Saleofcar.com :Cadillac

Cadillac Miller Meteor Hearse (1962)
for sale

Price: US $200.00

Description:

Easily one of the most sinister funeral vehicles with wicked fins and chrome to set you apart from the crowd, this is '62 for YOU.
Make no mistake, this is a project car, but one that is easily with an end goal in sight. As you can see, it's all there for you to finish out as a rolling stock funeral coach or to customize it as you see fit. I snagged this wicked monster about six months ago from a warehouse in Kansas where it had sat for about eleven years. I bought it sight unseen. When it arrived in my driveway, I threw a new battery in there, did a full tuneup, put in new fluids and it fired right up. After I let it run for about 15 minutes, I cruised it gently in my town and didn't push it over 50 MPH so it could ease into driving again and it ran just fine. A few more small road trips proved uneventful as the coach found it's comfortable cruising speed at 60 and shifted smooth and braked just fine after sitting for so long. Coming back home the engine seized up and I knew I had thrown a rod and an engine replacement or rebuild would now be part of the restoration process. So, back to my garage it came and I started pulling parts, stripping them and repainting them as you can see.
The interior is in nice original condition in the slumber area as I steel-wooled the crud off of most of the stainless and chrome, which was a joy to bring back to it's original luster. The drivers area looks pretty good, too. The windshield is in good condition and the dash has a hairline crack but nothing that detracts from the integrity at all. Door skins are doing great as is the rubber floor mat. I did replace the rotted bench seat with another bench seat out of a '63 Miller Meteor that I had. It's not perfect, but the black leather is in great condition and could use some re-stitching along the top seams. There is a hole in the center, not sure what caused it. The headliner is clean and supple. There is the traditional zipper on the headliner in the drivers compartment. It has the reversible floor plates that will switch this out from funeral coach to ambulance in seconds and the mechanisms work fine.
The exterior is presentable if you like the hot rod look, but I don't. My plan was to clean up the occasional dents and dings and throw a decent coat of gloss black on there. The coach builder plate says that this was originally a grey crinkle top over a gloss black body. The crinkle top has worn off and a gloss paint job would really compliment the coach for sure. All the exterior trim is there except for the hood/fender spears and a few pieces of the lower skeg molding. The mirrors that are on there are not original and I recommend replacing them with originals to preserve the integrity of the original look. The chrome landau bars and sail panels should definitely be rechromed, but the front and rear clip/bumpers are really nice and only need polishing. Original hubcaps are included along with the original wheel chock and cot bar rigging.
All curtains are in amazing condition and all hardware is present. Plenty of tread left on the newer 235 x 75 x 15 tires including an original 890 x 15 heavy load spare. All wheels are the heavy load bolted type, spare is the standard weld. New kick panels are included. There is AC and all the components are there but running condition is unknown. There is one panel of flat glass that is cracked on the left rear side door, but that is easily replaced at any auto glass shop.
All the electrical works for lighting. Blinkers are unknown as I hadn't installed the turn lever to find out, but the turn lever is included in the auction. Speedometer, odometer condition are unknown. Gas gauge works fine and tank fills up completely with no problems. Air vent in the slumber area seemed to work but I only tried it once. Combo seats in this duplex model function perfectly and are in amazing shape. Fender skirts attach snugly and I'd feel safe at driving a short distance with them on the coach but would remove them for a long trip. Why risk it, right?
The good news is that you have a solid coach that doesn't need a huge restoration at all. The bad news is that you'll definitely need to replace or rebuild the engine to get it back on the road. A running used 390 engine will run about $500.00 to $800.00 and a rebuild will run about $3000.00 I have a source for a good running used engine for the winning bidder.
Hope this goes to a good and deserving home to a hearse fan who will appreciate it and restore it the way it deserves to be. I have too many project cars right now, so what I started will hopefully be finished by YOU. The reserve is quite reasonable, so bid with confidence!

_{update: 2015-08-14}