{"id":14744,"date":"2014-04-27T10:02:13","date_gmt":"2014-04-27T14:02:13","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/henrypayne.com\/?p=14744"},"modified":"2014-04-27T10:08:54","modified_gmt":"2014-04-27T14:08:54","slug":"qauto-do-the-d-in-a-maserati-limo","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/henrypayne.com\/index.php\/2014\/04\/qauto-do-the-d-in-a-maserati-limo","title":{"rendered":"Q&Auto: Do the D in a Maserati limo"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/p>\n

Sam Zahr shows off Luxury Limousines’ 28-foot long Maserati Quatrroporte. Zahr runs Metro Detroit’s most exclusive limousine service featuring a fleet of unique luxury machines. These aren’t your average stretch Lincoln Town Cars. From sports cars to buses to SUVs, Zahr’s got it. (Henry Payne \/ The Detroit News)<\/p>\n

What\u2019s the hardest part about building a Maserati Quattroporte limousine?<\/p>\n

\u201cThe transmission,\u201d says Sam Zahr, owner of\u00a0Luxury Limousine<\/a>\u00a0of Southfield and its one-of-a-kind stretch Maserati. \u201cIt\u2019s in the trunk with the clutch. That\u2019s a big modification to extend the driveshaft all the way from the engine up front.\u201d<\/p>\n

Zahr runs Metro Detroit\u2019s most exclusive limousine service featuring a fleet of unique luxury machines. These aren\u2019t your average stretch Lincoln Town Cars. From sports cars to buses to SUVs, Zahr\u2019s got it. A Hummer? Yup. A party bus with a dance floor? Sure. A pink Escalade? No problem. Walking Zahr\u2019s lot is like visiting luxury row at the Detroit Auto Show \u2014 except everything is 30 feet long.<\/p>\n

The interiors of these land yachts are appropriately lush. The converted,\u00a02006 model year<\/a>, 400 horsepower, 28-foot long Quattroporte sports leather seats, wood trim, flat-screen DVD players, and an elegant, cabin-length wet bar (unstocked, by law, limos are BYOB). Like luxury markets everywhere, the limo\u00a0business\"\"<\/a>\u00a0is volatile and Zahr has been riding the rollercoaster since he founded Luxury Limousine in 2005. He soared with the 2006 Detroit Super Bowl XL, then blew a tire in the Great Recession. Wedding parties are his staple (Six hours in the Maserati will set you back $650-$850) but Lux Limo is also on celebrities\u2019 speed dial when they come to town. Zahr has seen \u2018em all \u2014 Miley Cyrus, Eminem, Kid Rock, Justin Bieber.<\/p>\n

Does the Bieb prefer the Maserati or Merc? Neither, says Zahr. With his big entourage, the teen idol likes the party bus.<\/p>\n

I sat down with the 39-year old Lebanese immigrant to talk limos, cleaning bills, and the American Dream.<\/p>\n

HP:<\/b>\u00a0Tell me about your fleet.<\/p>\n

Zahr:<\/b>\u00a0We specialize in luxury. Each car is unique and one of a kind. We have the Maserati limousine, probably the only one in the world. We have a Mercedes S600 limo, Range Rover limo, BMW 740Li, and Lincoln and Dodge Charger that other limousine\u00a0companies\"\"<\/a>\u00a0operate. But they have luxury touches that make us stand out from other services.<\/p>\n

HP:<\/b>\u00a0What\u2019s the most popular?<\/p>\n

Zahr:\u00a0<\/b>The Mercedes, though the Maserati and BMW are also very popular.<\/p>\n

HP:\u00a0<\/b>How do you make a Maserati limo?<\/p>\n

Zahr:<\/b>\u00a0I design my own limos. A night out in a limo is great \u2014 but weddings are the bread and butter for this business. I design these limos with the brides in mind \u2014 from the seats to the wet bar to making room for them when they come in (to the cabin) with a big wedding dress. We buy the car, then we cut the car, then we build what kind of leather and lighting and sound system we want inside.<\/p>\n

HP:<\/b>\u00a0Who builds them?<\/p>\n

Zahr:<\/b>\u00a0American Eagle limousine in Virginia. I\u2019ve had over 10 years\u2019 experience working with them.<\/p>\n

HP:<\/b>\u00a0What\u2019s your next creation?<\/p>\n

Zahr:\u00a0<\/b>I\u2019m in the process of making my first in-house limo. We moved (from Dearborn to Southfield) into this bigger building recently and we want to start building our own. I have something crazy coming. We are working on a double-decker bus with up to 60 people upstairs and downstairs. You can have a bachelorette party and bachelor party in the same bus.<\/p>\n

HP:<\/b>\u00a0Tell me a wild limo story.<\/p>\n

Zahr:\u00a0<\/b>Oh, man, I have so many stories. Just a couple weeks ago, after the limo driver had dropped everybody off, he came back to clean the limo and someone was laying inside and right next to him was a gun. My driver thought he was dead, but the guy gets up and starts peeing in the limo. My driver called 911 and the police arrested the guy. So I charge the party $500 to clean the limo and then four days later the guy comes in and wants to argue with me!<\/p>\n

HP:\u00a0<\/b>Tell me about yourself. How did you get here?<\/p>\n

Zahr:<\/b>\u00a0I was born in Lebanon. I moved here for the American Dream. I moved here when I was 19 and attended Oakland Community College for an associates degree, then transferred to Eastern Michigan and graduated with a Business Information Systems degree. I started this company after I called a local limo company for a Pistons game. The driver was very late; the limo was not nice; the driver was not well dressed. I felt I was misled and I got in an argument with (the owner), and I said because of this experience I\u2019m going to start a limousine business. I found my first two limos in Boston. The first was a BMW X5.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Sam Zahr shows off Luxury Limousines’ 28-foot long Maserati Quatrroporte. Zahr runs Metro Detroit’s most exclusive limousine service featuring a fleet of unique luxury machines. These aren’t your average stretch Lincoln Town Cars. From sports cars to buses to SUVs, Zahr’s got it. (Henry Payne \/ The Detroit News) What\u2019s the hardest part about building […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7,87],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/henrypayne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14744"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/henrypayne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/henrypayne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/henrypayne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/henrypayne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=14744"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/henrypayne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14744\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":14746,"href":"https:\/\/henrypayne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14744\/revisions\/14746"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/henrypayne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=14744"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/henrypayne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=14744"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/henrypayne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=14744"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}