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Welcome to the build of "Project Esmeralda"
This is the home of Project Esmeralda. She is owned by Frank and Chris in Bowie,
Texas. This project started as a thought which in a matter of a short time was able to flourish into an actual working
project. The following pages will contain the concept, purchase, and progess of build right to the completed, running
kustom.
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Esmeralda is a 1953 Cadillac Superior Limousine Style Professional
Vehicle or as most know it to be a hearse or funeral coach.
I have always had a facination with coaches and have wanted to own
one for some time. This facination started I think in part from all my years riding in the various family wagons owned
by my folks. I always thought of the hearse as nothing more than the ultimate station wagon. during my time
as a driver of vehicles, there has been many station wagons as personal drivers with the emphasis being on making them look
cool. This was a nice start, but still wasn't what I wanted as my personal driver vehicle. Over the years, I have
looked at or sought after several coaches, but never able to acquire a coach due to distance to it or price. In August
of 2004, I was able to finally acquire my first professional vehicle. This was the start of what now seems to have become
a major passion or obsession (haven't decided which). It also created the concept of a wild, wicked, radikal kustom
50's funeral coach at the same time.
In April of 2005, I had the opportunity to make it to the Pate Swap
Meet (http://www.pateswapmeet.com) at the Texas Motor Speedway (http://www.texasmotorspeedway.com) and check out what the various vendors had to offer, to look for parts,
accessories, etc., for other vehicles I'm working on, both personal and professionally. I NEVER for a minute expected
to find what is now known as Esmeralda.
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I need to at this point give a little history on funeral coaches.
This is taken directly from the book, American Funeral Vehicles, 1893-2003, An Illustrated History by walter M. P.
Mccall (Iconografix Publishing). This book has a wealth of information for those who are interested in the Professional
Vehicle.
Today's American funeral coach industry can trace its origins back
more than 150 years to the post-industrial revolution and carriage and buggy industry, when many carriage and wagon builders
included horse-drawn hearses and ambulances in their product line. As demand for these specialty vehicles increased,
a few of these companies began to make hearses and undertakers' wagons exclusively. A number of the U.S hearse and ambulance
industry's best-remembered names - among Henney, A.J. Miller, Eureka and Knightstown - started out as buggy makers who switched
to hearse and ambulance for survival when the horse drawn vehicle market dried up in the wake of the automobile revolution.
Fast forward to present day - Automobile manufacturers such as the
Cadillac Division of General Motors, Packard, and others built special chassises for these custom built coaches for the funeral
industry where they shipped just a chassis and basic sheetmetal to the coach builder and the builder then fabricated
the remaining portion of the vehicle and lowered it onto the commercial chassis. Since the advent of front wheel drive
Cadillacs' this process now involves cutting the uni-bodied car into two sections and stretching the vehicle.
Some of the most beautiful coaches were built between 1930 and 1976.
There are however, people who will disagree with me on this point, however this is MY opinion and in no means reflects others.
This is now where Esmeralda and even her younger sibling, Cerberus come into play.
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