Limo, Sculpture & Big Ben in London - With something as stylish and opulent as a limousine, it is no surprise that limos originated in France. Many hundreds of years ago, shepherds in Limousin, France, developed a hooded over garment to protect themselves from the rain and cold which they called a 'limousine'. In the 1900s when carriages were first emerging, a similar motivation lead to a cover being developed to create covered travelling compartments. There was also a Parisian coach builder from Limousin who may have been responsible for the word limousine applying to covered coaches, which were of course always chauffeur driven. James P Carey was one of the first to take advantage of the demand for chauffeur driven luxury cars. In New York in 1921, Carey realised that visitors to this ever bustling city wanted to travel in more style than a taxi cab offered and so used the early Packards and Cadillacs to launch his multi-million dollar limousine empire still in operation today. Another New Yorker, David Klein, was determined to make stretch limousines available and operating in every city. After a taxi strike in 1970 where he 'chauffeured' stranded commuters across the city, Klein also seized the opportunity to offer an alternative to cabs. Moving up from selling Volkswagen's and running a valet parking concession, Klein used this experience to form a partnership with a high school friend and launched his business. (Source: http://www.limobroker.co.uk/articles/limousine-information/limo-history/limo-history-423.htm)
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