Charleston mortician, car buff restores rare 1959 Cadillac hearse
http://www.postandcourier.com/news/2012/jan/14/pslyhearse/
West Ashley funeral director Marvin Pasley is what you might call a hearse enthusiast.
Photo by Leroy Burnell
The Post and Courier
Rev. Marvin Pasley, funeral director at Pasley’s Mortuary west of the Ashley, shows off a classic 1959 Cadillac hearse acquired five years ago and recently restored. The mortuary has employed the rare hearse in a few burials.
He owned a classic 1945 Cadillac Superior hearse for years and just bought a ’56 model which clearly was used for purposes other than funerals: it’s painted light blue.
Those are fine fix-up projects for the undertaker, who is director of Pasley’s Mortuary on 5th Avenue in Maryville.
But to tell the truth, Pasley has had an overriding ambition: to restore a storied model hardly seen these days except in movies, so valued that funeral homes don’t want to part with them.
His quest started years ago. He poured over ads in The Professional Car, a trade magazine for hobbyists and morticians who seek to preserve the history of funeral coaches. He trolled websites devoted to antique cars.
Then five years ago, he found the model he was looking for — a 1959 Cadillac hearse — on eBay. He bought the car for $7,000.
“I think the 1959 is the best Cadillac (hearse) there is,” Pasley said.
Photo by Leroy Burnell
The Post and Courier
Curtains shade the inside of the wagon where the casket is placed. The hearse’s model name, Victoria, is on the side.
He has a personal reason to be interested in that model, too. In the Goose Creek neighborhood where he grew up, a funeral director who lived nearby owned a ’59 Cadillac hearse.
“I admired him,” he said. Pasley as a fourth grader would watch the funeral lines pass by. “I loved that car.”
The hearse is distinctive for its streamlined body, tail fins and a toothy front grille. Yet Cadillac only built that style for three years, 1957-59. The ’59, notably with a Miller-Meteor body, is best known today in films. It was the Ecto-1 in the Ghostbusters movies.
Since buying the 53-year-old hearse, Pasley has pieced together some of its history.
The long-bodied vehicle, with Victoria design and S&S body, spent its early years ferrying caskets for a Texas funeral home. It was more than just a hearse, too, the model was among a limited number that Cadillac built to double as a “flower car” carrying floral arrangements from place to place.
Photo by Leroy Burnell
The Post and Courier
The Cadillac has a distinctive grille with tooth-like metal points and two sets of dual headlights.
But time had not been kind. At some point, the hearse wound up at a funeral home that went out of business. The station wagon-like vehicle was abandoned. “The new property owners dragged it out and put it on the street,” he said.
A collector procured the hearse and planned a restoration but ended up unloading the car, which would be locked in a garage for 20 years.
A second collector got hold of the hearse and showed the model on a website. Pasley had contacted the Professional Car Society to let them know he was looking for classic hearses. Pittsburgh-based hearse collector John Elmer guided him to research about the hearse and eventually to eBay.
Photo by Leroy Burnell
The Post and Courier
S&S (Sayers and Scovill) was the coach builder for the 53-year-old hearse.
Buying the car though, was just the beginning.
The lower sides of the body were totally rusted. Fortunately the original 390 cubic inch engine with four barrel carburetor still worked. Sitting idle for eight years, it cranked on the first try. But all the working parts needed cleaning and care. Plus there were scores of cosmetic details to tackle.
After having the hearse towed as-is from Austin, Texas, to the Charleston area, Pasley moved the vehicle to Pete’s Body Shop, a noted West Ashley locale.
The funeral director has an inches thick book of photos showing the work as the extra-long vehicle was taken apart, repaired, retooled and put back together. Then the hearse was hauled to an engine expert on Wadmalaw Island, who finished the labor.
Photo by Leroy Burnell
The Post and Courier
Twin taillight fins mark the back of the Cadillac.
By then, it was early summer 2010. Pasley was all set to put the hearse to use in funerals. But minor mishaps, such as a broken headlight and troubles with the carburetor held him up.
By last fall, the hearse was finally ready for its debut. The black Cadillac, which just topped 40,000 miles, has taken part in a few funeral processions in the past three months. Sightseers are impressed. And Pasley’s take? “Wonderful.”
Pasley figures the restoration work, which also included renovating the seats and windows, cost at least $30,000. “It’s an original car, most everything is original,” he said.
The funeral director isn’t finished with his restoration plans. He intends on refurbishing the light blue ’56 model, bought in Oregon with 60,000 miles on it.
But the hearse from Texas is Pasley’s baby. “The best Cadillac they made,” he said, “was a ’59.”
http://www.postandcourier.com/news/2012/jan/14/pslyhearse/
West Ashley funeral director Marvin Pasley is what you might call a hearse enthusiast.
Photo by Leroy Burnell
The Post and Courier
Rev. Marvin Pasley, funeral director at Pasley’s Mortuary west of the Ashley, shows off a classic 1959 Cadillac hearse acquired five years ago and recently restored. The mortuary has employed the rare hearse in a few burials.
He owned a classic 1945 Cadillac Superior hearse for years and just bought a ’56 model which clearly was used for purposes other than funerals: it’s painted light blue.
Those are fine fix-up projects for the undertaker, who is director of Pasley’s Mortuary on 5th Avenue in Maryville.
But to tell the truth, Pasley has had an overriding ambition: to restore a storied model hardly seen these days except in movies, so valued that funeral homes don’t want to part with them.
His quest started years ago. He poured over ads in The Professional Car, a trade magazine for hobbyists and morticians who seek to preserve the history of funeral coaches. He trolled websites devoted to antique cars.
Then five years ago, he found the model he was looking for — a 1959 Cadillac hearse — on eBay. He bought the car for $7,000.
“I think the 1959 is the best Cadillac (hearse) there is,” Pasley said.
Photo by Leroy Burnell
The Post and Courier
Curtains shade the inside of the wagon where the casket is placed. The hearse’s model name, Victoria, is on the side.
He has a personal reason to be interested in that model, too. In the Goose Creek neighborhood where he grew up, a funeral director who lived nearby owned a ’59 Cadillac hearse.
“I admired him,” he said. Pasley as a fourth grader would watch the funeral lines pass by. “I loved that car.”
The hearse is distinctive for its streamlined body, tail fins and a toothy front grille. Yet Cadillac only built that style for three years, 1957-59. The ’59, notably with a Miller-Meteor body, is best known today in films. It was the Ecto-1 in the Ghostbusters movies.
Since buying the 53-year-old hearse, Pasley has pieced together some of its history.
The long-bodied vehicle, with Victoria design and S&S body, spent its early years ferrying caskets for a Texas funeral home. It was more than just a hearse, too, the model was among a limited number that Cadillac built to double as a “flower car” carrying floral arrangements from place to place.
Photo by Leroy Burnell
The Post and Courier
The Cadillac has a distinctive grille with tooth-like metal points and two sets of dual headlights.
But time had not been kind. At some point, the hearse wound up at a funeral home that went out of business. The station wagon-like vehicle was abandoned. “The new property owners dragged it out and put it on the street,” he said.
A collector procured the hearse and planned a restoration but ended up unloading the car, which would be locked in a garage for 20 years.
A second collector got hold of the hearse and showed the model on a website. Pasley had contacted the Professional Car Society to let them know he was looking for classic hearses. Pittsburgh-based hearse collector John Elmer guided him to research about the hearse and eventually to eBay.
Photo by Leroy Burnell
The Post and Courier
S&S (Sayers and Scovill) was the coach builder for the 53-year-old hearse.
Buying the car though, was just the beginning.
The lower sides of the body were totally rusted. Fortunately the original 390 cubic inch engine with four barrel carburetor still worked. Sitting idle for eight years, it cranked on the first try. But all the working parts needed cleaning and care. Plus there were scores of cosmetic details to tackle.
After having the hearse towed as-is from Austin, Texas, to the Charleston area, Pasley moved the vehicle to Pete’s Body Shop, a noted West Ashley locale.
The funeral director has an inches thick book of photos showing the work as the extra-long vehicle was taken apart, repaired, retooled and put back together. Then the hearse was hauled to an engine expert on Wadmalaw Island, who finished the labor.
Photo by Leroy Burnell
The Post and Courier
Twin taillight fins mark the back of the Cadillac.
By then, it was early summer 2010. Pasley was all set to put the hearse to use in funerals. But minor mishaps, such as a broken headlight and troubles with the carburetor held him up.
By last fall, the hearse was finally ready for its debut. The black Cadillac, which just topped 40,000 miles, has taken part in a few funeral processions in the past three months. Sightseers are impressed. And Pasley’s take? “Wonderful.”
Pasley figures the restoration work, which also included renovating the seats and windows, cost at least $30,000. “It’s an original car, most everything is original,” he said.
The funeral director isn’t finished with his restoration plans. He intends on refurbishing the light blue ’56 model, bought in Oregon with 60,000 miles on it.
But the hearse from Texas is Pasley’s baby. “The best Cadillac they made,” he said, “was a ’59.”
