LARGER THAN LIFE —
IT WAS A STRANGE TWIST OF FATE THAT SAW THIS RARE CADILLAC FUNERAL COACH BROUGHT BACK FROM DEATH’S DOOR — BETTER, AND MORE OMINOUS, THAN EVER BEFORE
SUPER-RARE FUNERAL-COACH RESTO
The town of Raymondville, Texas, hasn’t changed much in the past 60 years. Oh, it’s got with the times and developed, but it hasn’t really changed — a small town is a small town. With a population that has hovered at just over 10,000 for the past 60-odd years, Raymondville is definitely one of those, and it still is. The story you are about to read begins in Raymondville, during a time when Dwight Eisenhower was president — the year 1960. In those days, it was common practice in small towns for the funeral home to also operate the ambulance service, and the logical way to do so was through the use of a dual-purpose vehicle. These dual-purpose vehicles were built to order to fulfil the specific requirements of each customer. This open-ended final specification meant that these service vehicles were generally built by separate coachbuilders, and, of these companies, there was none in the same league as the Superior Coach Company. Based in Ohio, the Superior Coach Company specialized in building school buses and funeral coaches, and significant post-war success meant that, by 1960, the company had established a firm foothold in the market. As was the norm with Cadillac service vehicles of the era, the base of the Superior Coach Company’s dual-purpose vehicles was all Cadillac, in the form of the Cadillac commercial chassis. This featured an extended wheelbase utilizing a heavy-duty rear section with leaf-spring suspension and lower rails to aid loading and unloading. Cadillac also supplied
IT WAS AN UNCOMMON VEHICLE THEN, AND IS NOW … ONE OF ONLY TWO KNOWN TO REMAIN IN EXISTENCE
the driveline, front sheet metal, and ancillary features, but the body was the preserve of the Superior Coach Company, and thus subject to the preferences of the customer. So, when the Duddlesten Funeral Home in Raymondville upgraded its fleet in 1960, the holder of the chequebook must clearly have felt the need to make a statement, ordering a top-ofthe-line Cadillac Crown Royale Landaulet. It was an uncommon vehicle configuration then, and is now even more so, as one of only two known to remain in existence. “There were 468 combinations made in 1960 by Superior, but very few were the top-of-the-line Crown models with sloping C-pillar, upmarket interior, and extra trim,” says Ian Marr, the car’s current owner and caretaker. “It was also unusual for a combination to be a closed-in Landau, instead of [having] full glass behind the C-pillar.” The research Ian has conducted is comprehensive and verifiable, and, as this represents the third coach-built hearse that he has owned, he knows what he is talking about. His knowledge of this particular hearse dates back 10 years before he bought it in 2010, and the intervening years had not been kind to it. “As far as we can gather, it was used up until 1974, when it was sold to a private collector in Texas,” he says. “It was then sold to another collector in Denver, Colorado, in 2006, after the last owner passed away. The car was in a bad state by now — rusty, rotten interior, seized engine …” The car was never registered after 1974, and the title was never changed from that of the original funeral home. When it arrived in New Zealand, it contained the funeral-home call-out receipt
book, funeral-home pencils, gas receipts providing a clear window into the past — think $4.20 for 12.8 gallons of fuel — and an extensive checklist of work to be done. But, since the Cadillac retained much of its original trim and sat on solid underpinnings, a body-on restoration was deemed the most appropriate course of action, which began with Ian stripping the whole thing back to a bare shell in his twocar garage. “The car has been done to look like a well-kept but unrestored vehicle, so some parts still show their age,” Ian comments. One such part is the original plaque affixed by the Superior Coach Company, denoting that this coach was “built especially for Duddlesten Funeral Home”, but the majority required rebuilding, replacing, or reconditioning. First on the agenda was the rust that had eaten away at the steelwork over the preceding 50 years. As the rust had etched into the upper windscreen area, sills, door skins, rear arches, and roof seams, it may be worth considering how much metal makes up a vehicle this size, and the painstaking task faced by Rob Harvey Panelbeaters. With the bank account lightened considerably, Ian’s hands-on nature came into play as he set about refurbishing the neglected mechanicals — there is never nothing to do if you’re willing to do things yourself. Helping matters in this regard was his quest for originality, keeping the restoration as straightforward as it could be. However, with drum brakes at each corner and a whole lot of chassis underneath, making sure that everything was completed to the highest standard was still a timeconsuming aspect of the build — likewise where the engine was concerned. The stock 390ci Cadillac V8 had its bent valves and pushrods replaced, as someone in the States had un-seized the engine the brutal way. While this was being done, the opportunity was taken to freshen up all the ancillaries — from the carburettor down to the starter motor. As the Cadi had only done 55,000 miles, the short block was like new, as were the transmission and diff — none of which has been out of the car. ‘Like new’ is probably the best way to describe much of the finishing, too. With the mechanical side of things sorted and the rust work out of the way, Rangi from DJ Mac Automotive was presented with one hell of a task — smoothing the Cadi’s immense panels for Ian and partner Lorraine Rogers’ choice of deep, gloss black paint. Their success meant that the Cadillac was suddenly on the home stretch, with essentially just the reassembly to be completed.
Of course, in this case, that would be a task about as big as the car itself. We mentioned earlier that it came with most of its original trim, and when these pieces returned from Custom Chrome, each passing day saw Ian and Lorraine dealing with a car that was looking closer and closer to brand-new. The extraordinary standard of build was raised once more by Marty at Beachside Upholstery, whose work completely transformed the dilapidated interior. It’s an automotive mullet: all business up front, but it’s out the back where the party starts. Melding extravagance and functionality, the utilitarian jump seats and floor rollers work perfectly with the swag draperies, V-shaped trim extrusion, and ornamental stamped copper torches. The cabin is every bit as sumptuous as you’d expect from a Cadillac of the era, proving to be the perfect way to road-trip around New Zealand. Completed in time to drive the Cadillac north for Repco Beach Hop 16, where it was placed in the top five cars, Ian and Lorraine have made the most of it over the past couple years, and completed a 1770km road trip around the North Island. This included the Rebel Round Up at Rotorua, Whangamata for Repco Beach Hop 17, spending a week around the Coromandel region, before heading to Meremere for the Nostalgia Drags, then back home to Gisborne. Follow that up with another trip to Repco Beach Hop 18 this year, and the odd jobs and attention it attracts, and it seems as though the old Cadillac hearse may have had enough of death, thanks to its newfound life.