Group Sports Teams & Tournament Travel

Group Sports Teams have special needs and lots of flexibility. Image Van Rentals understands these needs from years of experience in managing sports teams and their
Van Rental transportation travel plans.
Tournament directors, coaches, and players can be confident in knowing they will get the best prices, service, and value bar none. Image Van Rentals works hard to provide secure, reliable, and consistent travel options to help make the biggest success. That is why we cater to the Sports Team and giving them our outmost attention and VIP Service such as CurbSide Delivery of our Full Size
Vans and
Luxury Vans to the Airport Terminals in
Orlando,
Miami,
New York,
Ft Lauderdale,
West Palm Beach Florida,
Newark NJ,
Connecticut,
Washington DC and more service
areas added each month

 Orange Bowl Upcoming Events For the Orange Bowl Festival

 

Date Event Time                                                               Location
Dec. 06 2008 Dr. Pepper ACC Championship 1:00 PM Raymond James Stadium – Tampa Bay, FL
Dec. 09 Lou Groza Collegiate Place-Kicker Award 6:30 PM Palm Beach Gardens Marriott
Dec. 10 OB Festival Kickoff Party and Press Conference 7:00 PM Seminole Hard Rock Hotel
Dec. 13 OBYFA Championships All Day FIU Stadium
Dec. 17 Orange Bowl International Tennis Championship All Day Crandon Park, Key Biscayne
Dec. 26 Orange Bowl International Youth Regatta TBD Coral Reef Yacht Club
Dec. 28 MetroPCS OB Basketball Classic 4:00 PM BankAtlantic Center
Dec. 28 MetroPCS Orange Bowl Basketball Classic 6:30 PM BankAtlantic Center
Dec. 29 FCA Orange Bowl Prayer Breakfast 7:30 AM Jungle Island, Miami Beach
Jan. 01 FedEx Orange Bowl 8pm Dolphin Stadium
Jan. 01 Budweiser Orange Bowl Tailgate Noon Dolphin Stadium NW Parking Lot
Jan. 03 Orange Bowl Swim Classic 10:00 AM Jacobs Aquatic Center, Key Largo
Jan. 07 BCS Championship Fan Fest 3pm Bicentennial Park (Downtown Miami)
Jan. 08 FedEx BCS National Championship 8pm Dolphin Stadium
Jan. 08 Budweiser BCS Championship Tailgate Noon Dolphin Stadium NW Parking Lot
 

Quality Hollywood Hotel in Ft Lauderdale

Call For Group Rates WITH Free Transportation

4900 Hollywood Blvd, Hollywood, FL, US, 33021 | Phone: (954) 981-1800  Toll-Free: (877) 981-1800

Quality Inn Hotel Next to Ft Lauderdale Airport

Call For Group Rates WITH Free Transportation Airport/Cruise Port

2440 West State Road 84, Fort Lauderdale, FL, US, 33312 | Phone: (954) 792-8181 Toll-Free: (877) 792-8181

Shuttle to Orange Bowl Festival Rent a Car for the Orange Bowl Festival

Rent a 15 Passenger Van for the Orange Bowl Festival

Rent a Car for the Orange Bowl Festival

Sprinter Vans and  Luxury
Van Rentals in New York-New Jersey Connecticut-Pennsylvania & Miami Orlando
WPB DC MD VA Florida! &

12-15 Passenger Vans
  Call 1-888-718-0001   718-771-6666 
http://www.imagevanrentals.com

Safety
Conversion van rentals meet or exceed all
Federal Motor Vehicle Safety standards, as you would expect. They meet all
of the new standards for anchorage systems for all child car seats. The
tires meet specific strength, endurance, and high speed performance
requirements. Conversion vans include additional spare tires, head
restraints for neck protection in rear end collisions, crash protection,
high quality seat belts (materials and anchorage) and meet all burn
resistance requirements for materials used in the occupant compartments of
the vehicles. Conversion vans offer 4-wheel Antilock Breaks and driver- and
front-side passenger air bags. They are no different from regular vans, just
a bit larger so you can travel with your whole family or group.


Why
Choose This?
These vans offer the comfort and luxury of home on the road. The
fold-down third row allows passengers to turn the seat into a bed to lay
down on. Kids will also enjoy the personal on-board entertainment systems to
watch movies or play video games while they travel (no more “are we there
yet?”!). Conversion vans also offer headphones and personal volume controls
so that everyone can enjoy the ride. They are very easy to drive and have
good visibility. They are also easy to park and economical to operate in
comparison to motor homes. They drive more like a smaller van or SUV.
Whatever vacation destination you choose, there is room for your luggage and
equipment in a luxury conversion van. We have many Explorer vans and Regency
vans available for your rental van needs!

Luxury Vans for your Business Trip 

Long Trip Or Business Function!

Conversion Vans for your
Everyday Life

Imagine a trip to the grocery store without your children fighting over
what seat they get. Wish you could duplicate yourself -


someone
to drive, someone to entertain the kids? With our luxury vans, every seat is
a prized one so your eyes stay on the road and the kids are focused on the
custom-designed entertainment system with personal volume controls and
headphones. Whether it is an in-flight movie or a video game, they are
safely entertained while you are safely at the wheel

Dodge Sprinter Van Rentals

Band Van Hire in US

If you’re hiring a van for a band or musical group to go on tour, you’ll
need to consider several factors:

• How much equipment will you be transporting?
• How many people?
• Do you need sleeping facilities?

The type of van you need to hire for your band depends heavily on the
answers to these questions. To help you get a better understanding of
band van
rental, here’s an overview of the different types of van normally
used for band and other
musical tours.

Panel Vans

 The standard panel van (e.g. Ford Transit) is a reliable choice for a
small band with a reasonable amount of equipment. Three seats and no windows
in the back so you can leave it parked loaded overnight without advertising
the contents to would-be thieves.

If you don’t need more than three seats, a regular panel van is by far
the cheapest way to hire a van for a band tour.

(If you need a van for all your equipment but need more seats –
consider hiring a people carrier as well.)

Minibus

 If you’re in a larger group – a jazz band, chamber orchestra or a large
production, for example – then you may need a full-size minibus. Capable of
carrying up to 17 people, minibuses have very restricted luggage space but
are great for moving lots of people efficiently.
 If you need to carry equipment, the best solution is often to rent a van,
too. Another alternative is a trailer, but not all minibus hire companies
allow the use of a trailer – check before you book. 

 Music
Band Van Rental Tour

Trailers

Trailer rental can be the ideal solution when you are arranging a van for a
band tour. A trailer allows you to use a vehicle with plenty of comfortable
seating – and carry all your equipment, all with one driver. Not all van hire
companies allow you to tow trailers with their rental vans – check before you
book.

The 10 best rock bands ever
A purely subjective list of the groups that changed music forever
AP file
In February 1964, (from left) Paul McCartney, Ringo Starr, George Harrison and
John Lennon brought Beatlemania to the United States, forever changing the face
of music.
Jackson Browne, Lenny Kravitz, Moby and Art Garfunkel talk about the immortals
of rock and roll — a special Rolling Stone magazine issue.
COMMENTARY
By Eric Olsen
MSNBC contributor
updated 11:42 a.m. ET, Tues., March. 30, 2004
When tackling a project as audacious, slippery and fraught with diagnostic peril
as “the 10 best rock bands ever,” one can either cower in anticipation of the
monsoon of disagreement sure to come and load the package with every manner of
weaselly equivocation, or one can swagger ahead blissfully secure in the
universal righteousness of one’s judgment. Being American, I choose the latter.
1. The Beatles
The Beatles are unquestionably the best and most important band in rock history,
as well as the most compelling story. Almost miraculously, they embodied the
apex of the form artistically, commercially, culturally and spiritually at just
the right time, the tumultuous ’60s, when music had the power to literally
change the world (or at least to give the impression that it could, which may be
the same thing). The Beatles are the archetype: there is no term in the language
analogous to “Beatlemania.”
Three lads from Liverpool — John Lennon, Paul McCartney and George Harrison —
came together at a time of great cultural fluidity in 1960 (with bit players Stu
Sutcliffe and Pete Best), absorbed and recapitulated American rock ‘n’ roll and
British pop history unto that point, hardened into a razor sharp unit playing
five amphetamine-fueled sets a night in the tough port town of Hamburg, Germany,
returned to Liverpool, found their ideal manager in Brian Epstein and ideal
producer in George Martin, added the final piece of the puzzle when Ringo Starr
replaced Best on drums, and released their first single in the U.K., “Love Me
Do/P.S. I Love You,” all by October of 1962.
Their second single, “Please Please Me,” followed by British chart-toppers “From
Me to You,” “She Loves You,” “I Want to Hold Your Hand,” “Can’t Buy Me Love”
(all Lennon/McCartney originals), and the group’s pleasing image, wit and charm,
solidified the Fab Four’s delirious grip on their homeland in 1963.
But it was when the group arrived in the U.S. in February 1964 that the full
extent of Beatlemania became manifest. Their pandemonium-inducing five-song
performance on the Ed Sullivan Show on February 9 is one of the cornerstone mass
media events of the 20th century. I was five at the time — my parents tell me I
watched it with them, but I honestly don’t remember. I do remember, though, that
the girls next door, four and six years older than I, flipped over that
appearance and dragged me into their giddy madness soon thereafter. I loved “I
Want to Hold Your Hand,” the Beatles’ first No. 1 in the U.S. (they had 19 more,
still the record), more than any other song I have ever heard, or almost
assuredly will ever hear, with a consuming intensity that I can only now touch
as a memory.
The Beatles generated an intensity of joy that slapped tens of millions of
people in the face with the awareness that happiness and exuberance were not
only possible, but in their presence, inevitable. They generated an energy that
was amplified a million times over and returned to them in a deafening tidal
wave of grateful hysteria.
A partial result of that deafening hysteria was that the band became frustrated
with their concerts and stopped performing live after a San Francisco show on
August 29, 1966. Yet even this frustration bore fruit, as the four musicians,
aided almost incalculably by producer Martin, turned their creative energies to
the recording studio, producing ever more sophisticated and accomplished albums
“Rubber Soul” (1965, “Drive My Car,” “Norwegian Wood,” “You Won’t See Me,”
“Nowhere Man,” “Michelle”), “Revolver” (1966, Harrison’s “Taxman,” “Eleanor
Rigby,” “Here, There and Everywhere,” “Yellow Submarine,” “Good Day Sunshine,”
“And Your Bird Can Sing”), the majestic and epochal “Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts
Club Band” (1967, title track, “With a Little Help From My Friends,” “Lucy In
the Sky With Diamonds,” “When I’m Sixty-Four,” “A Day In the Life”).
Though centrifugal force began to take its toll, they still managed to produce
three more album masterpieces, double-album “The Beatles” (1968, a.k.a. “The
White Album,” with “Back In the USSR,” “Dear Prudence,” “Ob-La-Di Ob-La-Da,”
Harrison’s “While My Guitar Gently Weeps,” “Blackbird,” “Birthday,” “Helter
Skelter”), “Let It Be” (recorded in early 1969 but not released until 1970, with
the title track, “Two Of Us,” “Across the Universe,” “I’ve Got a Feeling,” “The
Long and Winding Road” and “Get Back”), and the fitting climax “Abbey Road”
(1969, Harrison’s “Here Comes the Sun” and “Something,” Ringo’s “Octopus’s
Garden,” “Come Together,” “Maxwell’s Silver Hammer,” “I Want You,” “She Came In
Through the Bathroom Window”).
They made an incredible promise and instead of backing down from that promise
they delivered and delivered and delivered for eight years until the full
implications of the promise finally hit them: they were staring into the jaws of
an insatiable, ravenous beast that was no less beastly because it smiled and
waved and gave them money. The Beatles finally suffered a collective inability
to pretend that the beast was not a beast, and in 1970 they broke up and
returned to being human.
Beatlemania redux
A small but significant slice of the Beatles’ magic came back in 1986 with
release of the classic John Hughes teen flick “Ferris Bueller’s Day Off,”
wherein Matthew Broderick’s title character lip-syncs the early Beatles classic
“Twist and Shout” (ironically, a song they didn’t write) from the top of a float
in a downtown Chicago parade.
John Lennon sang “Twist and Shout” as though the words were joyful corrosive
poison, that his only hope of survival was to expel them with all the vehemence
that his rhythm-besotted body could muster, and so does Ferris in the scene.
Paul and George’s responses matched John’s zeal at the end of each stanza with
their delirious “Ooohs.” They were enjoying themselves so much that this song
seemed the most important thing in their lives at that moment. The Beatles knew
the awesome responsibilities of pleasure.
Ferris lips lustily, the frauleins on the float shimmy and shake and bounce off
of Ferris like electrons, the thousands in the crowd sing along from the pits of
their pelvises. Chicago jams as one, recreating the Beatles’ amazing real-life
feat of a unifying mass-madness that changed people’s lives for a time.
When I saw the movie in the theater in ‘86, people actually stood up and danced
in the aisles. How could they not? The “Twist and Shout” segment was the most
exciting and joyous musical moment in a movie since the Beatles own “A Hard
Day’s Night” (1964), and was the perfect climax to Ferris Bueller’s film
exploits.
The public was so wistful for Beatlemania that “Twist and Shout” returned to the
charts for 15 weeks that year, a brief but sweet reminder of the real thing.
2. The Rolling Stones
When the Beatles ceased to exist in 1970, the title of “World’s Greatest Rock
‘n’ Roll Band” fell with very little dispute to the Rolling Stones, who by then
were in the middle of such a wondrous creative peak that they might have
challenged the Fab Four for the title anyway. It’s a title the one-time
“anti-Beatles” haven’t relinquished since. Not only have the Stones been the
greatest rock band in the world for more than 30 years, but they have been a
functioning rock ‘n’ roll unit for more than 40, the longest run in history.
Boyhood friends Mick Jagger and Keith Richards, along with guitarist Brian Jones
and pianist Ian Stewart, formed the first version of the Rollin’ Stones in 1962,
and with the crack rhythm section of Charlie Watts on drums and Bill Wyman on
bass soon on board, were ripping it up in an eight-month residency at London’s
Crawdaddy Club shortly thereafter. A young and ambitious Andrew Loog Oldham saw
them there: 
“I saw them April 23, 1963 and then I knew what I had been training for,” he
said in a phone interview from his home in Colombia. “The main thing they had
was passion, which has served them to this day,” Oldham continued. Oldham’s
first act as manager was to demote the shambling Stewart from the band’s live
act for not keeping with his image of a lean, mean and sexy Stones (Stewart was
the band’s road manager and recorded with them until his death in 1985).
At the time the Rollin’ Stones (named for the Muddy Waters song, Oldham added
the “g”) were a ragged R&B cover band, but their run at the Crawdaddy had
generated much attention, and with the Beatles on their way up no one wanted to
miss the next big thing. Oldham quickly got them signed to Decca Records, which
was still smarting from having turned down the Beatles.
In June of ‘63 the Stones’ first single, a cover of Chuck Berry’s “Come On” went
to No. 21 in the UK. The follow-up in November was a cover of the dreaded
Beatles’ “I Wanna Be Your Man,” which rose to UK No. 12. By February of ‘64,
they reached the UK Top 10 with Buddy Holly’s “Not Fade Away,” which also
cracked the Top 50 in the U.S. — the bad boys were on their way.

Yui Mok / AP
Despite their advancing age, Mick Jagger, left, and Keith Richards and their
band, the Rolling Stones, are a better band live now than they were in the
1970s.
Oldham split with the band amid the insanity and media frenzy of drug busts in
1967, but he and the band generated some amazing music during the two years
between the squirmingly lascivious “Satisfaction” — considered by many the
greatest rock song ever — released in May 1965, and the hit-filled “Flowers”
compilation, released in July ‘67. Included was the incredibly self-aware
narcissism of “Get Off Of My Cloud,” chamber music gentility and vulnerability
of “As Tears Go By,” bemused urban modernity of “19th Nervous Breakdown”; and
the Stones’ first classic album, “Aftermath,” with the simultaneously mocking
and empathetic drug song “Mother’s Little Helper,” deeply groovy and
misogynistic “Under My Thumb” and “Out Of Time,” lovely “Lady Jane,” and exotic,
roiling “Paint It Black.”

Then came the Stones classic late-’60s/early-’70s period between “Beggar’s
Banquet” and “Exile On Main Street,” possibly the most productive run in rock
history, when the Stones turned an unequaled alchemy of rock ‘n’ roll, blues and
country into something dark, dangerous and enduringly deep.
The 1967 busts seemed to spur Jagger and Richards to another creative level,
but Brian Jones appeared beaten and sinking fast. He was absent from the
devilish, riff-rocking “Jumping Jack Flash” single. He barely worked on
1968’s exceptional, bluesy “Beggar’s Banquet” (seductive, percussive and
stinging “Sympathy For the Devil,” guitar-pounding “Street Fighting Man,”
slashing and sinful “Stray Cat Blues”), was out of the group by June ‘69,
and dead at the bottom of his swimming pool less than a month later.
Young Mick Taylor joined as Jones’s replacement, and his hefty bluesy leads
were the perfect foil for Richards’ open-tuned rhythm work, and the sound
and imagery grew darker and harder still on “Let it Bleed” (the sex and
death apocalypse “Gimme Shelter,” Robert Johnson’s anguished blues “Love In
Vain,” mysterious “Monkey Man,” the druggy camaraderie of the title track,
powerful and murderous “Midnight Rambler,” and the oblique, uplifting coda
“You Can’t Always Get What You Want”).
The band’s dance with the devil bore bitter fruit when they put on a free
concert at Altamont Speedway outside San Francisco on December 6, 1969 (just
three months after Woodstock) where a fan was stabbed to death in view of
the stage by Hell’s Angels (all the mounting bad juju was captured for
posterity in the film “Gimme Shelter”).
“Get Yer Ya-Ya’s Out” (1970), one of the most satisfying live rock albums
ever, focused on their ‘68-’69 hits, including an extended, definitive
“Midnight Rambler,” and showed how integral Mick Taylor had become to the
Stones’ roaring live sound.
The band’s first release on their own Rolling Stones Records was the druggy,
shambling, brilliant “Sticky Fingers” (1971), with the infamous
working-zipper cover by Andy Warhol. Taylor again sparkled and the
Jagger/Richards songwriting continued at the highest level: swaggering
“Brown Sugar,” plaintive “Wild Horses,” jazzy grooving “Can’t You Hear Me
Knocking,” horn-rocking “Bitch,” chilling “Sister Morphine” and countrified
“Dead Flowers.”

The murky, dense, jumbled double album “Exile on Main Street” closed the
era of Stones invincibility in 1972. A yeasty blend of all the band’s roots
influences — blues, country, soul, gospel and rock — “Exile” yields fresh
revelations more than 30 years later, and “Rocks Off,” “Rip This Joint,”
“Tumbling Dice,” “Sweet Virginia,” “Happy,” “All Down the Line” and “Shine a
Light” are among the band’s best work.

The Stones have been a different band ever since: Mick Taylor left in
1974, replaced by the stalwart Ronnie Wood. They have released a couple
great albums: “Some Girls” (1978), their rough response to the challenges of
disco and punk (“Miss You,” “Some Girls,” “Respectable,” “Beast of Burden,”
“Shattered”), and “Tattoo You” (1981, their top-charting album ever — nine
weeks at No. 1) with standouts “Start Me Up,” “Hang Fire” and “Waiting On a
Friend.” They have also released a lot of simply good albums: the ’70s were
better than the ’80s, which were better than the ’90s.
But they have soldiered on, taking breaks but focusing more and more on
getting the music out to the fans live, becoming particularly reinvigorated
with the “Steel Wheels” album and world tour in 1989. I caught that tour in
Los Angeles and the Stones came on with an air of eager assurance. All of
the elements clicked: the guitars cut and slashed, the rhythm section locked
in and rode it out, the songs were a perfect blending of old and new, the
band was abundantly enthusiastic.
Jagger didn’t exhibit a drop of Cool Star attitude: he worked, talked, sang
with energy and attention to detail. He was obviously happy to be liked
again. The collective joyous relief of the stadium buoyed Jagger to
childlike vulnerability:
“Do ya like the new songs?” he almost pleaded of the throng.
”We love them, Mick!”
”We love you!”
”Yeahh!”

Maybe Mick was reminded of his quote from the ’70s, “Sometimes I prefer
being on stage, sometimes I prefer orgasm.” That night, I’m pretty sure the
stage won.
In the 1990s, the band took in a staggering $750 million from three tours.
When I watched them live from Madison Square Garden on HBO early last year
my eyes confirmed that these craggy, gaunt guys are about 60 years old, but
when the cameras pulled back 30 years melted away and the magic was real and
grew in intensity as the night wore on.
What a great show! The Stones are a better band live now than they were in
the ’70s when their lives, bodies and minds were a quagmire of sex, drugs
and alcohol. Age has focused them, yet taken away very little of their
maniacal energy, and Keith Richards is still the greatest rhythm guitarist
who ever lived.
Long live rock ‘n’ roll — long live the Rolling Stones!
3. U2
Ireland’s U2 is the most important and influential band of the post-punk
era, joining ringing guitar rock, punkish independence, Celtic spirituality,
innovative production techniques and electronic experimentalism — all held
together by singer/lyricist Bono’s transcendent vision and charisma.
U2 — Bono (Paul Hewson), guitarist the Edge (Dave Evans), bassist Adam
Clayton and drummer Larry Mullen — formed in Dublin in 1976 as a Beatles and
Stones cover band while the players were all still in high school. In 1980
they were signed to Island Records and released their spectacular first
album, “Boy,” produced by Steve Lillywhite.

Mike Hutchings / Reuters file
U2, with guitarist the Edge and lead singer Bono, is now a mature,
confident, still amazing band that knows it doesn’t have all the answers,
but isn’t afraid to keep asking the right questions.
The band’s sparkling, radiant sound jumped from the grooves from the first
note of “I Will Follow” and rode Mullen’s massive drums and the Edge’s
angular, careening guitar into history. Neither “Boy” nor its follow-up
“October” (with the glorious “Gloria”) tore up the charts at the time
(though both are now platinum), but “War” — passionate, martial “Sunday
Bloody Sunday,” melodic wailing “New Year’s Day,” and the fierce, new wavy
love song “Two Hearts Beat As One”—turned U2 into a worldwide phenomenon in
1983.In preparation for 1984’s “The Unforgettable Fire,” producer Brian Eno
had a long conversation with Bono, as he later told Q Magazine. “I said,
‘Look, if I work with you, I will want to change lots of things you do,
because I’m not interested in records as a document of a rock band playing
on stage, I’m more interested in painting pictures. I want to create a
landscape within which this music happens.’ And Bono said, ‘Exactly, that’s
what we want too.’”
The results of this fateful change of direction were Eno productions of U2
standards “The Unforgettable Fire” (including “Bad,” “Pride In the Name of
Love”); Grammy’s 1987 Album of the Year, the personal yet universal “The
Joshua Tree,” which made the band superstars (with “Where the Streets Have
No Name,” “I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For,” “With Or Without
You” and “One Tree Hill”); 1991’s “Achtung Baby,” a brilliant and
emotionally dark move toward electronica (“Even Better Than the Real Thing,”
“One,” “Until the End of the World,” “Who’s Gonna Ride Your Wild Horses” and
“Mysterious Ways”); and “Zooropa,” deeper still into Euro-dance music and
electronics (‘93, with the title track, “Numb,” “Lemon,” “Stay”). Wow, what
a journey.
U2 was the leading rock band of the ’80s because its members, like perhaps
only Bruce Springsteen in the U.S., still believed that rock ‘n’ roll could
save the world, and they had the talent to make that notion not seem
hopelessly naive.
This earnestness and willingness to shoulder the heaviest of
responsibilities led to soaring heights of achievement and escalating
psychic and artistic demands that eventually led the band to adopt irony as
its basic means of expression for a time in the ’90s.
All bands want to be cool, and in the ’80s U2 almost single-handedly made
earnestness cool, but it was hard, relentless work. After the gritty, chunky
guitars-and-idealism of the ’80s, the ’90s saw the diaphanous chill of
electronics-and-irony, which was literally and metaphorically cool, but
ultimately not what the band is about.
“All That You Can’t Leave Behind” (‘00) returned to what the band is about,
and is the sonic and spiritual follow up to the “The Joshua Tree,” the
band’s most idealistic, spiritual and melodically consistent album.
Remnants of the band’s forays into electronics seasoned the album
(especially the impressionistic “New York”), but the Edge’s guitar returned
to center stage where his unique, chiming style belongs, though it never
upstages the songs, every one of which is blessed with a memorable tune.
Following the ecstatic release of the opening track “Beautiful Day,” the
second song “Stuck In a Moment You Can’t Get Out Of,” states a seemingly
modest but deeply profound, earnest and idealistic notion:
“I’m just trying to find a decent melody
A song I can sing in my own company”
They have found it and then some. U2 is now a mature, confident, still
amazing band that knows it doesn’t have all the answers, but isn’t afraid to
keep asking the right questions.
4. The Grateful Dead
Out on the road today/I saw a Deadhead sticker on a Cadillac/A little voice
inside my head/Said ‘don’t look back, you can never look back.’ — Don
Henley, “Boys of Summer”
When Henley wrote “The Boys of Summer’ in 1984, he saw the sticker on
luxurious Detroit steel as a contradiction of values: a symbolic
matter/antimatter collision that obliterated the meaning of both. But Henley
didn’t realize that his symbol of a Dead past was in reality a very powerful
symbol of the present and future.
The Vietnam War was the perfect polarizer between youth and adult culture:
it had no clear objective, it was far away, it cost many lives, and it was
involuntary — the old made the decisions, the young died. After the war was
mercifully killed in the mid-’70s, the nation came to realize that it had
hated the internal confusion more than it had hated the external enemy —
blood is thicker than ideology.

As a result, both sides of the internal conflict embraced the perceived
highlights of the other’s culture: adults lightened up — Johnny Carson grew
his hair long and joked with the band about smoking pot — and the youth
embraced the acquisitive materialism of their parents with the shamelessness
of Midas.

The Dead became the symbol of this blending of ideologies until Jerry
Garcia’s death in 1995: a well-oiled money making machine ($50 million a
year in concert revenue) that sold peace, love and understanding to a legion
of internally divided admirers. The Dead sold out every show because a Dead
show was a socially acceptable place to temporarily take a break from the
rat race and try on ’60s hippie values without having to live them. People
who didn’t do drugs any other time indulged and danced around like pixies to
the Dead and their light, rhythmic, pleasant, sometimes inspired, extended
musical journeys.
On that musical front, Rhino’s “Very Best of the Grateful Dead” is an
excellent representation of the band’s eclectic blending of country, folk,
psychedelic rock, R&B, jazz and Afro-Caribbean rhythms on classics like
“Friend of the Devil,” “Sugar Magnolia,” “Ripple,” “Truckin’,” “Uncle John’s
Band,” “Casey Jones,” “Franklin’s Tower,” and their lone hit single “Touch
of Grey.”
“Grateful Dead” (1971) is my favorite live set by the band — it rolls along
with “Bertha,” “Mama Tried,” “Playing in the Band,” “Johnny B. Goode,” “Not
Fade Away” and “Goin’ Down the Road Feeling Bad,” showing great energy and
versatility.
The Dead’s success inspired the entire jam band movement, which carries on
its musical and cultural lineage to this day.
5. Velvet Underground
Brian Eno has famously said that not many people bought the Velvet’s albums
when they were originally released, but everyone who did formed a band.
After bravely jousting the twin enemies of indifference and open hostility
in its lifetime, the Velvet Underground has gradually been embraced as one
of the best and most important bands in rock history.Recording a mere four
studio albums and one live album in the late-’60s, the group established an
aesthetic so extreme, alien and ahead of its time that it has taken three
decades for the world to catch up. The essence of that aesthetic is an
unapologetic embrace of the opposite poles of the musical, emotional and
thematic spectrum: naked power on the one end and exquisite beauty on the
other, squalid Saturday night nihilism followed by pristine Sunday morning
reverence conjured from the urban essence of New York.The Velvet Underground
formed in 1964 when singer/guitarist/songwriter Lou Reed and Welsh
multi-instrumentalist John Cale met and decided to form a rock band
(eventually with Sterling Morrison on bass and guitar and Maureen “Mo”
Tucker on percussion), drawing upon their mutual interest in R&B, the
free-form jazz of Albert Ayler and Ornette Coleman and the avant-garde
minimalism of John Cage and La Monte Young.
The band sought not just to entertain, but to challenge, to prove that rock
‘n’ roll could be dangerous again. They gravitated toward Andy Warhol — who
brought Austrian actress/model/chanteuse Nico into the fold — and became
fixtures in Warhol’s multimedia organization, the Factory, and in the
Village bohemian art scene.
Live, the Velvets were a bizarre amalgam of vigorous R&B, pretty pop songs,
extended experimental noise jams and the performance art of Warhol’s
Exploding Plastic Inevitable. The original band lasted just two albums, “The
Velvet Underground and Nico,” and “White Light, White Heat” (both 1967), the
first of which stands among the greatest of all rock albums.
“Waiting for the Man,” with a breezy rock groove, follows a Reed character
in pursuit of drugs. Reed is almost giddy with self-contempt as his need for
drugs drags his social status below that of ghetto dwellers, and that
defiant self-contempt defines the Velvet’s status as the first post-modern
band and the progenitor of the entire punk/new wave movement.
“Heroin” takes the external adventure of obtaining drugs into the internal
realm and captures the seduction of addiction with a power, beauty and grace
that makes it all the more frightening. “Venus in Furs,” an unblinking
examination of an S&M relationship, conveys ennui of almost black hole
density. “All Tomorrow’’s Parties” is Nico’s finest moment, a towering aural
monument to ephemeral glamour, with the pulse of dread and Reed’s
destabilizing frantic guitar.
Also on the record are two more pretty, Reed penned/Nico sung jewels, “I’ll
Be Your Mirror” and “Femme Fatale,” and the loveliest song of Reed’s career,
the preternatural “Sunday Morning,” which captures the hope and regret of a
dawning Sunday with awe and delicacy.
The group’s remaining three albums produced several more gems in “White
Light, White Heat,” “What Goes On,” “Beginning to See the Light,” “Pale Blue
Eyes,” “Sweet Jane,” and “Rock and Roll,” all of which and more can be found
in the highly recommended box set “Peel Slowly and See.”
6. Led Zeppelin
Over a 10-year, nine-album career from 1969-79, Led Zeppelin was the most
popular rock group in the world, ultimately selling more than 50 million
records in the U.S. alone (more than 200 million worldwide), developing the
blues-based power trio-plus-lead singer archetype in many directions
including mystical English folk-rock, Middle Eastern-influenced exotica,
quirky pop and every manner of heaviness. They also came to symbolize the
Dionysian excesses of the rock lifestyle.
Their ubiquity on classic rock radio formats and the aforementioned excesses
have led many to dismiss the band as overrated and symptomatic of the
decline of rock ‘n’ roll in the ’70s. The super value collection “Early Days
and Latter Days: Best of Vols. 1 and 2” (two discs) prove that, if anything,
the band’s musical greatness is still underappreciated, due to the
previously mentioned resentments and the fact that the band had no greater
cultural impact — they didn’t much stand for anything.Murad Sezer / AP file
Led Zeppelin, with vocalist Robert Plant, left, and guitarist Jimmy Page,
came to symbolize the Dionysian excesses of the rock lifestyle. The band,
however, has sold more than 50 million record in the U.S. alone.
Jimmy Page, who had led the last incarnation of the Yardbirds and had been
an extremely successful session guitarist (Who, Kinks, Them, Donovan, Joe
Cocker), formed the band in 1968 with veteran session bassist/keyboardist
John Paul Jones, 19-year-old singer Robert Plant and Plant’s friend, drummer
John Bonham. Commenting upon Page’s low expectations for the success of the
band, Keith Moon suggested the name “Led Zeppelin.”They were both wrong:
“Led Zeppelin 1” (“Good Times Bad Times,” “Babe, I’m Gonna Leave You,”
“Dazed and Confused,” “Communication Breakdown”),  â€œLed Zeppelin 2” (“Whole
Lotta Love,” “The Lemon Song,” “Hearbreaker,” “Living Loving Maid,” “Ramble
On”) and “Led Zeppelin 4” (a.k.a. “Zoso,” with “Black Dog,” “Rock and Roll,”
“When the Levee Breaks,” “Stairway to Heaven”) are among rock’s greatest
albums.
Plant’s vocals reached levels of deranged ecstasy matched perhaps only by
Little Richard on lyrics typically either oozing with sexuality or derived
from Anglo-Saxon myth and/or the occult. Bonham (whose accidental death in
1980 broke up the band) pounded his drums relentlessly like a nimble
elephant dancing through the house. Jones’s bass and strategic keyboards
glued the disparate elements together. And Page, who did most of the writing
and production, played some of the most fundamental and memorable guitar in
rock history — from the heaviest crunch to the most delicate acoustic finger
picking.
Proving the band’s vast enduring popularity, the band’s live two-DVD set
“Led Zeppelin,” released last May, has sold more than 600,000 copies.
7. Ramones
The Ramones — Dee Dee (bass, vocals), Joey (vocals), Johnny (guitar), Tommy
(drums, later replaced by Marky) — were the American punk band, an endless
wellspring of noise, energy, attitude, humor and (sometimes forgotten) great
songs, who helped reinvent rock ‘n’ roll when it needed it most in the
mid-’70s.
Working for indie Sire Records in the mid-’70s, producer/talent scout Craig
Leon became involved with the percolating New York underground music scene.
One summer night in 1975 he went to CBGB’s and saw two bands, the Talking
Heads and the Ramones.
“I went to that show and there were literally four people in the audience
besides me, but the bands were phenomenal,” Leon said. “A lot of people
didn’t even think the Ramones could make a record. There were weeks of
preproduction on a very basic level: like when the songs started and when
they ended. Their early sets were one long song until they ran out of steam
or fought. You could see it as a performance art-type thing, where you had a
17-minute concise capsule of everything you ever knew about rock ‘n’ roll,
or you could see it as 22 little songs,” he said. They went for the songs.
The Ramones’ first album (1976) is a roaring minimalist icon — the first
real American punk record. Layers and layers of accumulated bloat and sheen
were stripped away to reveal rock ‘n’ roll at its most basic and vital on
songs like “Blitzkreig Bop,” “Beat On the Brat” and “Let’s Dance.” The
Ramones’ sound was blazing early-’60s surf music played through the
overdriven distortion of Blue Cheer and Black Sabbath. Yet, according to
Leon, the Ramones saw themselves as a pop band. “In our naivete, we thought
they were going to be bigger than the Beatles. They had even named
themselves after Paul McCartney’s early stage name, ‘Paul Ramone,’” Leon
said.
While most agree the Ramones’ astonishing first album — which cut through
the competition like a 747 in a paper airplane contest — is their most
important album, it isn’t my favorite. My favorite is one of the band’s most
eccentric, “End of the Century” — produced by the enigmatic pop icon (and
now murder suspect) Phil Spector — and the album that explicitly
acknowledged such a thing as “pop punk” for the first time.
Recorded in 1979, the album made explicit the connection between early-’60s
pop-rock and the punk band’s psyche, and holds up as both a Ramones and a
Spector classic — Spector’s idiosyncrasies never overwhelm the roar of
“Chinese Rock” or “Rock ‘N’ Roll High School,” and the Spectorish “Do You
Remember Rock ‘N’ Roll Radio” rollicks with just the right retro touches.
The band’s remake of the Ronette’s “Baby I Love You” is as touching as it is
fun, and shed a whole new light on singer Joey Ramone (who died in 2002
after a long bout with cancer — I sure do miss that guy).
The two-CD set “Hey! Ho! Let’s Go” is a spectacular overview of the band,
with all of the above songs (except “Baby I Love You”) plus “California
Sun,” “Sheena Is a Punk Rocker,” “Cretin Hop,” “Rockaway Beach,” “Teenage
Lobotomy,” “I Wanna Be Sedated,” “She’s the One,” “She’s a Sensation,” “We
Want the Airwaves” and many, many more.
8. Pink Floyd
Pink Floyd is the most eccentric and experimental multi-platinum band of the
album rock era, creating exceptional cinematic sound sculptures “Meddle,”
“Dark Side of the Moon,” “Wish You Were Here,” and the band’s popular apex
and conceptual death knell, “The Wall.”
Beginning in the mid-’60s as a R&B-based hard rock band, the band (named
after Piedmont blues men Pink Anderson and Floyd Council) — Syd Barrett on
guitar and vocals, Roger Waters on bass and vocals, Richard Wright on
keyboards, and Nick Mason on drums — mutated quickly into a strange
combination of twee British psychedelia (“See Emily Play,” “Arnold Layne”)
and long-form instrumental space rock (“Astronomy Domine,” “Interstellar
Overdrive”), inspired by Barrett’s liberal LSD use: a Cambridge English
garden transported to Mars.
Guitarist David Gilmour joined the group as insurance against Barrett’s
volatility in ‘68, but when Barrett was forced out for unreliability his
“backup band” became a democratic foursome sharing writing, singing and
leadership duties. As Floyd headed more deeply into experimental symphonic
explorations in the sonic chill of space — about as far removed from rock
‘n’ roll’s origins in amped-up American teenage hormones as possible — the
more popular they became.
“Meddle,” released in 1971, was the band’s transition album from the
Barrett-influenced ’60s to the Waters-Gilmour Floyd of the 1970s,
highlighted by a pillar of space rock greatness “Echoes,” over 23 minutes of
confidently creative meandering, ingratiating harmony vocals from Waters and
Gilmour, burbling organ from Wright, atmospheric axemanship from the
incomparable Gilmour, otherworldly pings and drifting whale noises. You can
hear the fertile seeds of “Dark Side of the Moon” here.
“Dark Side,” released in ‘73, stayed on the album chart for an outrageous
741 weeks, a masterpiece of creative studio craft and a remarkably unified
exploration of time, greed and existence — the album is an indispensable
rite of passage still. “Wish You Were Here” is an exceptional, ruminative,
ambient, long-form look at the disintegration of Barrett intermingled with
Roger Waters’ souring view of the world, and in particular, the music
industry.
That dim view of life found its ultimate expression in “The Wall,” which
used its title to represent literal and metaphoric isolation. In elaborate
theatrical presentations of the work, a wall was physically constructed
throughout the performance, the collapse of which at the end of each show
neatly presaged the group’s fate. Waters went solo in the early-’80s and the
group has reunited periodically without him, but neither the group nor he
have ever been the same since.
9. Bob Marley and the Wailers
The greatest singer, songwriter, and cultural figure in Jamaican history,
Bob Marley brought the righteous message and “positive vibrations” of reggae
music to the world, and is the only towering figure of the rock era not from
America or the U.K.

AP file
Jamaican singer Bob Marley brought the righteous message and “positive
vibrations” of reggae music to the world.
Marley and his band, the Wailers, created transcendent music around the
entrancing, inverted reggae beat and unforgettable melodies that equally
decried poverty and injustice and celebrated physical and spiritual ecstasy
— all of it grounded in Marley’s abiding Rastafarian faith. Marley’s
influence is so pervasive, his music so seductive, and respect for him so
great throughout the world that it is easy to forget the beliefs and customs
of the Rastas are rather, in a word, odd: reverence of Emperor Haile
Selassie I of Ethiopia as a living god who would lead the oppressed black
diaspora back to an African homeland (rather more difficult after he died in
1975), smoking the holy herb of enlightenment, ganja (marijuana), as daily
sacrament, growing their hair in dreadlocks.

Marley was born in rural St. Ann’s Parish in 1945 to a middle-aged white
father and a teen-aged black mother, and left home for the tough Trench Town
slum of Kingston at 14 in order to pursue a life in music. There he became
friends, and formed a vocal trio, with Peter Tosh and Bunny Wailer. They
called themselves the Wailing Wailers, later shortened to the Wailers. They
worked within the prevailing musical styles of the time, first the buoyant
up-tempo ska, then the slower sinuous rock steady, which then gave way to
reggae.
The Wailers recorded with legendary producers Coxone Dodd and Lee “Scratch”
Perry in the ’60s, recording great songs like “Simmer Down,” the original
version of “One Love,” “Soul Rebel,” “Small Axe” and “Duppy Conqueror,”
becoming greatly popular in Jamaica. But it was when the Wailers signed with
Chris Blackwell’s Island Records in 1972 that their reach became global.
The Wailers’ first albums for Island, “Catch a Fire” and “Burnin’” (both
‘73), became instant classics and introduced “Stir it Up,” “I Shot the
Sheriff,” and Tosh’s “Get Up Stand Up” to the world. Tosh and Wailer then
both left to pursue solo careers and the Wailers became Marley’s vehicle of
expression. Until his tragic death from cancer at the age of 36 in 1981,
Marley generated anthem after anthem and brought hope and pride to the Third
World, in addition to touching hearts and moving feet across North America
and Europe.
His hits collection covering the Island years, “Legend,” with sales of over
10 million copies in the U.S. alone, is the most popular and enduring reggae
album of all time. Among its delights are “No Woman No Cry,” “Three Little
Birds,” “One Love,” “Buffalo Soldier,” “Waiting In Vain” and “Jamming.”
10. Sly and the Family Stone
Sly and the Family Stone made some of the most buoyant and thoughtful music
of the late-’60s and early-’70s, uniting and transforming black and white
music at a time of highest hope and deepest betrayal in America. Leader Sly
Stone personified both extremes, as the truest of believers and a victim of
his own disillusionment.

  Honorable
mention
— Allman Brothers Band
— The Band
— Beach Boys
— Black Sabbath
— David Bowie and the Spiders From Mars
— The Clash
— Creedence Clearwater Revival
— The Cure
— The Doors
— The Eagles
— Earth, Wind & Fire
— Buddy Holly and the Crickets
— Nirvana
— Parliament-Funkadelic
— Prince and the Revolution
— REM
— Roxy Music
— Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band
— The Who

Stone was a musical child prodigy who recorded a gospel song at age four.
In the mid-’60s he produced hit records for the Beau Brummels and Bobby
Freeman before his dream blossomed into the colorful, freaky Sly and the
Family Stone. Sly wrote the songs, created the arrangements and handled the
production, but allowed each member to express his/her individual identity.
The Family blended blacks and whites, men and women: Sly’s brother Freddie
Stewart on electric guitar, sister Rose on electric piano, Sly’s high school
friends Cynthia Robinson on trumpet and Jerry Martini on sax, Martini’s
cousin Gregg Errico on drums, and thumping, popping funk bass pioneer Larry
Graham.It was on the band’s second LP, “Dance To The Music” (’68) that they
really caught fire. The title song was a perfect representation of the live
Family sound, a vibrant amalgam of positivity, fuzz bass, doo-wop, rock
guitar and horns, gathered in the context of a traditional R&B revue.
The summer of ‘69 found Sly and the Family Stone rising to the heights of
popularity and critical acclaim on the wings of their phenomenal album
“Stand!,” which included the band’s first No. 1  hit, “Everyday People,” a
song that defined the band’s social ideals in the way that “Dance” defined
its musical thoughts. The charm of the nursery rhyme refrain cuts through
centuries of cultural bias and reminds us of the simple truth that “we got
to live together” or die separately. Also on the album was the orgasmic “I
Want to Take You Higher.”
That same summer, Sly and Family Stone stormed the stage at Woodstock in
rainbow get-ups, flashing of sequins and electricity and came away
superstars. If the attendees weren’t high enough, when Sly cried out “I Want
to Take You Higher” at the end of the band’s set, many feel the festival —
and an era — reached their frenzied peak.
Unfortunately, Sly took his obsession with “highness” literally and came to
confuse the easy high of drugs with the more difficult highs of music, love
and the joy of existence. With the drugs came increasing paranoia and
self-absorption that were expressed first and best on 1971’s “There’s A Riot
Goin’ On,” where lassitude replaced spunk but Sly’s incredible talent still
shined through the murk. Drummer Errico left during the production and Sly
further damaged the family feel by playing most of the instruments on the
album himself, isolated in a cocaine cocoon. Ironically, “Riot” was the
“band’s” only No. 1 album. The dream and the reality then both fell apart,
but the music remains.
How? Why?
While I speak with the thunderous voice of truth, this list of “the 10 best
rock bands ever” isn’t a purely arbitrary designation yanked from my nether
regions. First, the winners had to be an actual band, which eliminated most
of the first wave rock ‘n’ roll greats of the ’50s like Elvis and Chuck
Berry, who were essentially solo artists with backup bands, other towering
figures like Bob Dylan, and vocal groups. The bands had to be within the
greater circle of “rock” music and generate most or all of their own
material. I took into account musical and cultural influence, popularity
over time (staying power), and the “It’s a Wonderful Life” factor: What
damage would be done if the band were to be removed from rock history? — the
greater the damage, the greater the band. Removal of any of the above 10
would render rock history unrecognizable.

  199-299 Per Day |
799-999 3d-Weekend | 1199-1799 Weekly

Flanked by gently swaying carpets of native grasses, you accelerate onto the A48. You’ve just left the historic town of Cardiff, and are ready for some relaxation after a day of exploring the waterfront and the town’s 2,000-year-old castle. It’s early autumn in the picturesque Welsh countryside, and the roof on your Aston Martin DB89 Volante is down, making the howling of the massive 6.0 liter V12 engine even easier to enjoy.

Perhaps more stunning than the bucolic surroundings is the fact that this 450-horsepower, 186-mph handmade brute isn’t even yours. It’s a rental—yours for just $1,111 per day.

Welcome to the rarefied world of rentable exotica, an infinitesimal portion of the highly competitive $21.5 billion-per-year rental car industry, where virtually any über-upscale car manufactured for sale is also available to rent—for business, leisure or both. But not to everyone, and for a price.

“A general rule of thumb for exotic car rentals is to price the daily rental at one percent of the sticker price of the vehicle,” says Chris Brown, managing editor at the trade publication Auto Rental News. “So, a Lamborghini Gallardo can rent from $1,600 to $2,500 a day depending on the area, and a Ferrari 360 Modena can run you about $1,000. Porsches will rent for less, but we don’t keep overall statistics on exotics as it is such a specialty market.”

In fact, according to the American Car Rental Association, these top-of-the-line and exotic vehicles represent such a tiny fraction of the millions of rentals each year that the ACRA doesn’t even keep track of such statistics, saying they are far too minute.

In the U.S. the trend of renting upper-echelon automobiles exploded along with the burgeoning disposable incomes of young dot-commers. But in Europe, it’s been happening for years, according to Graziella Zanoletti, president of Geneva-based Elite Rent-a-Car, whose 21-year-old company is among the oldest in the field.

“This is really not new here,” she says of her firm, which throughout the years has outfitted vehicles for the likes George Soros, Bill Gates, Richard Gere, the Ruler of Dubai Sheik Mohammed Al Maktoum and the recently deceased Sheikh Zayed Bin Sultan Al Nahyan of the United Arab Emirates.

In the United States, most rental cars exist to get you from point A to point B. Peter Schroeder, a German CEO who on a recent business trip to Los Angeles couldn’t secure a car with navigation unless it was dubbed a “luxury” car. “It was crazy,” he says.

These cars are different. With an average cost well into six figures, these are the very crème de la crème of the automotive world; they come with virtually every gadget and gizmo and can be had for a price—and with more than a few restrictions and requirements.

In Europe, for example, Sixt, an ever-expanding German-based agency, rents the blistering 12-cylinder Mercedes Benz S600, but not to those under 30 and only if they’ve had a driver’s license for three years. Furthermore, two credit cards are required as part of the security deposit, and you can’t take the vehicle to countries like Poland, the Czech Republic, Slovenia and others, for fear that they might end up on the black market—or in a chop shop—somewhere in the Ukraine or Moldova.

Similarly, when you rent an Audi A8 Quattro or Mercedes SL500 from Auto Europe, you may not drive it to “Eastern Europe,” according to a spokesperson. For most, however, these limitations are few and who, after all, wants to drive to Bulgaria when you can thrash about along the high-wire blacktop connecting Cinque Terre?

In fact, an informal and decidedly unscientific survey found that most people rent these cars do so for the self-indulgent pursuit of being seen—especially in their local haunts or by people whom they are trying to impress, say business associates. Either that or because they’ve dreamed up a special weekend getaway for someone they’re with or wishing to court.

Other, more-pragmatic types, according to New York City-based Gotham Dream Cars’ CEO Noah Lehmann-Haupt, rent before deciding whether to purchase. “A large portion of our customers, in addition to those who rent for fun and those who get gift certificates for a spouse or loved one, are people who are actually considering buying these supercars,” he says. “And since most dealerships won’t allow extended test drives, our customers prefer spending a few thousand dollars before putting down $200,000.”

Their choices? Anything from the fiery Ferrari F430 to the dignified Rolls-Royce Phantom, which comes with a chauffeur. The price for all this indulgence? From $1,750 for a day in the Ferrari. Or the Rolls Royce “Roller,” offered through the Madison Chauffer Service, which costs $5,400 for 12 hours.

For sheer beauty, few if any locales can beat the Côte d’Azur. At Elite Rent-a-Car’s Monaco branch, one of more than 12 locations the 21-year-old company has throughout Europe, you can get behind the wheel of the Lamborgini Gallardo Spyder or one of two sharp-suited, full-size SUVs, like the Porsche Cayenne S or the Range Rover HSE, and head for route D2566, a stunning ribbon of asphalt high in the Maritime Alps that stretches from Monte Carlo to the Col de Turini. If that’s too far south, ask for the Bentley Continental GTC at Excellence Luxury’s Paris office and head to Alsace and the stunning Route du Vin.

But according to Zanoletti, president of Elite Rent-a-Car, a luxury rental is more than the car. “A top rental is more like a personalized service. You could be driving away with anything from a Mini Cooper S or the MG 55 or the Range Rover Sport,” she says. “What really makes the difference is the customized service, be it door-to-door delivery, 24-hour on-call reservations or whether the fleet has something that sets it apart.”

These four-wheeled beauties aren’t limited to those living or traveling to Europe and the U.S. In Melbourne, Australia, Sports Car World Rentals offers a Ferrari 430 Spider and a Lotus Elise, while across town exotic car rentals serves up a roster of Porsche 911s.

Or, perhaps an exotica from yesteryear is more your speed. The Historic & Classic-car Hirers Guild (HCHG), the largest purveyor of classic cars in Britain, offers motoring enthusiasts an Aston Martin DB6 (James Bond’s car in Thunderball), a 1972 and 1979 Rolls, a 1972 Alfa Romeo GTV, a 1933 MG J2 convertible and a Jaguar E-type.

In Florida, New York and the Tri State area, Image Rent a Car has a large fleet of luxury and exotic cars to choose from. Curbside delivery is just one of the extra amenities they offer. Image Rent a Car can also help you give the perfect gift to your favorite gearhead. Let them help you select an exotic or luxury car rental and surprise that special someone. Call Image Rent a Car at 1.888.718.0001

Renting a Van at Orlando MCO Airport- Frequently Asked Questions

   

The fleet of vans carried by IMAGE Van Rentals in Orlando Florida at MCO will handle all of your van rental needs. and WE DELIVER to the Airport Terminal and All Area Hotles.

We Carry 9 Passenger LUXURY High Top Conversion Vans, Dodge Sprinter Vans, 8,10, 12 and 15 Passenger Vans and Luxury Cars.

All Standard 12 and 15 passenger vans available for rent include the following standard features:

• Automatic Transmission
• Air Conditioner
• AM/FM Radio
• CD Player
•  
• 
• 
• 
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IMAGE hasrental vans in Orlando Florida to accommodate different sized groups of passengers. If you plan to transport a large amount of people in the MCO Airport or Orlando and Kissimmee Disney World and Universal Studio Florida area by van, IMAGE Van Rentals has a passenger van to fit your needs. The fleet of IMAGE include:

• 7 Passenger Van (7-Pass) 2008 Chrysler Town & Country or Similar
• 12 Passenger Van (12-Pass) 2008 Chevy Express or Ford Econoline Club Wagon E350
• 15 Passenger Van (15-Pass) 2008 Chevy Express or Ford Econoline Club Wagon E350• 7 Passenger Luxury High Top Van With Flat Screen TV (7-Pass) Chevrolet Express Conversion Van
• 9 Passenger Luxury High Top Van With Flat Screen TV (9-Pass) Chevrolet Express Conversion Van
• 15 Passenger Luxury High Top Van With Flat Screen TV (15-Pass) Chevrolet Express Conversion Van
• 12 Passenger Dodge Sprinter High Top Van With Flat Screen TV (12-Pass) With additional 200 Cubic Ft Language space.
• 8 Passenger Luxury SUV Cadillac Escalade (8-Pass)

Located in the Holiday Inn-SunSpree Resort Lake Buena Vista ||

WE DELIVER to MCO AIRPORT
13351 State Road 535 Orlando, FL 32821 1.888.718.7550

IMAGE Van Rentals | Orlando 15 Passenger Van Rentals13351 State Road 535, Orlando, FL 32821 (888) 718-7550 Get directions 8 reviews and more »“The driver was extremely professional, yet friendly and easy to talk to.”

IMAGE Van Rentals offers competitive rates for our fleet of rental vans. We are here to serve your van rental needs in the MCO Orlando International Airport and MIA Airport and Miami Florida, West Palm Beach ( PBI) , Fort Lauderdale ( FLL) and Orlando MCO Airport Florida area.

Requirements

• Can I use my international driver’s license?
  Valid drivers licenses issued in your state or country is acceptable as well as international licenses.
  With Passport + Ticket
• Do I need insurance?
  Yes, insurance is required in the State of Florida.
  Insurance and Coverage
• What are your age requirements?
  You have to be at least 21 years of age.
  see charges
  for underage

Service

• Do you pick up and drop off customers?
  Yes, we have a service to pick up and drop off customers for rentals.
• Do you deliver and pick up the vehicle? Yes, we do provide these
  services | MCO Orlando AIRPORT TERMINAL DELIVERY
• Do you pick up at the airports?
  Yes, we pick up from the airport & deliver to the airport.
• Do you deliver at the hotels?
  Yes, we do deliver at hotels? Yachts? Corporate Office.

Method of payment

• What forms of payment do you accept?
  You can pay cash, checks for Large Corporations, credit card, and
  debit cards
  with prior approval by management.
• Can I use another persons credit card for renting a vehicle?
  Yes, but the card holder must present themselves with proper  License and i.d. to sign the rental contract.

Deposit

• Do I need a deposit?
  Yes, a deposit is required for security purposes. The amount of the requested deposit will be returned to you.
• How much is the deposit?
  The deposits is based on the type of vehicle, usually from $1000.00 plus the rental fees for cash deposits. 
  Deposit Requirements

Type of vehicles

• What type of cars do you have?
  We have 12 passengers, 15 passengers, 
  Luxury High Top Vans, 12 Passenger Sprinter Vans, Cadillac Escalade ESV and Range Rovers
• Do you have automatic or stick shift cars?
  Our vehicles are equipped with automatic transmissions.
• Do you have air conditioned cars?
  Yes, all our cars have air conditioning.
• Do you rent cars by the hour?
  Yes, cars can be rented by the hour with a minimum of 4 hours.

Accessories

• Do you offer accessories with your rentals?
  We do have accessories that can be rented with the vehicles. The accessories are a baby seat, and
  GPS/NAV RENTALS GPS navigation.

Additional charges

• Is there an additional charge for more than one driver?
  Yes, additional charges apply when rental vehicle is to be driven by more than one person.
  Additional Drivers
• Is there an additional charge for fuel?
  Fuel must be brought back the same way it was given to you. 
  Gasoline Refueling
• Is there an additional charge for underage?
  Yes, it only applies to customers that are 21-24 years old. 
  see charges
  for underage and Age Requirements
• Delivery Charges When? We charge the minimum of cots to bring the
  vehicle to YOU

Out-of-state

• Can I drive out- of-state?
  Vehicles can only be within the state of Florida. Contact us for additional fee to take vehicles out-of-state.

Monthly Special

• If I rent a vehicle for a month can I get a good price?
  Yes, vehicles can be rented by the month and receive a special offer.

Discounts

• Do you have AAA, travel agencies or airport employee’s discounts?
  Yes, we offer discounts to members of any one of these associations.
• Do you offer coupons?
  Yes we do, you can print it out from the web site when available.  SEE
  Specials HERE Specials

Returning vehicles

• If I have a flight leaving during your closing hours, is there anywhere I can leave your vehicle?
  Yes, we have a drop off service, Let us know in advance for instructions where to leave your vehicle.

For more information on the vans available for rent, visit the

IMAGE Van Rentals website, http://www.imagevanrentals.com. Image is the premiere van rental agency at MIA Airport and Miami Florida, West Palm Beach ( PBI) , Fort Lauderdale ( FLL) and Orlando MCO Airport Florida area.

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• »   REFUND Policy
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• »   Car color or Model, or State Regi
• »   Holding Your Reserved Vehicle
• »   Minimum Notice Reservation

• »   ONE WAY RENTALS
• »   Rental Extension Rates
• »   Summons Payment Responsibility
• »   Underage Drivers
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• »   Driving Area
• »   Direct Billing and Company Account Accepted 
• »   Power Inverters
• »   Video System
• »   RENT BY THE HOUR ( Hourly VAN Rentals )
• »   International Drivers
• »   DEBIT CARDS
• »   Roof
• »   DIESEL Policy
• »   Age Requirements
• »   Additional Drivers
• »   Driving Area
• »   Deposit Requirements
• »   Payment Methods
• »   Pick-ups and Drop-offs
• »   One-Way Rentals
• »   Insurance Policies and Surcharges
• »   Insurance and Coverage
• »   Geographic Restrictions

 

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