The story
Since you brought it up, Tim, here's the story for everyone else. Back in the mid-nineties while I was managing a mortuary/cemetery combo in So. Cal., we received a call from a mortuary up in Oregon who wanted to schedule an interment in our cemetery. What was odd about the request was that rather than handle this arrangement as a "ship-out", they were planning on driving to CA with the deceased and directing a Catholic church service down the street from us. Our only involvement (other than cemetery related services) was to file for a CA disposition permit and hold the body in our mortuary over night. They mentioned in our telephone conversation that the funeral coach was a 1959! I stuck around that evening with the intention of photographing a M-M, Superior, S&S, or maybe even a Eureka. Much to my surprise, they rolled in with an even rarer Comet Olds. During the course of the trip, they blew 3 tires, and an exhaust manifold gasket. After the mass the following morning, they pulled into our cemetery with a line of cars behind them, with the Olds sounding much like a John Deer tractor. I'm sure in retrospect, they regretted the decision, but being a 25 case-a-year mortuary, they wanted to keep as much revenue as possible for themselves.
Attached are a couple of photos I took that day. While the car is still 100% complete some 16 years later, it has suffered some from its storage over the years. Most of the chrome has the typical coastal area pitting, and the humidity has left much of the interior spotted in black mold. How well this can be cleaned off "remains to be seen", as they say in the funeral business.
By the way, those non-factory mouldings will have to go.
Terry
