The Chrysler 300C Story

In 2004, the stunning Chrysler 300C was unveiled to the American market and soon after stretched versions of the car were seen in the Las Vegas limousine show.

It took the limousine and chauffeur market in the U.S by storm as it was an affordable, good-looking and extremely comfortable car to own. Its aggressive grille and road-stance made it the ultimate 'gangster mobile' and every limo operator in American wanted to own one.

The Chauffeur magazine was one of the first magazine's to try the 300C when press vehicles became available in the UK (pictured). It was soon obvious that the car had potential of being a chauffeur vehicle due to its large boot and plentiful legroom in the rear. However, thirsty 3.5 V6 engines and no plans for a right-hand drive model made it impossible for a UK chauffeur to operate.

However, the magazine continued to push the reviews into the publication and eventually news came that Chrysler was to set-up an Austrian plant to build the 300C in right-hand drive, and even better - with a diesel engine!

This was great news but chauffeurs were not convinced that the brash look of the 300 was a good one for their businesses. Many changed their minds when they saw the prices and equipment list of it.

Now, five years later, go to any UK airport or major city and see how popular 300C has become and is one of the most recent success stories in the chauffeuring world.

BMW high-security testing in Berlin

One of the first most exciting invitations the magazine received was also a very exclusive one - It involved a private flight to Berlin to try out the last BMW Security vehicles.

Very few journalists get the chance to experience these cars as they are top secret in their own right, so twenty of us were driven to a second world-war airfield where we drove a convoy of unarmoured and the fully armoured 760Li and 750Li cars around a track to see the handling differences between the two versions of the cars.

We were then invited by a security driving professional to experience using our vehicles as a weapon if we were driving a VIP. The BMW team set up a situation where we had to avoid a vehicle at 60mph and touch the car against a motorway barrier to see how it felt. This all seem exciting enough - but the vehicle I had to 'break' was a BMW 650i which at the time was brand new on the market (pictured).

What followed was a simular exercise - we again had to avoid a car at 60mph, but then drive into a nearby ditch and out the otherside keeping the same speed. This was to experience how a change in the surface effects the drive. We had to learn how to control the car whilst hitting the grass and mud at speed then hitting the tarmac again the otherside. Most of time our bumpers and mirrors were left in the ditch somewhere - but this didn't bother BMW.

Finally, how do you get away from a hostage situation if you were a chauffeur? Well, your guess was as good as mine - but we experienced how difficult it was to escape from a situation if you are not prepared. Basic anti hi-jack tips were given to us along with a graphic demonstration by the experienced team of how it should be done.

How The Chauffeur magazine era begun

I suppose it is only right to begin with explaining how the idea of The Chauffeur magazine came about and how it went from an idea to a reality.

In 2003, I left a boring dead-end full-time job at a newspaper office to start a career in chauffeuring – the only reason this was chosen was because I quite fancied driving a posh car in a suit all day. This would allow me to learn more about cars and hopefully achieve my dream job of being a motoring journalist.

Back then, my mortgage was stupidly low and my general commitments were minimal so it was the perfect time to launch a new career. So after four weeks after applying for my Hackney licence I started two jobs – one as a chauffeur driving executives in a Mercedes-Benz E-Class, and the other as a part-time stretched limousine driver for school proms, weddings and other occasions.

At not a bad wage at all I was enjoying this new lease of life and getting paid more than my previous job – result!

Until one day my employer was looking to add a vehicle to his chauffeured fleet and he knew I had a history of writing about cars – so he asked my advice on what was new and what I thought would be a good purchase. It was then he asked me why I don’t write a regular column for a trade magazine on cars for the chauffeuring industry - this is when we discovered there actually wasn’t a magazine for the industry at all.

Overnight, the idea of The Chauffeur magazine wes being put down on paper, the domain was bought and a rough plan of what I thought should be in a magazine was being compiled.
From my previous experience in graphic design and journalism I was lucky enough to not have to rely on someone with these skills to put a magazine together. So my evenings and weekends were nothing but ‘the new idea’ as I continuously worked at selling advertising for a magazine that didn’t exist and writing articles I thought chauffeurs would find interesting.
Eventually after four months of not sleeping I had the early pages ready for print and just enough advertising revenue to cover the cost of the printing. A week later we had physical copies of the magazine and distribution began of the first issue.

It was surprising to say the least how quickly the magazine gathered momentum, many didn’t think it would work – and those people were closer than you think! But what was ahead was six years of learning, car launches, conflict, ruined relationships, almost a million pound turnover and a variety of people who were out to get whatever they could!

The Chauffeur magazine official blog

Hello, well this is the first time I have experimented with the world of blogging - but I thought this was a good opportunity to document the last six years of The Chauffeur magazine, the world's first magazine for the chauffeuring industry in the UK.
As the creator of The Chauffeur magazine, I will be using this blog to review and re-publish articles and features that appeared in the publication since 2003 when I launched the magazine. I will also share my thoughts and experiences of the world of chauffeuring and limousine driving - which will hopefully give you an adventurous insight into the running of this unique publication.
Looking forward to sharing - Paul Gibson