In the early 1700’s someone had the idea that rich people should have a carriages pulled by the finest horses, that were ruled by another person, called chaffeur. This method of transportation was a symbol of the status the people in it has.
The first version of the limousine (the word comes from French) or limo appeared in 1902.The car was a streced version of an Sedan of that times, but the difference is that the driver was in fact outside the car, in front of the passengers, covered only by a piece of fabric. The idea was that the rich people, his passengers, could stay in a private compartiment, and not in the same one with the driver.
But Armbruster was the first company from the United States of America that produced limos , in the 1930’s. In those years limos were more then ever a symbol of status. At first they were used by hotels to carry it’s guests from the airport or train station and to the airport and train station. They were also used to carry people all around the country. The music orchestras also own at least one limo. Soon, movie producers started to buy limos for their movie stars, to carry them from a studio to another. It wasn’t long that these stars also wanted a limo for their own, because, of course, you are not a big star or not famous enough if you don’t have your own limousine. So the manufactureres had a lot to gain from the movie industry.
In 1962 the big company Armbruster-Stageway Coachbuilders was formed. Twelve years after that the first six doors limo was created. This kind of limo was at first designed to funeral purposes, due to the solemnity of the moment and because, of course, the coffin wouldn’t fit very well in a smaller car. Cadillac was the producer of the chassis for this car. But other people used this cars too, because all rich men wanted at least one. The countries presidents started to use the limos too, even the United States of America president had one .
From that one many others cars roducers started to produce limo, because the concept was rather easy: just stretch the sedan version. Of course they wanted to give to their customers a litlle more then that, because their customers were rich , so they put also a mini bar in it, air conditioner etc. Nowadays limos are used at many important celebrations, like weddings, but also by rich people that want just to party in a club and be carried around by a limo.