A really nice car

Tony Karsnia - Deceased - 1971-2020

September 12, 1971 - November 2, 2020
Last Saturday evening, members of the Northland Chapter attended the local Cadillac & LaSalle Club's annual Steak Fry. One of our members, Mike Mykulak of Minneapolis, MN, brought this stunning car; a 1969 Superior Cadillac Royale limousine-style hearse. Mike purchased the car last year on eBay and has spent countless hours bringing it up to show car status. Thanks for bringing this beauty out for us to see, Mike!
 

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A really nice car.

Dear PCS members and forum members, Thank you, for your gracious and flattering comments in regards to the pictures Tony posted of our coach. It has under gone a partial restoration as that is what it needed to be presentable at a car show, return back to work, and go for appraisal for the insurance companys satisfaction. Pictures do not do justice as to the vehicles stunning beauty. It is hard to tell the sex of these older coach's so the vehicle has no name and we just can't bring ourselves to call it by she or he yet. I had to put some trade mark humor in my post. Any way, Sarah I hope your happy because there is another coach out there that is not black, Phil Rishel, Thanks for receiving my phone call, I had to talk 1969 Royale with you since you own the counter part to ours, Hot Rod Dwayne, call me, looking at the pride you display in your vehicles warrants me to get to know you so you can teach me how to keep our coach looking as well as your vehicles do. Tony Karsnia and Mike Robison, I hope I earn your friendship as I get to know everyone better. P.S. If it ever gets slow on the forum I just might post pictures of my first coach in 1972. It was a 1959 and that is all I am going to tell. Sincerely, Mike Mykulak
 
meet Mike and saw his car at the steak fest. I can say he has the bug. the work he has put into cleaning up and restoring this cars shows. what you don't see in this pictures is that the rear inside panel of the car is still in the shop getting repaired. were the car is a work in progress Mike will still take it and show it off. he ever get this one complete it will be a top dog car at any show.
 
really nice car

Just before the coach was put into storage, Dawn and I got all of the three final projects done on the coach we wanted to complete before the appraisal and preparation for storage. The naugahyde on the top of the rear door panel was burned up from the sun and the condensation rolling off the rear window rotted the underlayment and rusted the pan. The pan underneath had all the rust ground off to bright metal, then rustoleum painted. We chose the dark brown leather so we could maintain the area with moisturizer for leather and polish with shoe polish to keep it nice and supple, we also noticed the reflection in the rear window made it difficult to look out, on sunny days because of the light colored nauga reflecting back up at the window. Finally it came down to finding the perfect color to blend with the drapes and carpeting. Then the bottom of the door panel was scuffed. For that we went to the steel supply and had them cut us a piece of stainless steel, to the machine shop to have the holes drilled precise, then we had the panel chrome plated along with the screws and curtain rods. The fixtures were corroded but I got them back to 100% on a polishing wheel.
 

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really nice car

John, Thanks for the generous comment! The paint takes on a somewhat chameleon trait at times, going pink, to gold, and Champaign occasionally, while to my suprise Tony Karsnia mentioned pewter the day he took the pictures and I had to agree. The plate in the engine compartment says "FAWN" pictures do not do justice. The coach is stunning in person, I was just telling Danny the other day, it is difficult to drive by an outdoor dining area and not cause everyone eating outside, to stop eating, smoking, talking, turn and stare at the coach, then I get the gut feeling we are being stared at, then as I look over to Dawn in the coach, I ask her "they are staring aren't they" we usually see a cloud of smoke rising above the diners and we just look at each other, laugh and as we drive away we have heard applause as we pull away on one occasion. Most of the time we get the thumbs up from all ages of people. Occasionally the stink eye too. But we have made it a point to always say Thank You! One of the true stories I like to share.
 
Color

I don't remember referring to your car's color as pewter, Mike; it is very close to the same Pink Champagne as my '73 Crown.

I probably was referring to your curtain rods looking like they were pewter-cast. Suddenly they turned up chrome plated! :D
 
really nice car

Come to think about it, you are absolutely right! It was Mike Robison that made the comment on the color. The shade of "Pink Champagne" on your 73 Crown I believe is more saturated. I have a picture side by side I will post for an example soon. Taking pictures in the shaded areas we were in, did at times tip the color scales in another direction. I have an example of this, with this picture taken at dusk.
 

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really nice car

Rich, Thank You, from both Dawn and I! We were looking for a coach for quite awhile on ebay, and unfortunately had few other resources, or knowledge at the time, of other places to search for the "Diamond in the ruff" as we thought we might not be able to afford much more than a fixer upper. When this coach popped up we just had the gut feeling it was the one, and a one of a kind, and felt it was unique enough to give it our devoted efforts. I saw great potential to be able to accomplish a partial restoration on the coach using the abilities of my skill level to work on the project and our resources. As you have observed, it came back to its former glory quite well. The extensive detailing, has put it over the top so to say, and I hope to share someday, all the little things we did that contributed to the greater end results. Allthough the rear door panel was quite an extensive project it is not yet completed as we plan to have made, a static SUPERIOR sticker which we can apply and remove from the chrome panel on the bottom of the rear door, so we can remove and replace it to keep the panel maintained. Plans are a script in chocolate brown. The sticker we want is similar to the kind they put in the corner of your windshield after an oil change. Basically Script on a clear base. Check back in the future.
 
Nice cars!

After the "Steak Fest" the Northland members, rolled out in a convoy 10-4 breaker - breaker! The coachs were shining brightly, and the sunset was a beauty!
 

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Nice Cars!

You realize that the pink coach is the Karsnia mobile with the lead and all you see is the hood of our coach is all. The hood is massive, but if my memory serves me the hood on the 1959 seems like it was much bigger.
 
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