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| Korry Keeker / Juneau Empire |
 Inside look: The interior of the 10-passenger 1997 Lincoln Town Car has a 120-inch stretch. The bar is often stocked with drinks, water and fresh ice, but most passengers choose to bring their own beverages, owner Jeff Wright said. |
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During a national television programming break at some point in the late 1980s, one jet-black Rolls Royce pulled up alongside another. The two vehicles rolled down their windows, and an English gentleman made history with eight simple words:
"Pardon me, would you have any Grey Poupon?"
The phrase sold a zillion jars of Dijon mustard, and inadvertently, it also helped to humanize the occupation of the chauffeur. Long characterized as stoic and standoffish, the guy in the front in the suit and the hat was suddenly in on the joke.
And that fits Juneau chauffeurs Jeff Wright and John "Bonecrusher" Gray to a T. When you're a limousine driver in a community with a finite amount of road, you need a sense of humor.
"We actually bought some Grey Poupon so we could do that at a stoplight," Wright said. They did it twice one day last month, once at the Salmon Creek intersection and again at the corner of Egan Drive and 10th Street.
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| Korry Keeker / Juneau Empire |
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Yes, Juneau has limousines. Where there's road, even just a little bit, people will want to rent out luxury cars. Juneau Limousine Services, owned by Wright for the last year, has four.
Ray Thibodeau started Juneau Limousine Services in 1983. Tony Woodrow ran it for 16 years until last summer, when he moved closer to family in Missouri.
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| Korry Keeker / Juneau Empire |
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Wright had never ridden in a limousine before he bought the business. But he had spent virtually his entire professional life driving commercial trucks. After finessing 52-foot trucks, a 28-foot limousine was nothing.
"I've been a driver all my life, so this just felt natural," Wright said. "I've always wanted to open my own business, and with our daughter grown up, I had more free time."
Juneau Limousine Services is the lone commercial operation in all of Juneau. Woodrow faced five different limousine competitors in the time he owned the business. Four lasted one season, and the fifth was gone after two.
"Without (Woodrow's) established clienteles, I'd have to close my doors," Wright said. "There are a lot of expenses, very high insurance, a lot of permits, gasoline."
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The fleet
• Six-passenger 1995 Lincoln Town Car, black, 68-inch stretch, 24 feet long, 20 to 22 miles per gallon.
• 10-passenger 1997 Lincoln Town Car, white, 120-inch stretch, 28 ½-feet long, 17 mpg.
• 15-passenger 2004 Chevrolet Express van, 10 mpg or less.
• 2003 Lincoln Town Car sedan, silver, 22 to 23 mpg.
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Wright inherited a black, six-passenger 1995 Lincoln Town Car; a white, 10-passenger 1997 Lincoln Town Car; and a 2003 Lincoln Town Car sedan. He rounded out the fleet with a 15-passenger Chevrolet Express van this year. It's not a limousine, but it comes in handy for large groups.
All four vehicles have personalized license plates: JLIMO1, JLIMO2, and so on. The two long limousines also have DVD players, televisions (only local channels), and most importantly, bars.
"People usually like to bring their own drinks," Wright said.
Woodrow, the old owner, once considered buying a bulletproof limousine to usher celebrities around town.
"He thought it would be cool," Wright said. "The problem is they're too heavy, and they're a lot more expensive."
Each car logs about 10,000 to 12,000 miles a year - 80 percent of that during the cruise ship season. During the summer, Wright works 16 hours a day, seven days a week, often on stand-by. On July 4, he got a call at 2 a.m., and another at 7.
"It's a big variety: weddings, anniversaries, businesses," Wright said. "Some people want to go out and have a good night. A lot of families will get together off the cruise ships and do a tour for a couple of hours."
Wright has hired four part-time drivers and one other full-time employee: Gray, a Juneau resident and a nursing student at Cedarville University in Ohio.
Gray was working for Era Helicopters last summer, hanging out and waiting for a customer, when Wright came by with a few passengers. They started talking, and soon, Gray offered to join the crew this summer. All he needed was a chauffeur's permit.
"I was hesitant at first, but suddenly I'm an expert," Gray said.
"I'd driven a short truck once, 25 feet long give or take" he said. "This didn't feel unusual. It took a little while to get used to pulling out further to make your turns, but that's about it. You have decent visibility. You learn to use your mirrors more than you had before."
The black limousine has a 68-inch stretch and measures about 24 feet. You can take it pretty much anywhere except steep driveways and the drive-through at the Mendenhall Valley McDonald's.
A few days ago, Gray picked up a passenger from the steep top of Gold Street, near its intersection with Basin Road, and had enough room to reverse on Basin before heading back down the hill.
The white limousine, with a 120-inch stretch, measures 28 ½ feet. It has a longer wheel base, and thus, it's more prone to bottom out on hills. But curves, such as the Douglas roundabout, are no problem.
"We won't take it up at the ramp at the Prospector (Hotel)," Wright said.
For the most part, the drivers say, Juneau pedestrians don't rubberneck to see who's riding in the limo.
"Once in a while," Gray said. "Not too often. Kids wave, and I always wave back at kids."
A few weeks ago, Wright was driving four kids, a couple of adults and an elderly woman in a tour.
"The woman got out, and somebody yelled at her, 'Hey, are you the governor?'" Wright said. "Just because they saw she was coming out of the limo."
Occasionally there are VIPs.
When Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates came to town for his birthday party aboard a cruise ship in 1998, he famously tried to order 50 limousines. He had to settle for two.
"I think there were 30 trips to get (his friends and family) there," Wright said.
A few weeks ago, a customer showed up and said he was the first civilian to travel into outer space.
"I don't recall his name," Wright said.
The company also has shuttled famous athletes and actors.
"We try to honor the guests and keep their privacy," Wright said. "Honestly, we don't ask them who they are. We don't know them, and then we don't have to worry about who's been in our limo."
Last week, Wright took a gentleman out near a natural salmon stream. The man exited the limo and stared at the spawning fish with some concern. He waded into the water.
"He picked them up and dragged them back to the ocean," Wright said. "Then he wiped his hands clean and got back into the limo. He was from central California and he had never seen a spawning salmon in his whole life."
• Korry Keeker can be reached at 523-2268or korry.keeker@juneauempire.com.
