Dumb things people say......

[Paul Steinberg]

If you think the ghost buster yelling is annoying, consider this...... A middle aged woman (40's or 50's) walked up to the Chrysler ambulance while it was on display at the 2009 Chrysler Convention in Vernon CT, and asked me if the squad bench, which she referred to as "the large cooler" was where they put the bodies of the people that died in the car. I explained that it was a bench for the attendants, and had storage space underneath. Somehow, I think that she still thinks that it is a storage cooler for the bodies... and just think... she probably voted in the last election... :D

[Rick Franklin]

I was at a local show recently with my hearse and was parked next to a friend with his 55 and 62 Thunderbirds. One 40-ish woman was admiring the 55 Bird and when she read the window card that described it as a "1955 THUNDERBIRD", she exclaimed to her companion "Ohhhh, its a Thunderbird. I always thought these were T-Birds!".....She must be related to Pauls cooler lady!

[Richard Vyse]

And yet I overhear a couple discussing my Lifeliner and the man asks me, "Why did you make this hearse into an ambulance?" The things you hear people say when you don't have your gun!:thumbsdown:

[John ED Renstrom]

still remember the farmer in Mt Carroll Il that was admiring the 86 as we came out of the grocery store. when I opened the trunk he asked, Did that use to be a limo? he must have been married to the chy lady.

[Doug Kelley]

And they walk among us................................................ .

[Jerry Jacobson]

And they walk among us................................................ .

.....and vote!:eek:

[Todd Merrifield]

I was at a car show and a guy was looking over my ambulance. I have the front part of the headliner out, and I had someone tell me the two big holes on a double-walled section near the roof were there for optional spotlights. He was so sure of himself, I didn't have the heart to tell him they were where I unbolted the sunvisors from.

[John Dorgan]

And probably for Obama.

If you think the ghost buster yelling is annoying, consider this...... A middle aged woman (40's or 50's) walked up to the Chrysler ambulance while it was on display at the 2009 Chrysler Convention in Vernon CT, and asked me if the squad bench, which she referred to as "the large cooler" was where they put the bodies of the people that died in the car. I explained that it was a bench for the attendants, and had storage space underneath. Somehow, I think that she still thinks that it is a storage cooler for the bodies... and just think... she probably voted in the last election... :D

[Joe Melanson]

I have a dent in the front left fender where it looks like someone hit it with a ball pein hammer at some point. I love the folks at shows who like to help me out by saying,"Did ya know you had a dent in the front fender?" I just answer the with a look of surprise and say "No, really?!! where?!!" and let them point it out to me. They seem so satisfied with themselves. I just play along and grin (and thank the good Lord that we don't share DNA - LOL)

[Russell Dalziel]

.....and vote!:eek:

Does not Mean they have a PULSE LOL


Russ

[Bill Marcy]

I am constantly amazed at the remarks people make when referring to antique cars in general and professional cars in particular, a few examples;

1 We had the '56 Meteor ambulance on display at a 50TH anniversary party of a local squad, upon seeing the ambulance, I heard an elderly female squad member ask intellectually "Where did you get the tricked-out hearse?

2 I was showing a friend of mine my '67 Miller Meteor Classic 48 and it's pull-up window shades, that seem like they were never used. Mind you, he has some knowledge of professional cars, but he asked me if I thought my ambulance was originally a hearse, imagine?

3 How many times do you hear "Are you the original owner?" Once as I was standing by my '61 Eureka combination, I was asked that question. Being born in 1956, I promptly said "Yes, when I was five years old, I went to the dealer and picked it up."

4 Is it all original? As you are pulling out of MAACO.

I guess we've all heard this stuff, but sometimes you've just got to laugh!

[Terry Broussard]

Since my car is a bit more mobile now, I too am plagued by the "Ghostbusters" shouts. In fact, I just downloaded an iPhone app called "DashCam" just so I can try to capture some of these on my rides.

Anyone willing to share what they have on their window cards for shows, etc? I am pulling together data for my '72 Pontiac Superior.

Paragraph one: Not Ghostbusters.....

Any samples of your window cards would be great.

Thanks, and Happy New Year!

[Shawn Blyler]

I actually had a lady walk up to my car at a show and say to her husband, "Oh, look, it's a hearse, how creepy!" and then run off. Uh, does my car look ANYTHING like a hearse? And just were in the world would the casket go anyway?? Makes you wonder about some people.....:bonk:

[Josh Horton]

I have a 3-ring binder that I put out at car show and cruise ins. I have different pages, engine info, hearse article out if magazines, and a few other pages. But the page I turn it to when I put it out is "the question page. I have gotten the same questions so many times that I made a page for people to read before they ask me. Here is a picture of it. It has some glare on the picture, but you can still read it. There are a couple of misspelling, but most people don't notice them, not even me.

http://i179.photobucket.com/albums/w310/abnorml_13/Abbie/th_100_0320.jpg (http://s179.photobucket.com/albums/w310/abnorml_13/Abbie/?action=view&current=100_0320.jpg)

[Josh Horton]

I actually had a lady walk up to my car at a show and say to her husband, "Oh, look, it's a hearse, how creepy!" and then run off. Uh, does my car look ANYTHING like a hearse? And just were in the world would the casket go anyway?? Makes you wonder about some people.....:bonk:
Your car doesn't look like a hearse, but would look great with a hearse. :thumbsup:

[Robert Shepard]

Q - Is this a real ambulance?

A - As opposed to what?

Q – Has anyone died in it?

A – No one dies in an ambulance, they die in the hospital.

Comment – The floor in your ambulance looks just like what my grandmother has in her kitchen.

Replies – She must really love ambulances.

I’ve never heard that before.

Thanks; I’ll sleep better tonight knowing that.

Q - Is this a hearse (hurst)?

A - Yes; and the red lights and sirens are there for those who are in a hurry to get to the memorial park.

A – Yes.

Comment – This looks just like the Ghostbusters car.

Replies – Yes; 1959 and 1975 Cadillac’s do look exactly the same.

In what way?

Q – Are the curtains closed when you carry dead people?

A – Only for the ones that are shy.

Q – How long did it take you to build it?

A- It was a long process; I started out with a VW bug and just kept adding on.

Comment – Cadillac never made ambulances.

Reply – You are correct.

Q – Is this ambulance still in service?

A – Yes, for the exclusive use of one family.
A- Yes, it is a reserve ambulance.

Comment – Everything in it looks so real.

Reply - It takes a lot of effort to make it appear that way.

Q - Is this a Hurst?

A - No, it's a 3 speed automatic.

[Kent Dorsey]

When I had the '78 Transport, I had a card that told the brief history of Cadillac based ambulances and I used some wording similiar to, "Contrary to what many people comment on, this ambulance was never a hearse. It was built as a straight Cadillac based ambulance and has a much higher roofline and other structure that a hearse did not have..." That helped a little, but still many looked at it with the GB comment. I will admit to wishing the movie had never been made or that they had used something else as the car.
I even overheard one person say, "He did a piss poor job of making it look like Ghostbusters...", at the time I didn't have my concealed weapons permit, unfortunately.
I think over the years the oddest comment I would get about any of my older cars was, "Well, what are you going to do with it? sell it?"... (To whom? can I not have and enjoy one?)

[Patrick J. Martin]

I think window signs telling about the car are a great idea. I know that when I come across what strikes me as being an interesting car, I'd like to be able to read and educate myself about it, but that appears to be a concept that few people understand.

My 1985 Bayliff Packard combination is doubly "cursed" in that regard. People both have no idea what an 80s-era Packard is, and then have no idea what a combination is. And since only two were ever built, it literally is a car that most people have never seen before, and had no idea even existed.

So I have a window sign that I place in one of the rear side windows at shows that gives three brief histories, one on the Bayliff company and the 80s-era Packards, one on combination coaches, and one on my car in particular. You would not believe the number of people I see who put their hands around their eyes to shield glare off the window, and then look all around the sign to see the interior, and then come over to me and say "so tell me about this car". I also have to love the people who ask about the car, listen to my story, and then feel the need to argue with me about it. Um, if you're so smart about a car you've never seen before, why did you have to ask about it? One particularly vivid memory I have took place at a cruise night, when a gentleman asked about the car, and then asked more and more, and ended up spending about ten minutes with me going around the car with him, pointing out and explaining various things, only for him to suddenly turn rather gruff and exclaim "you can't bull**** me, I know a customized Pontiac when I see one" and stomped off.

I still very much enjoy attending car shows and displaying my cars, but I feel like I'm increasingly enjoying walking around the show to see the other cars, rather than hanging around mine and hearing all these dumb*** people.

[Mike Stevens]

Yes, they vote. Think about this. They also breed. So the comments will come for the next generation of 'hurst' owners. Maybe a book with pictures of the transition from car to hearse would help.
I get lots of the GB comments too. I just tell them that the GB car was a 59 and mine is a 61. Some never get a clue that there IS a difference. How many dead people have been in there always gets the same answer...One at a time. I also get the comment that it is creepy or scary to think about driving something a dead person has been in.
If people are asking questions at a show or cruise in I try to keep the answers simple. More than once someone has asked a question or recognized the logos on my coach. Then they proceed to tell me about a family member that worked at the M-M plant. Those are the best ones.
We can't educate them all but we can keep trying. I also put a sign up sheet on the windshield. I ask that if you are interested in more info on professional cars give me an email or mailing address. It has only ever gotten 3 names but I keep putting it out there.
Mike

[Bill Marcy]

Q - Is this a real ambulance?

A - As opposed to what?

Q – Has anyone died in it?

A – No one dies in an ambulance, they die in the hospital.

Comment – That floor looks just like what my grandmother has in her kitchen.

Replies – She must really love ambulances.
I’ve never heard that before.
Thanks; I’ll sleep better tonight knowing that.

Q - Is this a hearse (hurst)?

A - Yes; and the red lights and sirens are there for those who are in a hurry to get to the memorial park.

A – Yes.

Comment – This looks just like the Ghostbusters car.

Replies – Yes; 1959 and 1975 Cadillac’s do look exactly the same.

In what way?

Q – Are the curtains closed when you carry dead people?

A – Only for the ones that are shy.

Q – How long did it take you to build it?

A- It was a long process; I started out with a VW bug and just kept adding on.

Comment – Cadillac never made ambulances.

Reply – You are correct.

Q – Is this ambulance still in service?

A – Yes, for the exclusive use of one family.
A- Yes, it is a reserve ambulance.

Comment – Everything in it looks so real.

Reply - It takes a lot of effort to make it look that way.

Q - Is this a Hurst?

A - No, it's a 3 speed automatic.

Robert, you have some very funny stories! Geez, I have tears in my eyes from laughing so hard.

[Josh Gentry]

When showing the 67 M-M, I always put out a 3 ring binder with 2 pages in it. One is the history of Miller-Meteor, and the other is the history of Combination Coaches. Beleave it or not, a lot of people actually read them. It still doesn't stop the stupid questions though. The one I hate the most, is it seems like almost every time you stop for gas, or anywhere else, I get, do you have a body back there? I want so bad to say, no, but theres fixin to be. The last cruise-in I went to, a lady asked me why I turned my hearse in to a ambulance. Ok, I understand it is a combo, and it is a black car, but good lord her husband had just stood right beside her and red the darn papers I had out, and was telling there son that it was a hearse and a ambulance both. Por thing just didn't understand. Another question someone always seems to ask, is why does a hearse need a oxigen tank in the back if there already dead? If some people would just stop and think for a second before opening there mouth, they would sound a heck of alot smarter, even if there not.

Josh

[Casey Lockhart]

When showing the 67 M-M, I always put out a 3 ring binder with 2 pages in it. One is the history of Miller-Meteor, and the other is the history of Combination Coaches. Beleave it or not, a lot of people actually read them. It still doesn't stop the stupid questions though. The one I hate the most, is it seems like almost every time you stop for gas, or anywhere else, I get, do you have a body back there? I want so bad to say, no, but theres fixin to be. The last cruise-in I went to, a lady asked me why I turned my hearse in to a ambulance. Ok, I understand it is a combo, and it is a black car, but good lord her husband had just stood right beside her and red the darn papers I had out, and was telling there son that it was a hearse and a ambulance both. Por thing just didn't understand. Another question someone always seems to ask, is why does a hearse need a oxigen tank in the back if there already dead? If some people would just stop and think for a second before opening there mouth, they would sound a heck of alot smarter, even if there not.

Josh

You should tell them the oxygen is there so just incase the person comes back to life they can breath easier!!

[Kent Martinson]

When showing the 67 M-M, I always put out a 3 ring binder with 2 pages in it. One is the history of Miller-Meteor, and the other is the history of Combination Coaches. Beleave it or not, a lot of people actually read them. It still doesn't stop the stupid questions though. The one I hate the most, is it seems like almost every time you stop for gas, or anywhere else, I get, do you have a body back there? I want so bad to say, no, but theres fixin to be. The last cruise-in I went to, a lady asked me why I turned my hearse in to a ambulance. Ok, I understand it is a combo, and it is a black car, but good lord her husband had just stood right beside her and red the darn papers I had out, and was telling there son that it was a hearse and a ambulance both. Por thing just didn't understand. Another question someone always seems to ask, is why does a hearse need a oxigen tank in the back if there already dead? If some people would just stop and think for a second before opening there mouth, they would sound a heck of alot smarter, even if there not.

Josh

Yeah, I was wondering that too. Why did you turn your hearse into an ambulance? :hide:

[Jeremy D. Ledford]

Why did you turn your hearse into an ambulance? :hide:

Don't you just hate it when people do that!!!!:pat::alc::hide:

[Kent Martinson]

Don't you just hate it when people do that!!!!:pat::alc::hide:

YEAH!:badbad::yum:

[Daniel Scully]

I ,am at a Mopar swap meet with the Olds .

? Is that a Dodge :pat:
? You Know they never made Oldsmobile Hearses (Then WTF is this ) :smiley_w_ballbat:
http://s1.postimage.org/8xf5n7o/DSC06473.jpg (http://postimage.org/image/8xf5n7o/)

Try to explain what it is falls on deaf ears and then some.

[Josh Gentry]

Yeah, I was wondering that too. Why did you turn your hearse into an ambulance? :hide:Because it was cheeper than buying a ambulance. Plus, if I decide I want a hearse again, all I have to do is change it back. I thought it was a pretty good idea. :bonk:

Josh

[Kenn Evans II]

My brother asked me why I have a little seat and a cig. lighter and ashtray in the back and with the best straight face and dry humor I could muster, I told him its for my passengers to have one last smoke on the way to the cemetery it calms their nerves and they can see their grave before we bury them. Then I walked off and he had to think about it for a long time. Then at dinner he asked my wife how do you get them to get back in their casket and he had to explain his question and she played along with her great sense of humor and straightened him out after dessert. We laughed so hard he won't come out to the garage anymore.

[Kent Martinson]

Because it was cheeper than buying a ambulance. Plus, if I decide I want a hearse again, all I have to do is change it back. I thought it was a pretty good idea. :bonk:

Josh

Always thinking. :wowguy:

[John Royark JR]

Maybe a book with pictures of the transition from car to hearse would help.


This is something that I do. I have an album of my Accubuilt tour in 2005 with almost every step from start to finish.
I thought I had a pic of my display board (I have one for each coach), and what is on them including the conversion pics,a little about the car, and info about combos if it is one, but cannot find a pic, but here is an example of what is written on them.


1949
SAYERS & SCOVILL (S&S) CADILLAC
LIMO STYLE COMBINATION
HEARSE- AMBULANCE
S&S limousine style offerings were called Knickerbockers, and were offered in four coach versions, plus an ambulance version
This model is the Knickerbocker Series 400 combination
Body number 103 of aprox. 300 produced by S&S coach company in 1949 (exact number not known but numbers indicate less than 300)
Manufacturer's factory drive-away price: $6,060 without combo equipment (final price depended on options ordered)
Debut of all new “postwar” Cadillac professional car chassis featuring tail fins, full front fender styling, and high compression overhead valve V8 with 331 ci. and manual 3 speed trans. (Now has 350 with 350 auto trans)
Custom built for Norman Funeral Home in Grand Forks, North Dakota and was delivered November 2, 1949

COMBINATION COACHES
Combination coaches, which were very popular, gave a funeral director an affordable tool to operate the funeral home, while also serving his community with ambulance service. Funeral homes used to run the ambulance service for many years, because they were the only ones who had a vehicle long enough to carry someone in a recumbant position. Many times the funeral home offered the ambulance service for free or next to nothing as a good will gesture to the area he served. These coaches could be fitted with reversable casket rollers, folding attendants seats, removable roof beacons, (usually unbolted through a zippered headliner in the drivers compartment) grille lights, and under hood sirens. However, these options varied from one extreme to the other depending on the funeral directors needs. Combinations dissapeared from general service in the late 1970's when a downsized commercial chassis appeared at the same time as changes in the Federal Ambulance Regulations governing minimum width, headroom, and equipment levels.

VEHICLE MANUFACTURES DO NOT MAKE FUNERAL COACHES (NOT EVEN CADILLAC)

They sell a commercial chassis (consisting of special chassis, drivetrain, front clip, rear quarters, and dash) to various coachbuilders who custom make them into coaches, limos, flower cars, and ambulances. All the panels, interior, glass, (even windshield) are made by the coachbuilder. Since these cars are hand made there are rarely two alike unless ordered that way as part of a fleet.

For more info on these rare cars visit www.ProfessionalCarSociety.org
**Be sure to talk to the owner of this coach to find out how to join The Professional Car Society and The Iowa Hawkeye Chapter of the PCS

[Rocky Fluegge]

John, nicely done on the card. it is just a shame with all that info people will read it and still ask lame questions.

[Douglas Smith]

You have to realize a lot of people actually don't know anything about your car besides what they have seen on tv or movies (which rarely cover these old ones now) because they don't have the passion you have for them. Yea, I have gotten some weird questions about my car and a few people asking if I was going to turn it into a ghost busters car but we should not be jerks to them. I am in medical school and you would be surprised the questions you get asked when you are wearing scrubs and they fall into the same category as many of the questions asked here. Sometimes people genuinely did not think before speaking other times they just don't have the education or interest you do in your particular field.

Now days an ambulance is a big box on wheels and does not resemble a hearse at all and many people have no clue some pro cars used to pull double duty. It is hard to picture ambulances looking different than the big box on wheels for many now days.

[Mike Stevens]

Several of us took our coaches to a mortuary school. We told the students some of the coaches were combinations. They had never heard the term. They were in their 20s and maybe 30s. It has been over 30 years since anyone built a combo. The students at the school had never been told that funeral directors were at one time the ambulance service in some towns. So we did our part and educated them that day.
The difference between those students and the general public is that the students wanted to learn.
Mike

[Bill Carlin]

I was at a car show a couple asked me why my hearse had "suicide doors" on the sides. I told them it was a "3-way" hearse. The women thought I wanted to have sex with both of them in the back. She thought I was "horrible person". Took alot of talking to calm her down!

[Patrick J. Martin]

Douglas, I agree with what you said in spirit, and I continually tell myself that same thing, that most people genuinely don't know much about our cars, and shouldn't be ridiculed because of their interests being elsewhere. But at the same time, there is a difference between an intelligent question, and a just plain stupid remark.

I think the two stupidest things I've heard was one time, trying to explain to someone what a Cadillac commercial chassis was, their response was "oh, so its a Chevy truck frame with a Caddy front end on it." All I could think of was "What??? Where in everything that I told you was the word Chevrolet mentioned?"

But for me, the one that takes the cake was from someone who knew someone who knew someone who used to work for General Motors, and told them how for one month every year, Cadillac stopped production of their cars to build all the hearses that they would sell during that year. Just where does some of this blatantly wrong information come from?

When I ask about someone else's vehicle, I do so because I am legitimately interested about it, and because I don't know about it. So when I receive an answer, I'm not going to argue with the owner because his answer may be at odds with some preconceived notion I had.

Likewise, I can understand a member of the general public or even the general old car community being fooled by a fake Ghostbusters car that someone built from a 59 Eureka or Superior, but I have heard Ghostbusters yelled at me while driving my 1980 Superior landau hearse, and my Bayliff Packard, which looks like nothing else on the road. How can someone possibly be so stupid as to confuse a 59 Cadillac with anything else?

And why do we have to put up with prejudice even from within the old car community? Examples:

Back when I bought my second and third hearses: "What are you going to do with the other one?", "I'm going to keep them", "But why?", "Because I like them too", "But they're all hearses", "So that means I can't have more than one?". Somehow I doubt the Corvette collector gets asked what he's going to do with his other ones whenever he adds to his collection.

"So what are you going to do with it?", "I'm going to restore it and take it to shows", "Why?" I rather doubt that the guy who buys a muscle car gets asked why he's going to restore it.

And why do we have to put up with being constantly told what we should do to our cars? Is there something wrong with just having a stock restored hearse or ambulance? The majority of people at car shows sure seem to think so. I had a person one time (who helped himself to opening up my back door by the way), procede to tell me how if it was his car, he would rip out this thing (meaning the extend table), and fill up the back with big speakers and a television and a giant cooler, to which I replied "then I guess its a good thing its not your car". His response was "well if you don't do anything with it, its just a big station wagon", to which I replied "Yea, and that's the way I like it!", as I slammed the door, and he walked away shaking his head. While I'm sure every old car owner has had to deal with the hotrodders/customizers telling them what they should do with their car, I doubt they get a constant barrage of it like us pro-car owners get.

In short, why is it seemingly okay to collect any kind of vehicle in this hobby except for hearses and ambulances? I've even been kicked out of a show once because it was felt a hearse wasn't appropriate. So, I hit my siren and drove down every aisle before I left, making the biggest spectacle of myself that I could.

One town near me holds a weekly Friday night cruise night, and has a featured car each week. One time when it happened to be Friday the 13th, the featured car was hearses. I and another hearse owner happened to be standing on the sidewalk having a conversation near some hotrods, when another hotrod drove past and yelled to someone he knew that was near us about how he couldn't find a parking spot. The person near us yelled back to him "Yea, they wasted good parking on those things" as he pointed towards the hearses, to which the other hearse owner I was talking to blurted out "Well what are you going to do, those damn hotrods are everywhere" as we decided to continue our conversation elsewhere.

The next year, when there was going to be another Friday the 13th, and the town released their featured car calendar for the year, that did not include a hearse night, one of the other local hearse owners called to find out why. He was told that the town received too many complaints about how inappropriate, tacky, morbid, and in bad taste the hearse display was, so they decided not to repeat it.

There are certainly cars out there that I don't like, and ones that I fail to see any appeal to collecting, but I realize that we all have our own interests, and I have enough decency to not go up to someone and criticize their car. But yet it seems to be open season on pro-car owners, and I think hearse owners in particular, in making us feel like outcasts in our own hobby.

[Josh Horton]

Along with the "question page" I have a page on the history of Miller-Meteor, a page with two pictures of the Cadillac commercial chassis (it's a lot easier to show than tell), and a page the was in Hemmings magazine. My uncle gave me the Hemmings article. It was in Hemmings December 2004, I got my hearse Nov. 2004. The article was titled "Hearses: They're not just Halloween anymore".

[Douglas Smith]

I am actually on a Cadillac forum and even in the old Cadillac section most people do not know that a hearse and or ambulance was not made by Cadillac and most think they are basically modified stock Cadillac. A friend was amazed at seeing the underside of a hearse and that it was a completely different frame and I also informed him of the brakes and master cyl and rims being different and not swappable to his car. This stuff was even news to me when I first got my hearse as I was going to buy a rebuilt master cyl. just because mine was rusted up.

The person I got mine from on the other hand knew lots of misinformation on his own car thinking the hood was different on pro cars as well as just about every other thing I was told including the fact that he thought it was a 74 and not a 73. I am still trying to get the title from this guy as well <.<

[Mike Stevens]

Many years ago I took a customized car to a car show. It was an antique car show. They were not fond of seeing an old Ford with a small block Chevy for power. So you can imagine what they thought when I drove up with my full custom bodied car. I parked and was walking away from the car when one of two old goats said "Its amazing what these kids can do with that damned fiberglass'. I turned without a word and placed several magnet on my car. Then I ask them if they ever saw magnetic flberglass. Then I went to the swap meet.
I like getting the chance to educate people about our coaches and the Professional Car Society. Some are surprised to find there is a club that caters to this type of car. I always tell them if someone will collect an item there will be a club for them somewhere. Be it salt shakers or cars or ?
Mike

[Josh Gentry]

When I'm at a car show or cruise-in with a Pro-Car, I do always keep in mind that most people are not educated on our cars, and really don't know anything about them. But at the same time, you can usually tell a difference in someone walking up to you who is genuenly interested in the car, and those who just think ooo a hearse, and plan on saying something stupid before they even get over to you. I really enjoy talking to people and trying to teach them about our unique cars, and enjoy it even more when you can tell they are walking away with a better knowlege of Professional cars, and a greater opreciation for them. There are some people however, who don't like, and refews to accept Professional cars at a car show or cruise-in. I took the 67 M-M to a car show about a year ago, and there was a GTO on one side of me, and a RoadRunner on the other. The guy with the GTO kept looking the car over, and asking questions about it all day long. The guy with the RoadRunner, was obviously not happy that he had ben parcked beside a hearse, and would hardly even speak to me. I always get a little nervice when pulling in a car show or cruise-in, as stupid as it sounds, but you never know how people are going to react to your car. Aspecially at these small town cruise nights, or car shows where they all know each other, and you know there all standing around talking about you and making jokes as you pull in. Then there are the ones that take a interest in the car, and see it as a unique classic car, and want to learn everything they can. I guess the only thing we can do, is continue to try and educate people about our cars, and keep in mind that most people do not have much or any knowlege about Professional-Cars, and just like every other car, not everyone is going to like them.

Josh

[Kent Dorsey]

Amen to Brother Patrick Martin... preach it brother...

[John Royark JR]

I think it was Patrick that told me of how they would not allow him to park his coach at a campground because it was too long, but as we all know the 4 door long box pickups that swarm campgrounds are alot longer.
Patrick, if you were the one that told me this story, Im sure everyone here would like to hear it.

[Jeremy D. Ledford]

I think it was Patrick that told me of how they would not allow him to park his coach at a campground because it was too long, but as we all know the 4 door long box pickups that swarm campgrounds are alot longer.
Patrick, if you were the one that told me this story, Im sure everyone here would like to hear it.

I know we have had some of our members turned away in the past from hotels on the way to meets because they were driving a hearse.

[Jeremy D. Ledford]

I really like the ones who know so much more about your own car than you do!:mad: They know all about how Cadillac built them and sold them and all. How they souped up a 350 engine just for them and when l try to educate them and tell them how they were really built, oh no, no, no, that's not how they were built at all! And I'm thinking, yeah buddy, and you prolly have never even tightened a loose screw on a car much less know how one is built! Like Patrick and others I've been told how I shold do all this stuff to my cars, lowering, rodding, gutting out the interiors, yadda, yadda, yadda.:blahblah: And talking about car shows a cruise-ins I've been burnt a few times as well myself. At a few shows I've been parked in the worst spots and have even been in show classes where cars (a 1969 Camaro with a billet pully cover on the A/C compressor that all the sudden made it a special interest vehicle) were added at the last minute just to skew the results so I wouldn't place in the class:bsflag2:. I prolly should have packed up my toys and left right then but I didn't because I knew it would piss them off if I stayed so I stayed put!:D Usually this happens at shows were a bunch of the folks that shows think their automatically entitled to a first place trophy since they showed up! And we even have a show here were the judging takes place at registration, not on the show field as it should!:wtf: But I still show up and register show may car with a smile on my face and be friendly to all I show with and talk to knowing it frosts a few a$$es when I go ahead a show anyway!:4_11_9: And showing locally I've always very conscious on how I present, represent and show the cars along with myself at shows being a local undertaker. Around the town and community were I serve folks really appreciate seeing my cars at shows and cruise-ins and I'm always getting good comments and compliments on my cars and no one seems to have any qualms about me showing and having them. Its just at the shows were a bunch of high roller better than thou's are afraid they may get beat out of a trophy by a Cadillac hearse of ambulance I get burnt at!

[Patrick J. Martin]

I think it was Patrick that told me of how they would not allow him to park his coach at a campground because it was too long, but as we all know the 4 door long box pickups that swarm campgrounds are alot longer.
Patrick, if you were the one that told me this story, Im sure everyone here would like to hear it.

John is mostly correct in his memory of an experience I told him about, the main difference being that it didn't take place at a campground, but rather at the parking garage for Chicago's Navy Pier. I had an out of town friend who is interested in cemeteries spending a few days with me a couple years back, so naturally we spent a couple of those days in the city, taking him around to Chicago's notable cemeteries. He then mentioned how he'd like to see Navy Pier, so which I said "ok". Well the parking garage at Navy Pier is one of those with a gate at the entrance where you have to take a time-stamped ticket in order to calculate your parking fee when you leave.

So I pull in with a hearse, stop, and am in the process of reaching for the button to spit out a ticket, when a security guard comes running over, yelling, that I can't park this here. Of course I ask "why?", "Its too big, it won't fit", "Then explain the Suburban that's over there *as I point to it*, and the full size van over there", "I can't let you in", You just don't like hearses, don't you?", "I can't let you in", "Get your supervisor over here. I want to talk to him"

Well someone must have radioed the supervisor about the scene that was being created, because he was at my window almost instantly. "Sir, we can't let you in, you're too big", "I'm no bigger than that Suburban", "We can't let you in", "If you insist you can't let me in, I'm going to just sit here and block the entrance to your garage until I feel good and ready to leave."

After several moments of silence, in which I swear I could see the steam coming out of his ears, he finally said "Alright, but park in that far corner away from everyone else". So I got my ticket, and proceeded to (admittedly illegally) park in a handicapped space right next to the entrance to the pier so that everyone who came and went had to see my car.

Another negative story that instantly springs to mind is checking into a motel for the duration of a multi-day car show I took the Bayliff Packard to, and while I'm in the lobby getting a room, I see two guys who looked like they belonged to the undesirable element of the population, begin circling my car. When I walked back to the car, the usual small talk relating to "what is it" took place, and then one of the guys asked if it was for sale. Of course I said no, to which he then threw a 5-digit figure at me, which of course I also declined. He then said "Oh that's too bad. I could make this really cool! Chop the top, put a 350 with a blower in it, tub it out....etc etc etc." To which my mind instantly came up with two thoughts. One was "What the hell is wrong with you? There's only two of these. How much more unique does it have to be", and the other instant thought was "Not only is it not for sale, but it's DEFINITELY not for sale to YOU!"

Now in all fairness, I do have as many humorous, pleasant, and just plain good stories to tell about my cars too. Not everyone is an idiot, it just seems like they all are at times! LOL But when you do get the person who is genuinely interested, and wants to learn about something he doesn't know about, and has an open mind, that makes attending the show worthwhile. I have met so many people due to the attention that my professional cars attract, including a handful who have become the equivilent of pen-pals, two who have become close personal friends, and of course the fine people in this great organization of ours. I honestly don't think that I would have met anywhere near the number of people that I have, if I had been driving a more ordinary old car. So here's to being the unique individuals that we are! :cheers::cheers:

[Mike Stevens]

How many of you have ever heard of Legionaire's Disease? What does it have to do with procars? I am glad you asked.
1976 was the year that Legionaire's Disease broke out. It was later that year or maybe the next year the PCS held a large meet. It may have been in Philly. There were hearses and ambulances from many different years in the motel parking lot. The motel was located on a very busy street. All was well for the arrival night turn out. Early the next morning it seems the switchboard lit up like a Christmas tree. The motel manager came around and asked the PCS members if they could move their coaches to the rear of the building. He appreciated their business but could not handle all the calls wanting to know if another case of Legionaire's Disease had broke out.
This was before my time in the PCS. I remember my father in law telling this story many times. He was amazed that none of the callers noticed that all the rolling stock was old and probably no longer in service. All the lookers saw were hearses and ambulances. I guess they never got an idea there could be something other than a catastrophe.
Maybe some of our elder memebers remember this happening.
Mike

[John Royark JR]

John is mostly correct in his memory of an experience I told him about, the main difference being that it didn't take place at a campground, but rather at the parking garage for Chicago's Navy Pier. I had an out of town friend who is interested in cemeteries spending a few days with me a couple years back, so naturally we spent a couple of those days in the city, taking him around to Chicago's notable cemeteries. He then mentioned how he'd like to see Navy Pier, so which I said "ok". Well the parking garage at Navy Pier is one of those with a gate at the entrance where you have to take a time-stamped ticket in order to calculate your parking fee when you leave.

So I pull in with a hearse, stop, and am in the process of reaching for the button to spit out a ticket, when a security guard comes running over, yelling, that I can't park this here. Of course I ask "why?", "Its too big, it won't fit", "Then explain the Suburban that's over there *as I point to it*, and the full size van over there", "I can't let you in", You just don't like hearses, don't you?", "I can't let you in", "Get your supervisor over here. I want to talk to him"

Well someone must have radioed the supervisor about the scene that was being created, because he was at my window almost instantly. "Sir, we can't let you in, you're too big", "I'm no bigger than that Suburban", "We can't let you in", "If you insist you can't let me in, I'm going to just sit here and block the entrance to your garage until I feel good and ready to leave."

After several moments of silence, in which I swear I could see the steam coming out of his ears, he finally said "Alright, but park in that far corner away from everyone else". So I got my ticket, and proceeded to (admittedly illegally) park in a handicapped space right next to the entrance to the pier so that everyone who came and went had to see my car.

Another negative story that instantly springs to mind is checking into a motel for the duration of a multi-day car show I took the Bayliff Packard to, and while I'm in the lobby getting a room, I see two guys who looked like they belonged to the undesirable element of the population, begin circling my car. When I walked back to the car, the usual small talk relating to "what is it" took place, and then one of the guys asked if it was for sale. Of course I said no, to which he then threw a 5-digit figure at me, which of course I also declined. He then said "Oh that's too bad. I could make this really cool! Chop the top, put a 350 with a blower in it, tub it out....etc etc etc." To which my mind instantly came up with two thoughts. One was "What the hell is wrong with you? There's only two of these. How much more unique does it have to be", and the other instant thought was "Not only is it not for sale, but it's DEFINITELY not for sale to YOU!"

Now in all fairness, I do have as many humorous, pleasant, and just plain good stories to tell about my cars too. Not everyone is an idiot, it just seems like they all are at times! LOL But when you do get the person who is genuinely interested, and wants to learn about something he doesn't know about, and has an open mind, that makes attending the show worthwhile. I have met so many people due to the attention that my professional cars attract, including a handful who have become the equivilent of pen-pals, two who have become close personal friends, and of course the fine people in this great organization of ours. I honestly don't think that I would have met anywhere near the number of people that I have, if I had been driving a more ordinary old car. So here's to being the unique individuals that we are! :cheers::cheers:

Thanks for posting this. This is why I wanted you to tell it, because it was kind of sketchy to me, and wanted to get it right.

As all have said I too generally have good reactions at car shows and like Patrick said it just seems all the idiots come out at once, but I would talk for hours about my cars if someone was really interested.

I remember once I thought I was going to get the crap kicked out of me one day when one of the idiots came out. I was eating my lunch with my girlfriend and someone came up to me and asked me where I got my car. I told him a hearse dealership. He instantly got pissed and yelled "You dont have to be a a$$hole about I was just asking", and stormed off.