The Eureka (1964 and under) Photo Thread

Tom Hoczyk · May 9, 2012

Before & After 1963 Eureka Combination

Some of these pictures were taken in March 1992 when I drove the coach to Rock Falls IL to visit Walt Cassens and Larri Dirks. Funeral Director Joe McDonald subsequently bought the car from me and restored it to its original beautiful steel blue color.

Tom Hoczyk · May 9, 2012

'62 Eureka Hightop Ambulance

'62 Eureka hightop. Rhode Island, I believe

Tom Hoczyk · May 9, 2012

'62 Eureka landau Manual 3-Way

Tom Hoczyk · May 10, 2012

1964 Eureka landau, near Chatham ONT, after Chatham PCS International, 1993

Darren Bedford · May 10, 2012

One day I will own a Eureka !

Do you notice how sweet the '60 landau bars are on Eureka's ?
Such a fine curving S shaped bar with the unique pointed ends ! :specool:

Look how much they changed to straight sharp angles on the '64 models. :4_11_9:

I would say that the '60 Eureka landau bars are the finest looking on any coach of all time.

Darren

John ED Renstrom · May 10, 2012

we are just learning on there construction techniques. they use a frame work in there steel bodied like they did in there wood coaches. with a lot of splash filler panels in between rather then the whole car body being one structure. as bad of shape as this 58 appears the doors still open and close on it with ease. one could remove the splash panels with out compromising the body in anyway. if I were to see a different car look like this after removing the interior trim I would walk away fast. but you can see just in front of the rusted out wheel opining that the skeleton that forms the door opening and mounts the body on the frame is intact. this door is rear hinged on this. the wheel tube back could be removed in about 10 minutes in fact after cleaning it up it all most ready to fall out now. it is not even attach to the outer skin but was sealed with caulk agents it. rather then the body assembled as a unit this car has the body hanging as individual panels on a heavy skeleton. just like a wood coatch would be constructed. with the door frame being part of the skeleton not part of the body.

John Royark JR · May 10, 2012

John ED Renstrom said:
we are just learning on there construction techniques. they use a frame work in there steel bodied like they did in there wood coaches. with a lot of splash filler panels in between rather then the whole car body being one structure. as bad of shape as this 58 appears the doors still open and close on it with ease. one could remove the splash panels with out compromising the body in anyway. if I were to see a different car look like this after removing the interior trim I would walk away fast. but you can see just in front of the rusted out wheel opining that the skeleton that forms the door opening and mounts the body on the frame is intact. this door is rear hinged on this. the wheel tube back could be removed in about 10 minutes in fact after cleaning it up it all most ready to fall out now. it is not even attach to the outer skin but was sealed with caulk agents it. rather then the body assembled as a unit this car has the body hanging as individual panels on a heavy skeleton. just like a wood coatch would be constructed. with the door frame being part of the skeleton not part of the body.

After tearing the cars apart, its amazing how much different the building techniques vary from one coachbuilder to another. I cant remember the exact year offhand without looking it up but 58 is one of the first few years Eureka used steel in the construction, they were the last ones to quit using wood frames.

John ED Renstrom · May 10, 2012

I believe that the 54 year was the last of there wooden bodies they keep wood about 20 years longer then the rest of the field.

Martyn Donaldson · May 10, 2012

Eureka finally made the change to all-steel construction in 1957, but they didn't make a big deal about advertising that fact right away. You're right about them being the last coachbuilder to use wood framework in their bodies, so the transition to steel was a quiet one for them. Always a company steeped in tradition and high quality, Eureka was somewhat reluctant to make major changes for the sake of modernity as they were not willing to sacrifice quality. This ultimately led to their decision to close their doors in 1964.

I will share my Eureka literature and factory photo collection in this thread as time permits!

Tom Hoczyk · May 10, 2012

Eureka Factory Closing

(G'day Martyn!)

The information I got about the Eureka factory closing after 1964 seems to be some blend of the following tidbits, listed in no particular order:

1) The Eureka factory building itself was old and in decay.
2) Cadillac had a major redesign between the 1964-1965 model years, except limousine of course, requiring lots and lots of retooling.
3) The Teamsters Union was attempting to unionize the plant.
4) There was some internal struggling among major stockholding partners.

No matter how you look at it, a factory closing is a sad thing. It happened in Loudonville, Piqua, Bellefontaine, on Kibby St. in Lima, Freeport IL, as well as Rock Falls and numerous other places. I tend to be rather nostalgic about it though, loving to visit the actual locations of those old plants, daydreaming about the cars that once rolled out on to the very street on which I would stand. *sigh* I even have a small piece of concrete of the floor of the original Eureka plant. Yes I know it's crazy.

Tom Hoczyk · May 10, 2012

1950 Eureka Landau, downtown Hartford CT

1950 Eureka Landau, downtown Hartford CT. Originally did service in Maine, taken in trade by Parks Superior Sales, sold to Ravizza Blasting for $500 (early '60's dollars, though, at least 4 weeks pay). This is the very car that got me going on hearses, and Eurekas in particular. Sadly, it's now a soup can.

Martyn Donaldson · May 10, 2012

Hi Tom! Thanks for posting photographic proof that Eureka coaches are dynamite!:thumbsup:

Brendan Martin · May 10, 2012

Tom Hoczyk said:
'62 Eureka hightop. Rhode Island, I believe

Where?? It's a small state.

John ED Renstrom · May 10, 2012

OK I have to back up. my talk of the 58 being all steel it is only half right. this body is wood framed from the bottom of the glass up. the door frames are a question as of yet but I know the window frames are wood as are the top bows that the headliner is nailed to. we get some more apart and we can tell how they did the door frames.

now I was always told that the fire that burned the plant is the reason they stopped production. with costs going up owners getting older the idea of reinvesting in new construction was not worth it. send everyone home and thanks them for there work.

Martyn Donaldson · May 11, 2012

Although they were touted as "all-steel" from 1957 - '64, you will still find plenty of wood in a Eureka coach all the way through '64, primarily used as a surface to attach the interior trim to.. Here's an all wood frame '51 for comparison -

Ed, you'll find 16 gauge steel channel behind most of the wood in the '58.

Tom Hoczyk · May 11, 2012

'62 Eureka Hightop Ambulance

Brendan, the original photos were Polaroids that were given to me ages ago. I scanned them just to post. I have no clue where the car is.

Martyn, where did you get such a cool pic of the wooden body?

Martyn Donaldson · May 11, 2012

Tom, you'll find the same pic in Tom McPherson's Eureka book.

And here's the '60 brochure with an artist's rendering of the steel structure...

And the rest of the brochure...

Martyn Donaldson · May 11, 2012

A few '58 factory photos...

1958 Eureka Limousine Combination with removable casket rack and etched side windows, suggesting this coach was used primarily as an ambulance.

1958 Eureka Rearway Limousine with optional extension roller.

Martyn Donaldson · May 11, 2012

1958 Eureka Landau 3-Way. Note the early style casket table hardware and the landau panel draperies..

1958 Eureka Landau 3-Way with redesigned interior. Note the "sunburst" landau panels (used from '58 - '61) and the restyled casket table hardware. Eureka used this style table '58 through '64 and they can also be found in a few '65 Superior 3-Way coaches, acquired by Superior after the closure of the Eureka plant in 1964.

Martyn Donaldson · May 11, 2012

1958 Eureka Flower Car.

This was Eureka's 18 inch or "low deck" flower car. Note the factory customizing on this car... No "Cadillac" script on the tail-fins or "Eureka" script on the front fenders and the lack of the usual vertical faux vent chrome trim on the rear side doors... Makes for a very clean looking flower car!

The Eureka (1964 and under) Photo Thread

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