The short version for me is that I was that kid who, for whatever reason, pointed and said "ooh" whenever I saw a hearse go by, and at funerals had to be told by my parents that going over to the hearse wasn't appropriate. The short version is I never grew out of that! I know I have one family ancestor who owned a funeral home, and based on stories handed down in the family, must have been good at it as his personal car was a Rolls Royce. But he died long before I was born, so I have no first-person connection with him.
The longer story is I was at a car show while in high school, and a Henney Packard flower car was there. At the time, I had no idea what it was. I thought it was someone's custom idea of a Packard El Camino, but I didn't understand the stainless steel bedcover or the Henney nameplates on the front fenders.
I was so curious about the car that I went to my public library, and in a Packard book found reference to Henney being Packard's hearse and ambulance builder. Well the library also had a copy of "The Black Book", and I wasted no time checking it out, and then renewing the check out, while I read it cover to cover. There I not only learned about Henney, but I learned that what I had seen was a flower car, what a flower car was, and the story behind the hearse industry in general. Prior to that book, I was at least knowledgeable enough that I knew that Cadillac didn't build their own hearses, but I did not know names such as Superior, S&S, etc. I "blame" finding that book for turning my childhood curiosity into an adult interest!
At age 24, the car I had at the time, which was a hand-me-down from my mom in high school and is the only "normal" car I've ever owned, decided it was time to be replaced. Well, I decided why not look into getting a hearse. An internet search revealed a hearse dealer in my area, and also revealed the PCS. I imagine many of you had the same reaction that I did when I found out about this club, "There's other people into these cars too?!" Thanks to that internet search, I became both a pro car owner and a PCS member within a month of each other.
That car is my 1980 Superior Cadillac landau, which I still proudly own. Naturally, after joining the club, I began learning way more about pro cars than I ever dreamed there was to know, and began learning that in addition to the major manufacturers, there were almost countless other small and experimental firms that only built cars by the handful. As someone who's always been drawn to the unusual and unique, it was those cars that really caught my interest.
Well I could go on and on and turn this into a novel, but the very short version is that it became an addiction that bloomed and blossomed real well. I became a life member after only a couple years, have hosted an International Meet, and just last week I added car #10 to my collection (a milestone number!). Car #10 is also my first ambulance (and for those who know how rare and unusual my collection is, it fits right in
), so with that addition, I believe I now have at least one of each professional car body style except for a service car. And somehow I suspect one of those will come along eventually!
