'60 Eureka and '62 Miller Meteor hearses in England

[Russell Schacter]

Recently joined and just paid so hought I'd introduce you all to my professional cars, maybe one or both are already known to members of the club ?

Other than a few silly bits the black Eureka is a fully operational vehicle which needs a cosmetic overhaul. This car was brought into the UK a couple of years ago by a guy called James Stringer, I believe his father Eddie may have been on this forum discussing various aspects of the car which needed a massive amount of work underneath due to tin worm. Thankfully 99% of this has now been professionally rebuilt and only a minor bit of welding remains to be done to the rear of the chassis by the back bumper.

Trimwise I believe I have pretty much everything for the car but could do with a set of commercial wheels and '60 hubcaps (I have a perfect set of '59 standard wheel and hubcaps which will do for the time being), I intend to begin a full exterior and interior restoration fairly early next year.

The MM is absolutely beautiful - I bought this from a dealer in Germany last month and other than a bit of paint recification, some lighting gremlins to sort out and a gear change problem - won't change up to 3rd or 4th due the car being fitted with an edelbrock carb which pushes the TV rod the wrong way, it's complete and drives great. I'll try to sort this out asap by modifying the carb linkage.

This post is only really a quick "hello", any replies or comments gratefully received.

Russ

 

[Paul Steinberg]

Welcome to the Professional Car Society, and the Friends of the Professional Car Society. You own two very attractive cars, and the 1962 is one of my favorite years of Cadillac. Your two cars are classics in every sense of the word.
I would suggest that you consider abandoning the Edelbrock carburetor and replace it with the correct carburetor that originally came with the vehicle. That way, you will have the proper part that will be compatible with the transmission shifting linkage, etc.. There were two carburetor's available back then, a Carter and a Rochester. Both of them had the same base plate bolt configuration, so it is difficult to know which one came with your car. If the Edelbrock is an exact replacement for the Carter, and it doesn't fit properly as to the linkage, then your car probably came with the Rochester 4 GC carburetor. Does the car still have its original intake manifold? Possibly if you can get some casting numbers, I might be able to research this and figure out the correct part for your car.
Paul
PCS Past President 2012 - 2014
Senior Website Administrator

 

[Russell Schacter]

Welcome to the Professional Car Society, and the Friends of the Professional Car Society. You own two very attractive cars, and the 1962 is one of my favorite years of Cadillac. Your two cars are classics in every sense of the word.
I would suggest that you consider abandoning the Edelbrock carburetor and replace it with the correct carburetor that originally came with the vehicle. That way, you will have the proper part that will be compatible with the transmission shifting linkage, etc.. There were two carburetor's available back then, a Carter and a Rochester. Both of them had the same base plate bolt configuration, so it is difficult to know which one came with your car. If the Edelbrock is an exact replacement for the Carter, and it doesn't fit properly as to the linkage, then your car probably came with the Rochester 4 GC carburetor. Does the car still have its original intake manifold? Possibly if you can get some casting numbers, I might be able to research this and figure out the correct part for your car.
Paul
PCS Past President 2012 - 2014
Senior Website Administrator

Hi Paul,

Thanks for this, it's my intention to do exactly this - I prefer originality unless the car is heavily modified. In the interim I need to just get the car shifting gear so will modify the carb linkage so overcome the problem for now. The inlet is original so an easy swap - I'll check the casting number next time I'm with the car and let you know.

I have 6 other Cadillacs from '41 to '68 inc. a lime green '62 Coupe which was restored on the UK TV program Wheeler Dealers so share your love of the '62. Pic attached.

 

[Dan Brintlinger]

Classic Hearse Register?

Russell: I'm just curious if you are a member of the Classic Hearse Register, there in the UK? I've been a member for several years, but we haven't made it to any functions yet.............Dan Brintlinger, Decatur, IL (between Chicago and St Louis)

 

[Russell Schacter]

Russell: I'm just curious if you are a member of the Classic Hearse Register, there in the UK? I've been a member for several years, but we haven't made it to any functions yet.............Dan Brintlinger, Decatur, IL (between Chicago and St Louis)

Hi Dan,

In truth I didn't even know that existed - the entire hearse thing has only happened in the past few months so it's new territory for me.

If you have any details I'd appreciate it.

 

[Bill Marcy]

Hello Russell! Welcome! You have two beauties and you deserve to be very proud of them.

Do my eyes deceive me, or does the 60 have blanked-out corner windows? If it does, I have not seen that on a Eureka before.

I sure hope you like it in the PCS and here on the Message Board, you will find this a friendly place with lots of information you can use.

 

[Russell Schacter]

Hello Russell! Welcome! You have two beauties and you deserve to be very proud of them.

Do my eyes deceive me, or does the 60 have blanked-out corner windows? If it does, I have not seen that on a Eureka before.

I sure hope you like it in the PCS and here on the Message Board, you will find this a friendly place with lots of information you can use.

Hi Dan, thanks for the welcome.

I believe the eureka is called a limousine style, I've attached an image of a brochure I found of the exact car.

 

[Bill Marcy]

Hi Dan, thanks for the welcome.

I believe the eureka is called a limousine style, I've attached an image of a brochure I found of the exact car.

You are correct, it is limousine-style. However, I am referring to the corner windows,or in this case the lack of them, they appear blanked-out.

 

[Mike Boyer]

Welcome Russel
Love the old Eureka

 

[Russell Schacter]

You are correct, it is limousine-style. However, I am referring to the corner windows,or in this case the lack of them, they appear blanked-out.

Maybe it's just the photo I posted but unless I'm missing something the car is exactly as the poster shows.

Here's another photo of the rear quarter

 

[Russell Schacter]

Welcome Russel
Love the old Eureka

Me too Mike.

Im pretty certain that these are a rare sight on the US but driving one of these around central London is one hell of an experience I can tell you !

People just don't know how to react and their expressions are priceless !!

 

[Dan Brintlinger]

Classic Hearse Register

You will find the website at : classichearse.co.uk

I believe you will have another warm welcome on that side of "the pond", as well as from us in Professional Car Society!

Welcome to our organization! We hope to meet you sometime soon!

 

[Dan Brintlinger]

wrong address!

Sorry! The address is: hearseclub.co.uk

Sorry 'bout that!

 

[Philip Scanio]

Thanks, Russell. You have some beautiful cars. I'm a new kid on the block but I can tell you that PCS members have been very nice and helpful.

 

[Russell Schacter]

Thanks, Russell. You have some beautiful cars. I'm a new kid on the block but I can tell you that PCS members have been very nice and helpful.

I have to say it's been a very warm welcome so far and I thank you all for that.

It's funny really, I had no specific interest in these cars before I stumbled across the Eureka on ebay a while back. I collect Cadillacs and when I showed it to my other half she said "you've got to buy that !" (God bless her) so I called the owner, we had a chat and it turned out the car was only 15 miles from where I live so he brought it over for me to see. I knew straight away I had to have it. I placed a couple of bids but the reserve wasn't met but we kept in touch. Cutting a long story short I made him an offer which he refused but after trying again to sell it on ebay my offer was accepted and I bought the car. It turns out that, no matter how rare they may be, strangely enough not too many people in the UK are crazy enough to want an old Cadillac hearse. Welcome to my world !

I couldn't believe how something so ugly could be so beautiful. In some ways I like it as it is, sort of ratty. In fact at the moment I've fitted a rusty set of '59 wheels without hubcaps which enhances the rat look even more. Its only like this at the moment and I really want to get the restoration under way ASAP.

Once I had this one I started looking at other hearse prices (these aren't that easy to find) and stumbled across the White '62 MM in Germany and thought "Wow - that's absolutely beautiful" so called the German dealer and had a chat about the car. It turned out the the car was about 30 miles from a close, car restorer friend in Holland who went to see the car on my behalf. Other than the few gremlins mentioned in the first post in this thread it's quite stunning - someone has obviously put some time and effort in on this one.

It's not perfect but making it so would be pretty simple as its complete - the interior is stunning and I will post more pictures when on my pc if anyone's interested - currently I'm posting via an iPhone and posting more than one picture at one time is a problem as all the stored images all have the same name so the new one keeps overwriting the previous one etc.

Here's one more - note the wrong carb and air filter so if anyone has original replacements for sale please PM me. I also need the engine cooling fan surround as this is missing.

 

[Martyn Donaldson]

Do my eyes deceive me, or does the 60 have blanked-out corner windows? If it does, I have not seen that on a Eureka before.

Bill, nothing is "blanked out" on Russell's Eureka, it was built that way. Eureka's standard Limousine style did not have corner windows, they were optional. Eureka literature of the time referred to the optional corner windows as "full vision styling".

A couple of excerpts from a '60 Eureka brochure -





And a factory photo of a Limousine style with full vision styling -




Russell, welcome to the world of professional cars and congratulations on acquiring two fine specimens!

 

[Darren Bedford]

Russell

Welcome to the PCS

I have 2 1960s and 2 1962s so you have the same years as I do.

Both are awesome and I hope you enjoy the cars as much as I do mine.

:thumbsup:

Darren

 

[Bill Marcy]

Bill, nothing is "blanked out" on Russell's Eureka, it was built that way. Eureka's standard Limousine style did not have corner windows, they were optional. Eureka literature of the time referred to the optional corner windows as "full vision styling".

A couple of excerpts from a '60 Eureka brochure -





And a factory photo of a Limousine style with full vision styling -




Russell, welcome to the world of professional cars and congratulations on acquiring two fine specimens!

Martyn, thank you for the clarification, I had not realized that the corner windows were an option. As I was saying though, I don't recall seeing any Eurekas without the corner windows. Besides, I thought it was interesting to see.

 

[John ED Renstrom]

if I'm understanding you right your trying to get the 62 to shift into 4th? the th-400 is a three speed. they do sound wound out in third compared to a over drive one. they did not have one till mid 80s. there is a lot one can do to clean up the interior of the eureka. without loosing the original. remember if both sides look the same it good to go. a small flap in the bottom of the door trim would give you a clean edge and tuck behind that molding.

 

[Russell Schacter]

if I'm understanding you right your trying to get the 62 to shift into 4th? the th-400 is a three speed. they do sound wound out in third compared to a over drive one. they did not have one till mid 80s. there is a lot one can do to clean up the interior of the eureka. without loosing the original. remember if both sides look the same it good to go. a small flap in the bottom of the door trim would give you a clean edge and tuck behind that molding.

John, the '62 has a 4 speed Hydramatic, the TH-400 wasn't introduced until later on. I know that the problem is in that the TV rod needs to be pushed forward when accelerating to control shifting. With the current bracket on the edelbrock the TV Rod is being pushed backwards so won't ever work correctly. I should be able to rectify it temporarily but ultimately want the correct carb.

There are many threadbare and ripped up areas in the '60 interior so I don't really see any option other than to fully redo it. It wasn't my original intention to use these cars for their original purpose but I think there would be interest over here for these for funerals so the eureka would need to be at the very least in far better, if not condition immaculate condition.

Any pointers re trim and materials would be appreciated.