Stretch and grow cars

Limo Bob has been turning out his CEO version of the H2 Hummer since 2003

UNITED STATES - Limo Bob knows a thing or two about outsized cars. From his workshop in Palos Hills outside Chicago he has been producing some of the most ostentatious vehicles of modern times.

Bob is perhaps best known for his record-breaking stretch limousine - a 73m articulated road monster originally called the Sheik but renamed the Patriot after September 11.

Although he has made cars for some of the most famous people in the world - Eminem commissioned him to modify a Ford Excursion Diplomat - he knows exactly where the market is now for travelling in his gargantuan chariots of excess.

"It doesn't matter who the official king or queen of the high-school prom is nowadays," said the former nightclub doorman, real name Robert Strausser, a man who never ventures into the streets of his hometown without his bulletproof vest or 15kg of gold and diamond jewellery.

"The real king and queen will be the ones who turn up in the biggest limo. These kids will happily drop a couple of thousand dollars to turn up in the most exciting car."

The demand among teenagers is perhaps the major driving force behind the astonishing expansion in the limousine rental market in the United States and Britain.

Five years ago Britain had just a handful of operators. Today, it is estimated there are as many as 11,000. It is the latest and most strident manifestation of modern bling culture. It is also enough to make carbon-thrifty greenies weep petroleum tears.

The limousine has travelled a long journey from its origins at the birth of the car industry at the beginning of the last century. Sleek, long and, for the first 50 years at least, the limousine was always black.

It took its name, it is said, from the French region of Limousin, where the traditional hood worn by locals was said to resemble the shape of the first luxury motors. Before the advent of celebrity culture, the vehicles were the preserve of politicians and leading businessmen.

Typical was President Calvin Coolidge's 1924 Lincoln Limousine. Central to the appeal was the secure cocoon of the passengers as they travelled inside a separate compartment from their driver. The early years were dominated by Cadillac and Lincoln.

By the 1930s the newly emergent breed of Hollywood stars were clambering on board. Tinseltown's most famous women were among them. Joan Crawford drove a '33 Cadillac, with huge whitewall tyres. Jean Harlow - the original "blonde bombshell" - liked to cruise the Hollywood Hills in hers.

Following the interruption of the war years, in the 1950s the limousine dramatically changed gear and a whole raft of potential owners arrived with the birth of rock and roll.

The limousine has always been rock stars' transportation of choice, insulating them from the admiring crowds while allowing them to continue indulging their bad habits en route to the gig, as well as helping them whisk away selected groupies.

Perhaps the most famous limousine story belongs to Keith Moon, the wild-man drummer of the Who. It took place in 1967 during the band's first tour of the United States, while supporting Herman's Hermits.

The occasion was Moon's birthday, the scene was the Holiday Inn in the blue collar Michigan city of Flint. After celebrating all day, the debauched scenes culminated in a huge cake fight around the hotel swimming pool. The police were called. Moon, now stark naked, sought to escape in the band's hired limousine.

Finding he had no keys, he dropped the handbrake and rolled backwards into the pool, narrowly escaping with his life. Moon was arrested, ordered to pay $24,000 in compensation and told never to darken Flint's doorstep again.

In the 1970s, the limousine truly came of age. In an era when everything was getting bigger - from bell bottoms to hairstyles - the stretch limo was invented. Modifiers would take a luxury car, typically that ultimate symbol of safe respectability the Lincoln Town Car, and insert an extra 3m of chassis.

And in would go the "toys" - the TVs, the cocktail cabinets, the music centres, the mirrored ceilings. With the invention of each new technological gizmo the limo would be updated, and it would continue to grow.

White cars became the height of fashion, the inserts lengthened, reaching up to 5m and the add-ons became ever-more extreme, culminating in the ultimate in-car accessory, the hot tub. The number of axles doubled and then trebled.

By the 1990s, Limo Bob was on his third fortune after being cheated and burned out of his first two fleets. He was to lose his third in a bitter court battle. But his hunger to succeed was not to be diminished. "This industry is so exciting, I love building cars and making them real nice. You dream it, we'll build it," he said.

In the latter part of the decade the sports utility vehicle (SUV) emerged. Already outsized, Limo Bob thought he could make them even larger. Ford came up with the Expedition, then there was the Lincoln Navigator and then the Cadillac Excursion hit the market. All got the cut-and-shut treatment.

Since 2003, Limo Bob has been turning out his CEO version of the H2 Hummer, a former military vehicle. With the addition of bullet-proof glass, it is particularly favoured by rap stars. One, built for a British operator, even has its own on-board casino.

Of course not all chose such monsters. The truly super-rich seem to prefer the 250,000 ($609,458) Maybach 62 with its first-class airline seats that fold down into a full-size bed. Madonna drives one, as does the Premiership footballer and Arsenal captain, Thierry Henry, and Formula One's tycoon, Bernie Ecclestone.

Nowadays there are few marques that don't receive a stretch. Audi, Bentley, BMW, Jaguar Lexus, Porsche, Ferrari and even Rolls-Royce have all undergone treatment at the hands of the custom coach builders.

Britain held its first Limousine Show this year at Sandown Park racecourse. And who was brought in to show the assembled petrol heads the way forward? Limo Bob, of course.

- INDEPENDENT