Commercial Auto Dealers

Before the hearse limousines come and take a deceased person to the funeral home or wherever they are going, the person usually has a few last words to say. These can either be funny, ironic, filled with knowledge or just nonsensical words that they are remembered for. On Monday, I posted some of these. Today, I’m going to post a few more of my favorites. I hope you enjoy them, too.

James Dean, just before his fateful crash:
“My fun days are over.”

Al Jolson, entertainer:
“This is it. I’m going. I’m going.”

John F. Kennedy, upon arriving in Dallas in November 1963:
“If someone is going to kill me, they will kill me.”

Malcolm X, just before getting assassinated:
“Cool it, brothers.”

Elvis Presley, at his last press conference:
“I hope I haven’t bored you.”

Ethel Rosenberg, accused of being a foreign spy with her husband:
“We are the first victims of American fascism.”

Dylan Thomas, poet:
“I have just had eighteen whiskeys in a row. I do believe that is a record.”

Voltaire, when asked to renounce Satan on his deathbed:
“This is no time to make new enemies.”

Charlie Chaplin, after the priest said, “May the Lord have mercy on your soul”:
“Why not? After all, it belongs to him.”

Do you have any words you’d like to be remembered for? We’d love to hear them!

One of my favorite things to study is the last words of famous people. I think we can learn a lot about the people and about life from the last piece of wisdom they utter before taken away in funeral hearse limousines. Here are some of my favorite “famous last words” of well-known people.

James French, a man executed with the electric chair in Oklahoma:
“How about this for a headline for tomorrow’s paper? French fries.”

Bob Hope, when asked where he wanted to be buried:
“Surprise me.”

Robert Alton Harris, before being executed in San Quentin:
“You can be a king or a street sweeper, but everyone dances with the Grim Reaper.”

Marie Antionette to her executioner after stepping on his foot:
“Monsieur, I bet your pardon.”

Oscar Wilde, writer:
“Either that wallpaper goes, or I do.”

Lord Palmerston, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom:
“Die, my dear doctor? That is that last thing I shall do.”

Thomas Edison:
“It is very beautiful over there.”

Anna Pavlova, ballerina:
“Get my swan costume ready.”

John Adams, United States President:
“Thomas Jefferson still survives.” (The irony of this statement is that Thomas Jefferson died on the exact same day).

Max Baer, US Heavyweight Champion:
“Oh God, here I go.”

I’ll post more of my favorite “famous last words” on Wednesday. Until then, do you have any words you’d like to be remembered for? If so, feel free to comment and let us know what those words would be.

A couple weeks ago, I posted some vocabulary and lingo that you might hear drivers of hearse limousines say. Because of the special construction of a hearse, there are some terms you might not know when you hear them talking. Today, I’m posting some more of those terms for you.

Carved-Panel Style: This is a style of funeral hearse that hasn’t been around since the 1940s. Typical characteristics include carved pictures on the hearse’s drapery columns. Decorations generally include pressed metal, wood or both.

Church Truck: These are the devices on which the casket is placed to transfer it from the funeral home to the hearse. It’s also the thing that the casket sits on during the funeral.

Combination Style: This is basically a combination of a hearse and an ambulance. It has the equipment that an ambulance needs, including a removable roof light and storage areas for medical equipment, but it’s smaller and resembles the shape of a hearse. These types of vehicles are common in small towns that can’t afford to supply a hearse and an ambulance.

First Call Car: This is a more common-looking vehicle that transports bodies to the hospitals or medical examiners from their place of death. It’s also called a service car.

Flower Car: These vehicles are generally used for carrying the flowers to the burial site once the funeral is over. It also has space for a coffin if needed.

The hearse limousines were present in the nation’s capital last Thursday as mourners gathered to say goodbye to former White House press secretary Tony Snow. I don’t want to make this post into a political thing, but I was a fan of Tony Snow. When other press secretaries took the podium, it seemed to be a snooze fest. But Tony Snow brought something different.

Tony Snow was entertaining when he answered the reporters’ questions. He was sarcastic when somebody asked a stupid question and it always made me cheer. I can’t think of any specific questions or examples except for one time when he told a reporter something like, “Of course not. That’s just stupid.” Who else would say things like that behind the White House’s podium?

President Bush was also in attendance at Snow’s funeral. Of Snow, he said it was a life “far too brief.” He also said that the nation “will always remember his wry sense of humor and abundant goodness. We will also remember he was lots of fun.”

Tony Snow died on Saturday, July 12 of colon cancer. He had another bout with cancer in February 2005 while he was still a commentator at FOX News.

Regardless of your political affiliation, you would have to agree that he brought something different to the press conferences and Q&A sessions with the reporters. His wit and humor will be sadly missed.

The day was August 18, 1977. Mourners left a private ceremony inside Graceland in Memphis, Tennessee to say goodbye to “The King” Elvis Presley. His body was gently placed in a sparkling white 1977 Miller-Meteor Landau Traditional Cadillac, one of the most recognizable hearse limousines at the time. A silver Cadillac limousine was at the front of the long procession that went from Graceland to the nearby Memphis Cemetery.

What happened to that hearse that carried the body of “The King,” though?

One man – Chuck Houston – says he was the last person to drive the hearse in 1984. He got the hearse when the Memphis Funeral Home updated their fleet and got rid of the older cars. Houston’s father was the official owner of the hearse and it was one of his most prized possessions. He agreed to loan it to a funeral director in Florida, but he did this very reluctantly. According to Houston, this was the only funeral hearse that his father really wanted to keep in his 50 years of doing business.

Houston and a friend were driving the hearse to Florida to deliver it to the director there. But on the way there, they ran out of gas. After getting a couple gallons of gas in the car, they were on their way again. But a few miles later, the engine shut off completely and fire shot out from under the hood. This fire eventually engulfed the hearse…the hearse in which Elvis took his last ride.

And that’s what happened to the Elvis’s hearse.

Ask any hearse enthusiast if they’ve seen the 1971 cult classic “Harold and Maude” and they’ll probably tell you how many times they’ve watched it instead of giving you a simple “yes.” That’s because this movie did the same thing for hearse enthusiasts that “The Godfather” did for mob enthusiasts.

The movie focuses on a young man – Harold – who owns a 1959 Cadillac Superior funeral hearse. As a hobby, he enjoys staging mock-suicides. He does this so much that his mother doesn’t even get upset anymore except for the times when he makes a mess with his fake blood. He also enjoys attending the funerals of strangers. This is where he meets 80-year-old Maude – an energetic and impulsive senior citizen. They form a friendship where they both learn from each other.

After a long friendship, the two sleep together. Harold plans on asking Maude to marry him, but he finds out she swallowed a fatal dosage of pills on the day he planned on asking her. In case you haven’t seen it, this is where I’m going to stop the summary so I don’t ruin anything for you.

The film, directed by Hal Ashby, is #45 on the American Film Institute’s list of 100 Year – 100 Laughs. It’s also one of the top 100 American comedies of all time on a list released in 2000. Also, after polling more than 1,500 film lovers, AFI named it as the #9 movie in the romantic comedy genre in June 2008.

So if you’re a hearse limousine enthusiast or if you just enjoy classic dark comedies and film history, check out Harold and Maude. It makes for a fun (and morbid) Friday night.

In the days before funeral limousines, hearses and funeral homes, our ancestors were dying off and being buried in cemeteries. These cemeteries are either older parts of existing cemeteries or they are old cemeteries that no longer take internments. But if you’ve seen the tombstones from these older burials, you can barely read them.

That’s where The Tombstone Transcription Project comes in. This is a unique project in which a group of volunteers “work together to create a lasting tribute to our ancestors.” They do this by transcribing the tombstone inscriptions and archiving them for future generations when the weather and time make those old tombstones unreadable.

Unfortunately, many of these old tombstones are already so worn and withered that they are impossible to read. Since record-keeping wasn’t as common or efficient as it is today, the story of people buried beneath those “impossible to read” stones is virtually indecipherable and gone. By working on this project now, we can all help preserve these stories and memorials of the people who lived before us and made the world what it was and is.

What’s even more interesting about this project is that you can help, too! Regardless of where you live, you can visit a local cemetery where stones are beginning to fade and record those inscriptions. You can even make a fun outing with your local church or even your family. It’s a great way to learn about the past and appreciating the artifacts and people that arose out of our history. You can find more information about registering your transcriptions here.

Why not help become a part of history? Join The Tombstone Transcription Project today!

Here are some more interesting facts from the Top Gear interview with the president and members of the Phantom Hearse Coach Club.

Funeral Hearses are Sensitive Purchases: If you’re in the market for a hearse, you may need to go 70 or 80 miles or more to a town to buy one. Many funeral home owners won’t sell their hearses to somebody local. The reason is because they don’t want someone who has just buried a loved one to see people drinking and having a good time in the hearse that drove them to the grave.

Splinter Groups: The Phantom Coaches Hearse Club is actually a splinter group from the LA Hearse Society that was run by a lady named Catrina Coffin (probably not her real name). Members defected and formed their own group because Coffin’s personality and club was too “gothic,” according to them.

Ticket-Free: “The police never touch us,” said one member of the club. “You can go about any speed you want, especially if it’s got a casket in it.”

Breaking Records: Rock Griffith, one member of the club, has a black 1964 Pontiac Bonneville consort that his parents used to haul concert equipment. It now has an entry in The Guinness Book of Records because it was the fastest hearse at one of the club’s annual drag races. The club itself also has a record for having the most hearses: 53.

Building Up a Collection Is Easy: Robert van Doren, one of the club’s members, is a paperboy for a living. With the low prices of hearses, though, he’s been able to afford seven of them. His favorite is a 1962 Eureka Landau that is exactly like the one that transported Marilyn Monroe.

Are you intrigued? Why not visit your local funeral hearse dealer and get one of these iconic vehicles to own?

The Phantom Hearse Coach Club is one of the more popular clubs in the nation that celebrates the fascination and love of funeral limousines and hearses. It was formed in the spring of 1994 and continues to be a social club in southern California. As a result of its popularity, the magazine Top Gear did an interview with the club a few years ago, but it’s still relevant today. Here are some highlights from that interview.

The Wrong Kind of Attention: The President of the local Los Angeles branch of the Phantom Hearse Coach Club owns a 23-foot Cadillac that bellows as it goes down street. He loves it, but doesn’t love some of the negative attention it sometimes brings. One neighbor even complained to one of his friends that Perrin threatened to kill her and he had a coffin ready for her. Perrin, however, said he never even talked to that particular neighbor.

Terminology: Jeff Perrin is also knows as the Chairman of the Morgue as president of the local branch. Club members also have several names for their hearses, including “stiff shifter,” “terminal taxis,” “check-out chariots” and “coffin carriages.”

International Appeal: The Phantom Hearse Coach Club has chapters in several states and internationally, including Las Vegas, New Orleans and even Australia.

Why Hearse Clubs are so Popular in California: According to member Mark Villarino, hears clubs are more popular in the Golden State because Californians are a “lot less conservative than people from other states.” He also said that hearses in California are in better condition because they don’t go through the extreme weather differences that other states do.

That’s just some of the interesting findings from page one of the interview. We’ll have more fascinating excerpts from the interview in tomorrow’s post.

If you own a hearse that you like to drive around town, you’ve probably noticed some extra attention. Unfortunately, a funeral hearse can often draw attention from the wrong types of people who will try to damage it or take it for themselves. But there are some precautions you can take to ensure that your hearse stays safe and sound. Following are some tips for protecting your hearse from the people who don’t understand the concept of “personal property.”

Keep your hearse inside. If you have a garage, keep your hearse parked inside. Few things deter a would-be thief more than keeping it indoors.

Park in lighted areas. If you must leave your hearse at night, try to find a lighted area in which to park. Thieves are less likely to try anything wit a vehicle that is parked in a lighted area.

Get an alarm. Most people don’t pay any attention to car alarms anymore, but they are a deterrent to thieves. If it’s sensitive enough, the alarm will scare the thieves away before they have a chance to do anything.

Cover your hearse at night. With a car cover, you hearse will be less noticeable and it won’t draw as much attention from passersby.

Make sure you have a good insurance policy. It’s impossible to prevent anything from happening to your hearse or any car for that matter. But with a comprehensive insurance policy, you can mitigate any out-of-pocket expenses if something does happen.