Refurbishing a '54 Superior in 3 days

Bob, a friend living in Alaska, has a tight-knit community and church. His job is repairing transmissions, differentials, and other oddball tasks that no one else will touch. Yet when someone passes, resources are pooled together. From Bob:

"Folks choose whether or not they want us to build them a casket or not. They pick out what kind of wood, the general motif or design, the color and finish, and the the fabric lining. We gather the materials and start to work. Whoever is available works on the project. The men build the box, the ladies line it. When it is done we take it over to the funeral home and they place the body in the casket. Depending on the situation (finances of the family) the funeral home transports the body to the church and cemetery after the service. When the finances are really slim, we get the permits to transport and do it ourselves. Same thing with the box. Most of the time the family will pay for the materials of the casket. There have been a couple of times when we chipped in payed for the materials.

This really helps the grieving process of both the family and friends. Getting
together and being busy. Usually talking about the person."


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In our day and age, this throwback sense of unity is so very impressive - especially considering the time frame work is being accomplished in. Commendable is an understatement!

So when I stumbled across a website chronicling how a '54 Superior located in Alaska came out of retirement and was refurbished in 72 hours...it made sense. Keep in mind that this is far from a restoration. Nonetheless the amount of work accomplished in such a short period is near mind blowing. There were no cameras rolling. This wasn't a made for cable show.

Before:

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After:

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Full renovation pics on site:

http://area907.com/caddy/

Slideshow will take about 8 minutes. Figured a feel-good story helps kick new year off right - and maybe provide inspiration for our own projects. :thumb:
 
That is an awesome story, especially about the hand-made, personal caskets. That is just pure CLASS, to be buried in a hand-made casket, made by people who knew you, wow. Much better than a factory stamped out piece of metal, mass produced and available everywhere. And, what a final great finish, being transported in a '54 Cadillac on top of that. Great story.
 
Okay, I hadn't watched the slideshow when I made my first post. Wow, those guys and gals have their own version of Overhaulin' going on! Like you said, not a restoration, but a FANTASTIC improvement on what it looked like before. Looks like everyone pitched in, except the dog. Cool.
 
Very interesting story! At least they did have a solid and complete coach to start with. I don't think that many would be ashamed to have that car ether! The casket is impressive and looks to be very well made. Wouldn't mind seeing one in person to check the quality!
 
Every human being deserves a tribute of this kind. I can't tell you how sad it is to me to walk through the pauper section of a local grave yard just looking at numbers on the markers. In Japan, space is a premium and I recall seeing creamated internment in high rise buildings with a video you can view in a private room of your loved ones. Has anyone seen this information before?
 
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