
Speaker 1: money because your thing uses up so much gas. Although
24:01
Speaker 1: strictly mentions a m thirty two ft stretch Hummer Limo
24:06
Speaker 1: that a guy named Sean Murphy, he misspelled his own name.
24:11
Speaker 1: On the cool Fuel road trip he used, he drove
24:16
Speaker 1: hummer limousine that ran on um a bunch of different
24:19
Speaker 1: alternative fuels like biodiesel, methane, ethanol, vegetable oil, sugar. It
24:25
Speaker 1: could also use geothermal, solar and wind energy. And he
24:29
Speaker 1: got the limo up to seventy five, which sounds illegal
24:32
Speaker 1: to me. Yeah, he's just not be driving a thirty
24:35
Speaker 1: two ft anything. Agree. Uh. If you are interested in
24:40
Speaker 1: owning your own limousine to be your own private little driver,
24:44
Speaker 1: it depends on what kind of you get. Of course,
24:47
Speaker 1: you ma can get one like a Lincoln Stretch for
24:50
Speaker 1: thirty to forty grand, or you may pay three thousand
24:53
Speaker 1: if you want that super stretched hummer with a hot tub.
24:55
Speaker 1: I have the impression that that the thirty grand Lincoln Stretched,
24:59
Speaker 1: like the hub caps come off when you take corners
25:01
Speaker 1: and stuff like that. Yeah, and I also bet that
25:05
Speaker 1: the one of twenty Bentley's yeah, go for way more
25:09
Speaker 1: than three k each. Do you ever see someone driving
25:12
Speaker 1: around in an old limo. It's clear it's just their car.
25:16
Speaker 1: It's like a nine. That's pretty sweet. It is sweet,
25:20
Speaker 1: but at the same time, it's like that's a really
25:22
Speaker 1: poor choice, especially if like you're you're on a tight budget,
25:26
Speaker 1: right with streets? How much money do you spend on gas? Yeah,
25:32
Speaker 1: you know that's true. Should I shout to him out
25:35
Speaker 1: the window? Should we talk about presidential limousines a little bit,
25:40
Speaker 1: because I think those are kind of interesting. Um. They
25:43
Speaker 1: call it the Secret seven and this great uh was
25:47
Speaker 1: it popular mechanics article um in nine the Sunshine Special,
25:52
Speaker 1: And up until this point, I think standard automobiles had
25:56
Speaker 1: been used to drive presidents around and shuttle them. At nine,
26:01
Speaker 1: this is we need something for the Secret Service. And
26:04
Speaker 1: we have a president uh in a wheelchair that his
26:07
Speaker 1: name is Roosevelt, and he has certain considerations right, plus
26:10
Speaker 1: at least one attempt has been made on his life already,
26:13
Speaker 1: so we might want to think about adding a little
26:15
Speaker 1: more security to these cars. And that's exactly what they did.
26:18
Speaker 1: It was armored. The body was armored, was built by
26:22
Speaker 1: uh coach builders in Buffalo, New York. Had oversize hinged doors,
26:27
Speaker 1: I guess to account for that enormous wheelchair that they
26:30
Speaker 1: had back then, and um, lots of armor plating and
26:34
Speaker 1: even bulletproof glass, um, which is kind of impressive. It
26:40
Speaker 1: looks like al Capone's car. If you ask me, it's
26:42
Speaker 1: pretty sweet. Uh. Then there's the Lincoln Cosmopolitan. Yeah, but
26:48
Speaker 1: this is awesome. It was a Truman Presidential Um limousine, UM,
26:54
Speaker 1: and it was basically for every with every new limousine
26:58
Speaker 1: that came along, UM, there were new innovations that became
27:03
Speaker 1: heavier and more armor plated and just safer. And this
27:07
Speaker 1: one came with a bubble top UM because it was
27:11
Speaker 1: a convertible. But Truman realized that like if he had
27:15
Speaker 1: the top up when it was super safe, no one
27:19
Speaker 1: could see him. So he had the bubble top instilled,
27:21
Speaker 1: kind of like the Pokemobile. Yeah, that's what I was
27:23
Speaker 1: gonna say. Is that what it's like? I think? So
27:25
Speaker 1: all right? Um? And that one UM was retired to
27:30
Speaker 1: the Henry Ford Museum, as was the Sunshine Special in Dearborn, Michigan.
27:35
Speaker 1: So if you've ever been there, you've probably seen a
27:37
Speaker 1: few of these on display. Kennedy's famous car that he
27:43
Speaker 1: was in in November twenty, nineteen sixty when he was
27:47
Speaker 1: assassinated was a nineteen sixty one Lincoln Continental convertible obviously,
27:53
Speaker 1: but it was still safe. Um, not with the top
27:56
Speaker 1: down obviously, but they had certain safety features built in. Um.
28:01
Speaker 1: They had a rear seat that was well this was
28:03
Speaker 1: in a safety feature, but that had a rear seat
28:05
Speaker 1: that could be raised and lowered to give people a
28:08
Speaker 1: better view. They had a metal hoop behind the driver,
28:12
Speaker 1: behind the driver's seat so when the president's standing up
28:15
Speaker 1: they can hold onto something. But it was armored after
28:20
Speaker 1: his assassination with a permanent bulletproof hardtop, and then left
28:25
Speaker 1: in the fleet, which really surprised me. I would have
28:28
Speaker 1: thought they would have completely retired that car or just
28:31
Speaker 1: giving it to a museum or destroyed it or something.
28:34
Speaker 1: But yeah, leaving in the fleet. That's Penny pension. Yeah,
28:38
Speaker 1: and that is in the Henry Ford Museum now as well.
28:43
Speaker 1: The Lincoln Continental that President Ford and Reagan, the same
28:47
Speaker 1: car that they were both shuttled into after assassination attempts famously.
28:53
Speaker 1: This this, this is the limousine that reminds me of
28:55
Speaker 1: like Old Times Square in New York, like where like
29:00
Speaker 1: get case was set, you know like this. I never
29:02
Speaker 1: saw that. It's worth seeing at least once just to
29:06
Speaker 1: say you saw a basket case Old City Times Square. Yeah,
29:10
Speaker 1: I got ad just to taste of that. When I
29:12
Speaker 1: first started going to New York and the in the
29:16
Speaker 1: nineties there were there were still some peep shows and
29:19
Speaker 1: stuff around, and it was just starting to be like
29:22
Speaker 1: Disney five. As I said, I missed it entirely. I
29:25
Speaker 1: did miss much. But man alive. You can go to
29:29
Speaker 1: Red Lobster there now. I know. It's funny how people
29:32
Speaker 1: pine like remember when it was crappy and those crime
29:34
Speaker 1: and drugs. I mean, I can understand being like, yes,
29:39
Speaker 1: this corporate stuff is just dumb or whatever, but people
29:43
Speaker 1: are very nostalgic for for old crappy times. Square Yeah. Uh.
29:49
Speaker 1: The nineteen eight three Cadillac Fleetwood was used in the
29:52
Speaker 1: early nineteen eighties, and that one one of those, there
29:56
Speaker 1: was a pair of them, was used in the movie
29:57
Speaker 1: In the Line of Fire with Clint Eastwood. Yeah, pretty neat.
30:00
Speaker 1: Remember he played the the guy who didn't get to
30:04
Speaker 1: Kennedy in time when he was assassinated, haunted him. Oh
30:07
Speaker 1: was that his backstory? Yeah? And John Malkovitch was like
30:10
Speaker 1: a total weirdo. He was, right, who used a wooden gun.
30:15
Speaker 1: I don't remember a lot about that movie for some reason.
30:17
Speaker 1: It's a lot of detail, Josh. Then there's the Bush era. Yeah,
30:22
Speaker 1: Cadillac Deville, which is I mean, I associate that with
30:27
Speaker 1: Bush down I'm looking at it. Yeah, it was a
30:29
Speaker 1: g m oh, I'm sorry. It was a Cadillac Devil,
30:32
Speaker 1: of course. But it was built on the frame of
30:34
Speaker 1: a GM SUV. Supposedly smart. Yeah. Um, five inch thick
30:39
Speaker 1: armor doors, bulletproof glass so thick it blocks out parts
30:43
Speaker 1: of the light spectrum apparently, so everything looks blue and
30:48
Speaker 1: maybe from the inside and you go insane. Uh. And
30:52
Speaker 1: it was rumored to feature a what they called a
30:55
Speaker 1: self contained passenger compartment with its own secure air supply.
30:59
Speaker 1: So I guess just like a chamber to hide someone
31:01
Speaker 1: in inside there. Crazy. And then lastly, check the most
31:05
Speaker 1: recent one. Um came out in two thousand nine, and
31:08
Speaker 1: it's a Cadillac too. Um. And it came out I
31:13
Speaker 1: guess just in time for Obama's inauguration. Yeah, and this
31:16
Speaker 1: one they started to be a lot more secretive about, um,
31:20
Speaker 1: like how they're made. Yeah, exactly makes sense, Um, but
31:24
Speaker 1: they have pretty good speculation that you know, it's armor
31:27
Speaker 1: plated underneath all around. Um, they think it's diesel powered,
31:32
Speaker 1: but they don't know for sure. And uh, good luck.
31:36
Speaker 1: Like this thing is like a tank on wheels. Good
31:38
Speaker 1: luck penetrating that Cadillac. You know. So there's one other
31:45
Speaker 1: thing I want to point out if you are into limos,
31:48
Speaker 1: especially extreme limos. There's another popular mechanics UM article called
31:53
Speaker 1: stretched out Tin extreme limos that you sent like Lamborghinis
31:57
Speaker 1: and stuff. Yeah, Lamborghini's monster truck and I looked it up.
32:00
Speaker 1: Apparently there's a lot of monster Chuck limos also found online.
32:04
Speaker 1: DeLorean limo. Oh wow, yeah, I'd like to see that. Yeah,
32:09
Speaker 1: it's worth looking at um. There's a semi limo. Yeah.
32:13
Speaker 1: That one is basically like a large apartment on wheels,
32:17
Speaker 1: like you can have a party for fifty people. There's
32:20
Speaker 1: multiple bars. Did you see inside It looks like an
32:23
Speaker 1: apple Bee's on wheels. Is a fern bar. Yeah, there's
32:26
Speaker 1: a lot of like um polished brass railings and like
32:29
Speaker 1: the carpeting and the poulster. It looks like an apple Bee's.
32:33
Speaker 1: It's very strange. Well, you can't account for good taste.
32:35
Speaker 1: It looks pretty sweet though, I'm sure that anybody who
32:39
Speaker 1: there's through like three three different lounges in there. Three
32:43
Speaker 1: and then a Mexican company converted us I think a
32:47
Speaker 1: seven forty seven O seven twenty seven into um a
32:52
Speaker 1: Limo took the wings off. There are TV shows out
32:55
Speaker 1: there that you can view all these things, uh stream
33:00
Speaker 1: everything you Oh, I'm sure. I'm sure. There's also TV
33:03
Speaker 1: shows about the people who repo them. Yeah to right.
33:07
Speaker 1: So if you want to know more about lema As,
33:09
Speaker 1: you can start by typing that word in the search
33:11
Speaker 1: far how stuff works dot com. And since I said
33:13
Speaker 1: that it's time for a listener mail, I'm gonna call
33:18
Speaker 1: this funny homeless story, if there is such a thing.
33:22
Speaker 1: Uh this um April has been working in New York City,
33:25
Speaker 1: but I gather that she is in Atlanta and she's
33:28
Speaker 1: just there for work for a period of time. Dear
33:31
Speaker 1: Josh and Chuck, I missed the Old Times Square. She's
33:35
Speaker 1: she did say that, No, I'm kidding. Um. She talks
33:39
Speaker 1: about how she listens to us on the train there
33:41
Speaker 1: in our commune, New York City, and she feels really
33:43
Speaker 1: bad for homeless people, but especially when she sees a
33:46
Speaker 1: homeless person with a dog. Um. She says, after passing
33:51
Speaker 1: several homeless people in New York people dog combos this weekend,
33:55
Speaker 1: my grand plan is to stop at a pet store
33:58
Speaker 1: get some dog food and treats and have cash available
34:01
Speaker 1: for the next homeless pair so I could help out
34:03
Speaker 1: and hopefully you have a conversation with him to make
34:05
Speaker 1: them feel human for a little bit. This is April.
34:08
Speaker 1: You're awesome, by the way. Um. I bought my supplies,
34:13
Speaker 1: and two blocks from the store, I see a homeless
34:15
Speaker 1: man with a husky, and I think perfect. One of
34:17
Speaker 1: my dogs is a husky, so I'm partial to them.
34:20
Speaker 1: After having a five minute conversation with Michael petting his dog,
34:23
Speaker 1: giving him dog food and some money for a nice meal,
34:26
Speaker 1: I get ready to leave, and as I'm about to
34:28
Speaker 1: walk away, he said, thanks for the dog food, but
34:30
Speaker 1: it's not my dog. I'm just watching it for someone
34:32
Speaker 1: in the building. Awkward. I ultimately asked if the dog
34:37
Speaker 1: had a home and food. He said yes, so I
34:39
Speaker 1: asked if I could take the dog food back so
34:41
Speaker 1: I could give it to a dog in need. Uh.
34:43
Speaker 1: He agreed and hopefully he was able to get a
34:45
Speaker 1: nice meal himself and appreciated my conversation and didn't think
34:49
Speaker 1: I was too crazy. I then went on to walk
34:51
Speaker 1: thirty blocks to my hotel with a relatively heavy bag
34:55
Speaker 1: of dog food without seeing another homeless pet. Good thing
34:58
Speaker 1: because it didn't have any more ash with a person,
35:01
Speaker 1: and it probably would have been weird to give a
35:03
Speaker 1: person dog food but nothing to help him or her.
35:06
Speaker 1: Um Me and my bag of food will be walking
35:08
Speaker 1: around various New York City neighborhoods this weekend though, because
35:11
Speaker 1: now it is my mission to help someone out. It's
35:14
Speaker 1: been a good little reminder for me to be thankful
35:15
Speaker 1: for what I have, especially as we approach winter up here.
35:19
Speaker 1: And that is from April Cummings. That's very nice of
35:22
Speaker 1: your April, very cool. I hope you find a homeless
35:25
Speaker 1: dog in person that you can help out. Yeah, if
35:28
Speaker 1: you want to share a story about you how you're
35:30
Speaker 1: making the world a better place, we want to hear
35:32
Speaker 1: about it. You can tweet it to us at s
35:35
Speaker 1: y s K podcast. You can join us on Facebook
35:38
Speaker 1: dot com slash stuff you Should Know. You can send
35:40
Speaker 1: us an email to Stuff Podcast at how stuff Works
35:43
Speaker 1: dot com, and as always, joined us at our home
35:45
Speaker 1: on the web, Stuff you Should Know dot com. For
35:53
Speaker 1: more on this and thousands of other topics, visit how
35:55
Speaker 1: stuff Works dot com.