Gregg D. Merksamer
PCS Life Member / PCS Publicity Chairman / PCS Ele
As the founding objective of PCS way back in 1976 was to foster the acceptance and appreciation of funeral vehicles and ambulances within the wider old car hobby, we can all take pride in the press our members' cars have enjoyed in recent months without any lobbying whatsoever from the Publicity Department ...
Our 2015 triumphs started bright and early with a January 1st OLD CARS WEEKLY story (authored by Michael Petti) on the ultra low mileage 1948 Barnette Chevrolet ambulance owned by Fayetteville, Pennsylvania member Pete Menedis, which mentioned the PCS by name in its concluding paragraph. Congratulations are also in order to prolific message board poster Ed Renstrom for the way his 1986 Hess & Eisenhardt Cadillac front-drive six-door figured prominently in THE SELF-STARTER's January, 2015 coverage of the Cadillac & LaSalle Club's September, 2014 Mount Rushmore Tour.
More recently, Bruce Biancalana's 1970 Miller-Meteor Chicago FD Volunteer high-top was also treated to a handsome, full-color "Collectible Commercial Vehicles" photo feature in COLLECTIBLE AUTOMOBILE's April, 2015 issue, which also touted a Thomas McPherson letter and period photo recalling the Flxible-bodied ambulances used at the 1939-40 New York World's Fair. The March, 2015 issue of AMERICAN FUNERAL DIRECTOR also finds our Blanchardville, Wisconsin-based Treasurer Paul Saether discussing The PCS Difference during a Lisa Howard-Fusco interview about his always-photogenic 1969 Superior Cadillac Sovereign Combination Coach. Even though the article's headline dubbed it a "Henny," we can also delight in the two pages (including detailed specs!) devoted to Illinois couple Jim & Alice Koenigsmark's likely sole surviving 1929 Henney Model 60 Pontiac hearse in the January/February 2015 issues of VINTAGE VOICE and PCPV NEWS, which is published six times annually by the Pontiac Oakland Club's Commercial and Professional Vehicle Chapter.
Odds are also good that the PCS People on this forum have also seen the deeply-captioned, 12-image full-color report on our Rochester, Minnesota International Meet in that appeared the October, 2014 issue of SOUTHERN FUNERAL DIRECTOR magazine, which featured a photo of George Quast's 1916 Studebaker carved panel hearse on its cover. I'm deeply grateful to John Yopp, the Editor & Publisher of this publication, for the extensive coverage he's provided of PCS Internationals in his pages over the years, even when they weren't being hosted in his part of the country. He has also, on several occasions, generously furnished the Publicity Department with large quantities of his meet issues for sharing with the featured car owners, the sponsoring PCS chapters, and other parties receptive to PCS promotions.
There are, of course, things that any PCS member can do to promote our mission on their own initiative. They can, for example, submit high-res photos of their cars "against a pleasant and appropriate, non-distracting background" (300-DPI or greater JPEG, TIFF or RAW) for consideration in OLD CARS WEEKLY's 2016 calendar by April 1st, 2015 (either e-mail files to oldcars@krause.com or send a CD/DVD to Old Cars 2016 Calendar, 700 East State St., Iola, Wisconsin 54990-0001). Past editions of this calendar, as many of you know, have featured Jerry Kayser's 1939 S&S Imperial Carved-Style Funeral Coach and Mike Riefer's 1952 National Pontiac ambulance, so OCW is obviously receptive to professional vehicles.
The Editors of regional and affinity PCS chapter newsletters should also make sure they regularly send hard copies of their latest issues to OLD CARS WEEKLY to ensure consideration for the annual Golden Quill Awards with all the attention and prestige a win entails. One copy should go to OCW Editor Angelo Van Bogart at 700 East State St., Iola, Wisconsin 54990-0001, while a second should be mailed to Chief Judge Dr. Gerald Perschbacher at 8868 Rock Forest Drive, St. Louis, Missouri 63123-1116.
Ed Renstrom's example further emphasizes that our presence in the marque clubs should be regular to the point the PCS is always the first (and hopefully only) pro-car club that the owners of pro-cars on a given make of chassis think of when they're looking for a pro-car club to join. Anyone who enjoyed - or missed - the 2013 PCS International in Milwaukee should accordingly consider showing their pro-car at the Cadillac & LaSalle Club's June 23rd-27th, 2015 Grand National in Brookfield, Wisconsin (itinerary is detailed at badgerclc.com) or the equivalent Buick, Oldsmobile, Packard and Pontiac/Oakland Club conventions.
Our 2015 triumphs started bright and early with a January 1st OLD CARS WEEKLY story (authored by Michael Petti) on the ultra low mileage 1948 Barnette Chevrolet ambulance owned by Fayetteville, Pennsylvania member Pete Menedis, which mentioned the PCS by name in its concluding paragraph. Congratulations are also in order to prolific message board poster Ed Renstrom for the way his 1986 Hess & Eisenhardt Cadillac front-drive six-door figured prominently in THE SELF-STARTER's January, 2015 coverage of the Cadillac & LaSalle Club's September, 2014 Mount Rushmore Tour.
More recently, Bruce Biancalana's 1970 Miller-Meteor Chicago FD Volunteer high-top was also treated to a handsome, full-color "Collectible Commercial Vehicles" photo feature in COLLECTIBLE AUTOMOBILE's April, 2015 issue, which also touted a Thomas McPherson letter and period photo recalling the Flxible-bodied ambulances used at the 1939-40 New York World's Fair. The March, 2015 issue of AMERICAN FUNERAL DIRECTOR also finds our Blanchardville, Wisconsin-based Treasurer Paul Saether discussing The PCS Difference during a Lisa Howard-Fusco interview about his always-photogenic 1969 Superior Cadillac Sovereign Combination Coach. Even though the article's headline dubbed it a "Henny," we can also delight in the two pages (including detailed specs!) devoted to Illinois couple Jim & Alice Koenigsmark's likely sole surviving 1929 Henney Model 60 Pontiac hearse in the January/February 2015 issues of VINTAGE VOICE and PCPV NEWS, which is published six times annually by the Pontiac Oakland Club's Commercial and Professional Vehicle Chapter.
Odds are also good that the PCS People on this forum have also seen the deeply-captioned, 12-image full-color report on our Rochester, Minnesota International Meet in that appeared the October, 2014 issue of SOUTHERN FUNERAL DIRECTOR magazine, which featured a photo of George Quast's 1916 Studebaker carved panel hearse on its cover. I'm deeply grateful to John Yopp, the Editor & Publisher of this publication, for the extensive coverage he's provided of PCS Internationals in his pages over the years, even when they weren't being hosted in his part of the country. He has also, on several occasions, generously furnished the Publicity Department with large quantities of his meet issues for sharing with the featured car owners, the sponsoring PCS chapters, and other parties receptive to PCS promotions.
There are, of course, things that any PCS member can do to promote our mission on their own initiative. They can, for example, submit high-res photos of their cars "against a pleasant and appropriate, non-distracting background" (300-DPI or greater JPEG, TIFF or RAW) for consideration in OLD CARS WEEKLY's 2016 calendar by April 1st, 2015 (either e-mail files to oldcars@krause.com or send a CD/DVD to Old Cars 2016 Calendar, 700 East State St., Iola, Wisconsin 54990-0001). Past editions of this calendar, as many of you know, have featured Jerry Kayser's 1939 S&S Imperial Carved-Style Funeral Coach and Mike Riefer's 1952 National Pontiac ambulance, so OCW is obviously receptive to professional vehicles.
The Editors of regional and affinity PCS chapter newsletters should also make sure they regularly send hard copies of their latest issues to OLD CARS WEEKLY to ensure consideration for the annual Golden Quill Awards with all the attention and prestige a win entails. One copy should go to OCW Editor Angelo Van Bogart at 700 East State St., Iola, Wisconsin 54990-0001, while a second should be mailed to Chief Judge Dr. Gerald Perschbacher at 8868 Rock Forest Drive, St. Louis, Missouri 63123-1116.
Ed Renstrom's example further emphasizes that our presence in the marque clubs should be regular to the point the PCS is always the first (and hopefully only) pro-car club that the owners of pro-cars on a given make of chassis think of when they're looking for a pro-car club to join. Anyone who enjoyed - or missed - the 2013 PCS International in Milwaukee should accordingly consider showing their pro-car at the Cadillac & LaSalle Club's June 23rd-27th, 2015 Grand National in Brookfield, Wisconsin (itinerary is detailed at badgerclc.com) or the equivalent Buick, Oldsmobile, Packard and Pontiac/Oakland Club conventions.