have been following various posts on here for a while now, but have never formally introduced myself. My name is Frank Redmond, I'm 41 years old, live in Bowie, Texas with my other half, Chris of 10 years and I collect, restore and yes, even hot od hearses from time to time.
I have been an avid fan of hearse's since I was 14 years old and a Sunday afternoon cruise with the family and stopping at a hearse dealer (Dad was looking for one to haul newspapers, he ended up buying yet another piece together station wagon). I, however had fallen in love with this massive car and knew I had to have one. I'd spend the next 24 years looking, wishing, attempting to buy one, but just wasn't in the cards.
At age 38 (3 years ago), I found one that was about what I was looking for, pre-1977, Cadillac, landau that was relatively close to where I live, was informed it ran and would go down the highway and the price was reasonable. I went ahead and bought the car thru Ebay basically sight unseen. It was in far worse shape in person than the pictures told on the ad. That was okay as I was at that time running my own shop and doing custom cars for a living. It was an okay driver for a car and did drive it on a regular basis, that is until two unfortunate happenings. The 1st was coming back from Wihita Falls, Texas (50 miles away) and went to pass a car and had to downshift to get the tank rolling. Upon my return to Bowie, it seems I had done something to the transmission and had the crossmember mount shift and snap. I was able to drive it yet around town (speed limit in town is 20mph and 1st/2nd worked manually). Did some work on the transmission and thought I'd repaired it, so took it out one of the highways and at 55mph, the hood came flying up, bending the hood, destroying the hinges, but NOT touching the commercial windshield! At this point, it was decided to park it completely, come up with a plan and then start modifications.
http://s150.photobucket.com/albums/s89/HotRodHearseGuy/Cerberus%20-%201974%20Superior%20Cadillac%20Crown%20Sovereign/Fast forward to April 2005 and the Pate Swap Meet at Texas Motor Speedway. As mentioned, I was operating a small but semi-successful custom car shop and had gone to Pate to locate some hard to find parts for a customer project. I was wandering around and stopped at this one space and looking, there is a board with pictures of cars for sale. I take a look as I'm always looking for a project of my own when I have time and what do I see, two pictures of a 1953 Superior Cadillac Combination hearse. I get to looking closre and closer and this is a COMPLETE COACH, including the rear loading door glass! Only problem, it's near Tyler, Texas, I live in Bowie and have no trailer to pick it up. Deal is struck anyway, says it can stay as long as needed and good to go. Here we go again.....basically another sight unseen coach, but I already know it has been in farmer' field's for a decade and am prepared for when I finally pick it up TWO YEARS, THREE MONTHS LATER. For pics, please click on the link
http://s150.photobucket.com/albums/s89/HotRodHearseGuy/Esmeralda%20-%201953%20Superior%20Cadillac%20Combination/. I had medical & family issues starting a month after buying it and then still continuing today with the medical and health, being paralyzed/on life support last year. 2006 would also see the purchase of another coach from a friend, a 1969 Miller-Meteor Cadillac 3way that was definitely a project and would be best suited as some kind of hot rod limo/hearse. This would be the end of me and hearse buying/restoring/customizing for a while as two weeks later (May 25, 2006), I would end up in ICU suffering from Guillian-Barre Syndrome
http://www.ninds.nih.gov/disorders/gbs/detail_gbs.htm and would spend the next 4.5 months in either ICU or a "Skilled Nursing Facility" on life support and paralyzed from the neck down. I was released in mid-August last year, sent home and am still recovering from the residual affects.
Fast, fast forward to January 2007. I'm talking with some friends who run a hearse club in Kansas and brought up the topic of trying to launch the Route 66 Hearse Cruise we'd talked about our two club's doing the year before when I got sick. I should point out that in February 2006, I had started a Yahoo Group Hearse Club (has now gone to being a live, functioning organization) for those like myself who don't fit into the PCS style coaches or the Goth/Haunter coaches, but for those inbetween and hot rooders. I think there is a place for all of us who have the desire and want to own a hearse.
Anyway, we talked about it and I started making some well placed calls, see what kind of response and went from there. We're now less than a month away from hosting the 1st Annual "Get Your Kicks On Route 66 Hearse, Hot Rod and Classic Car Cruise & Show"
http://route66hearsecruise.bravehost.com being held September 20-23, 2007 starting in Joplin, MO and ending in Elk City, OK with a 20 vehicle class car show, including for this year FOUR HEARSE AND PROCAR CLASSES. We're hoping to get enough interest where we can add and break down the classes in years to follow.
Having this Cruise created a small problem for me. I had planned to have my 1953 Superior in mechanical running shape (is being done as a resto-rod for I drive my cars on a regular basis and I'm using ALL Cadillac for the donor parts). However with Dr's orders saying no more strenuous work, I was not going to have this done. My other half then informs me that I have $1000.00 to either put into my 1974 Superior to make it mechanically running or I could find another car. I had seen on Ebay a few days before a 1987 Eureka Cadillac Concours in Tulsa with a "BIN" of $1250.00. The pics looked great, I had checkd the place out and found them to be a reputable DEALER (1st time for me buying this way and I HIGHLY recommend this method unless it's truly a rare and unique coach). After talking with the salesman on the phone that weekend, a deal was struck and I would meet him in Sallisaw, OK and ride with him to pick up the coach in Pine Bluff, AR. I know....yet another sight unseen coach. I however felt confident as the 1987 had also come from this Funeral Home. When we got there, I figured I'd see the coach right away, no, nowhere to be found. Seems that it was still in the garage and had to be pulled out. All I can say, I was FLOORED. My salesman thought it was also a Eureka, which I was extremely excited about as that was the re-introduction year for the coach builder as a Canadian company. However, to my amazement, it was a 1981 Sayer & Scoville Cadillac Victoria. It LOOKED NEW! The only down side to this new coach, is it had a repaint (Deep Black) some time back (still fresh and clean looking), but this had been a custom built S&S as it was originally Sterling Silver, black cobra top and black cloth brocade interior front and rear. Everything including the factory radio and power antenna works on this coach. The link for her is at
http://s150.photobucket.com/albums/s89/HotRodHearseGuy/1981%20S%20and%20S%20Cadillac%20Victoria/. This is also my "mature" coach and where I am now. After picking up the coach, seeing what needs to be repaired or replace, this is one coach that will remain virtually stock in all appearances and functioning. Under the recommendation of Joe Bunn at Accubuilt, I have decided that it was time to join the PCS as this coach definitely is a nice coach and maybe my "sins" can be overlooked with my other ones. I feel that all of us, be it Goth/Haunter, Hot Rodder, Stock/Original/Restored should be able to enjoy this hobby together. I'm also in application status with the CLC and Modified Chapter. it is GREAT to have those rare and historical examples, however, the younger generations, including myself have neither the time nor resources to buy or restore one, so we do the next best thing, we save them from abuse and neglect and do what our parents and grandparents did, personalize them to suit our INDIVIDUAL tastes. I'm not saying this to upset ANYONE, however, most of these International Organizations are also chasing away the younger generations for the strictness of the rules on these vehicles. The younger generations eventually will have the money to buy and restore these classics, but if they're chastised now, they're going to do what they do.
Well, now that I've told my life story and gotten on a soapbox (my apologies), I look forward to learning more and doing more within this most unique and interesting hobby.
Frank Redmond
