As a kid growing up, my next-door neighbor was one of the coolest people to me. Everyday, he'd pull into his driveway with another new car, some that weren't even out yet. Whether it was a yellow convertible or a big black sedan, he would always take the time to show me around and let me sit in the front seat.
Automoblog: Thanks so much for meeting with me today.
James Large: Yeah, it's my pleasure.
AB: Alright, so I know you get to drive lots of really cool cars, but what exactly do you do?
JL: Well, my name is James Large and I'm a promotional ambassador for Mercedes-Benz. My job is to drive all of our new and upcoming models around to clients so they can preview the car and put in an order. I also pick up clients and executives at the airport and bring them where they need to go in the company vehicles.
AB: So, pretty much you get paid to drive cars around.
JL: Yeah, that's most of it. I also need to impress the clients and make them feel welcome when they're considering the Mercedes. I need to be really nice and tell them all the great things about the car without sounding like a salesman. Usually they get the idea and they just take it for a spin. When I pick up executives, it's usually from the airport, and I bring them to the hotel, and back to headquarters, or to meeting somewhere in New York City.
AB: What car do you usually drive?
JL: It really depends on what I'm doing and where I go on that day, but it's usually a Mercedes S-Class when I'm picking up someone, or whatever's at the front of the fleet parking lot. If I'm doing a demo for a client, it's whatever we've just released. Right now, I have the new SLK convertible, the car hasn't been put into production yet, so I'm driving the preproduction model they're going to use for the crash test.
AB: Does that make you sad to know that in a few weeks it'll be destroyed?
JL: Yes and no. It's a beautiful car for sure, but I'm used to it by now, Most of our preproduction cars have to be scrapped legally anyway. I wish I could just keep it, I've volunteered before!
AB: What car has had the most impact on you?
JL: I would say it would be a jade green E-Class convertible about 10 years ago. I was new to the car so they usually give me a rundown of the features and everything by someone from the financing and marketing department. That's how I met Karen, my beautiful wife, and probably the reason I love my job the most.
AB: Awwwwww, very sweet. Has there been any car that you just didn't like for some reason?
JL: Oh yeah, definitely. Loads. The car I hate the most by far is that little Smart car. You cannot ever shift that thing right. It always jerks up and down, and the doors are so flimsy, I felt like I was driving a beer can. And then one time I had an SL convertible and the top got stuck halfway while it was closing ten feet in the air. To get back to work I had to go under a low bridge, and the car wouldn't fit with the top stuck, so Mercedes had to send engineers to come fix the top. They couldn't get the parts unjammed, so they got a Sawzall and just chopped the top off this beautiful car. I didn't get home until three o'clock in the morning that night.
AB: Definitely a bummer. Have you ever gotten into any accidents?
JL: Loads. Not any my fault, but there's always cabbies and people in the city cutting you off, and when you're demoing a really nice car everyone stops paying attention to the road to look at you and they do stupid things. A lady side-swiped me the first day I was driving the first GL SUV we had imported into the country. That truck was supposed to be sent to the auto show in Los Angeles, but it was so badly damaged that they couldn't fix it and they couldn't get another one in time, so they had to delay the launch. Another time I was driving the prototype for our BlueTec diesel hybrid, and the guy behind me was trying to get such a close look her rear-ended me and took out the back of our four million dollar concept car. Luckily, I think they like me at corporate.
AB: They clearly must if you get such a sweet job. Anything else cool?
JL: I got to ride around with Leonardo DiCaprio one day. He was in the city and Mercedes was sponsoring one of his movies, so I took him everywhere he needed to go that day. Such a nice guy, he bought me lunch and everything. Definitely a nice guy.
AB: Any way to hook a brother up?
JL: You gotta be 21 to drive the promos and have a commercial driver's license. Sorry buddy.
AB: I'll call you in a few years.
No comments:
Post a Comment