At the risk of offending anyone, I will say that I'm not the slightest bit surprised that Krystal is in trouble, again. When Krystal introduced a Cadillac hearse design back in 1994, it wasn't bad; they had some creative ideas. At the time, I was working for Will Nye at T&N United Coach Sales of Minneapolis. Will, always willing to give a new coachbuilder a shot, took on the line and ordered a demonstrator in dark gray with a black top and light gray interior. I can still remember the summer evening it arrived via auto carrier; we went over that hearse with a fine-tooth comb, finding it to be a saleable unit, but not without immediate and future issues. For example, Krystal boasted having the longest #2 doors in the industry. The extra length was nice, but the hinges were below par and the doors (on a brand new hearse) were already beginning to sag. We also noted that the vinyl top was lumpy in several places and the rear door "hold open" wasn't as strong as it should be. Again, not a bad initial design, but needing some tweeking.
We, along with other dealers expressed our concenrs to the execs at Krystal...who did nothing. Consequently, very few Krystals were sold in this area. Those that were sold had issues to the point where the cars were being traded back in much sooner than normal as the funeral homes "just wanted to get rid of them."
Anyone who comes across a pre-1998 Krystal Lincoln hearse, it's worthy of a look, if for no other reason than to see it has a ridiculously high loading height.
Fast forward well into the new millenium and we find that Krystal's quality hasn't improved. By observation, it has become worse. There is a reputable dealer in Minnesota who has sold some Krystals over the past few years and I'm amazed they choose to have their name associated with such a brand. It took one firm several months to receive delivery of the new Krystal Cadillac hearse they ordered, while another firm traded their one-year-old Krystal back in for a Federal due to quality issues. I know of a funeral home that buys new hearses on a very price-concious basis and even they wouldn't touch a Krystal after examining one in person. Having inspected the cars myself, I can truly agree that they seem "chincy." Everything from the door fittings to the lack of opening width and hold-open on the rear door, to the construction of the church truck compartment door and the use of limo-style rope lighting in the rear shadow boxes (prone to falling down, even on new cars) to the shoddy beltline trim...just doesn't portray a feeling of confidence when making the major investment in a new hearse.
Our local dealer even had a Krystal Chrysler 300 hearse a few years ago. Not only was the car visually unbalanced, it must have been mechanically unbalanced as well because every driver I spoke to that had taken the car on a service said the drivertrain vibrated noticeably at any speed over 40 miles per hour.
The ironic part of this is, from the limousine-service operators I've spoken with over the years, the general consensus is that Krystal builds one heck of a great limousine!
