For the Big Event, It's This Town's Car

A little advice for would-be machers, pooh-bahs and plutocrats coming to town for the inauguration: If you want to make the proper impression, Thurston, ditch the limo. Go for the Town Car.

A limo says you're trying too hard. It says prom night. Unless you're riding with guys with earpieces or you're so famous you go by one name, the limo says more-money-than-brains. And, what, you've never heard the term "limousine liberal"?

The Town Car, on the other hand, suggests a kind of upper-crust restraint, a dignified and solemn display of bankroll. It's stolid, solid and black (or very dark blue), and it has what car people like to call "design continuity," which is a nice way of saying the Lincoln Town Car hasn't changed much since Ronald Reagan's first inauguration. Plus, it's got a driver in a dark suit, which adds just the right touch of class, or maybe just class consciousness, to your ride.

In any event, Barack Obama's inauguration figures to be a Town Car-a-palooza. Local "black car" companies (that's the industry term for car-for-hire firms) report that bookings are coming in from all their usual suspects -- TV networks, law firms, trade associations -- as well as from random out-of-towners who desire to sit in gridlock in professionally driven comfort. Plus, outside of charter buses and taxis, there may not be too many other motorized ways to get into and around the city, given the Secret Service's draconian restrictions on personal vehicles. (Taxis and limousines are permitted under the regulations.)

"You come to Washington, you want a driver who knows his way around, who will be there for you with a reliable car, a clean car," says Nasir Baluch of Star Limousine in Alexandria. Baluch's company is renting the smooth-riding, gas-guzzling (16 mpg, city), V-8-powered Town Car for $90 a hour -- with a 30-hour minimum during Inaugural Week. That's $2,700 (not including tip), with no guarantee that your driver will be able to get you within schlepping distance of the Mall or inaugural balls on lockdown day.

The Town Car is the most-booked black car for a simple reason: There aren't many alternatives. While some companies offer Cadillac sedans, and fewer still go with Lexus and Mercedes, the Town Car is dominant in most for-hire fleets. Mark Schirmer, a spokesman for Ford Motor Co.'s Lincoln Mercury division, which makes the Town Car, says the model accounts for the "vast majority" of the black-car market. (The modified Town Car hearse is also one of the most popular vehicles in the funeral industry.)

As a compromise between a taxi and a limo, the Town Car projects power but not intrusiveness. In movies and TV shows, it's always the car that hauls the protagonist and his lawyer to the big courtroom scene (car pulls up, door swings open, reporters crowd around bedazzled occupant . . . ). It carries four passengers, but you hardly ever see more than two. In official DMV parlance, Town Cars are often classified as "livery vehicles," a phrase redolent of horses and rosewood-inlaid carriages.

The Town Car isn't really a flashy piece of Detroit metal (actually, it's made in Canada), but that's kind of the point. People who hire Town Cars tend to be business executives, not rock stars or rappers. They want a prestige ride, sure, but not one that draws stares. A business executive or lawyer, Baluch says, "doesn't want to go around in a fancy car that [suggests] he's charging his client too much."

The Town Car's popularity as a fleet vehicle owes to its longevity and durability, as well as its size, comfort and price, says Martin Romjue, the editor of Limousine & Chauffeured Transportation, a trade magazine.

Longevity: Ford's Lincoln division started making a Town Car edition of its land-yacht Continental in the 1950s, though the first official Lincoln Town Car didn't hit the market until 1981. Durability: The Town Car holds up in tough city driving (fleet owner Habib Khan of Regal Limousine in Sterling has 300,000 miles on one of his) and has been around so long that replacement parts are abundant. Comfort: Plenty of trunk and legroom in this beast (if not, the slightly stretchy L series model provides an extra six inches).

The Town Car's biggest appeal, however, may be its price. The 2009 model lists for $45,815, but that's for suckers who pay retail. Romjue says fleet companies get volume discounts that can knock the car's price down to around $35,000 to $40,000 per vehicle, at which point it undercuts the Caddies, Lexi and Mercedeses.

Alas, the Town Car's days may be numbered.