{"id":16699,"date":"2019-11-22T06:00:31","date_gmt":"2019-11-22T10:00:31","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/jackbaruth.com\/?p=16699"},"modified":"2020-04-25T16:06:23","modified_gmt":"2020-04-25T20:06:23","slug":"a-tale-of-two-white-wagons","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/jackbaruth.com\/?p=16699","title":{"rendered":"A Tale Of Two White Wagons"},"content":{"rendered":"
NOTE: Another article by my friend Tony LaHood. Republished here with his permission. -TK<\/strong><\/em><\/div>\n
\n

There were those who considered Vernon O\u2019Neal a cumbersome and plodding businessman; far more people admired his Texas pluck, which manifested itself in his cheeky exuberance to shake things up. His instincts had paid off quite well; he owned the biggest-by-volume mortuary\/ambulance service in the city, which included an all-white fleet of professional vehicles\u2013white, since he believed that while death should be treated seriously, it should not be thought of as something depressing. His newest vehicular acquisition was an Aspen White 1964 Miller-Meteor Cadillac hearse, purchased just three months earlier at a national funeral directors\u2019 convention in Dallas.<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\"Cadillac<\/p>\n

It was a stately presence, based on the\u00a0code 6890 commercial chassis\u00a0that\u00a0underpinned most contemporary ambulances, hearses and other professional cars. One of 2,527 produced that year, it was whisked off to Miller-Meteor, in Piqua, Ohio, for funeral coach conversion. It would be hard to imagine another vehicle better\u00a0suited to its intended\u00a0mission.<\/p>\n

The 1964 Cadillacs, only slightly\u00a0changed from their 1963\u00a0predecessors, enjoyed\u00a0credibility\u00a0that was not to be found\u00a0in contemporary Lincolns and Imperials:\u00a0This is a legitimate luxury car, dignified and substantial in every detail, and thus the equal of every\u00a0other such vehicle in the world.\u00a0<\/em>The design was pure Bill Mitchell\u2013an impossibly masterful combination of knife-edges and soft curves all falling together in precisely the right places. What made Mitchell\u2019s designs unique was that the finished product looked so natural, so<\/em>\u00a0effortlessly right\u2013<\/em>a fact that belied the intense thinking-through of even the smallest design\u00a0details.<\/p>\n

\"Cadillac<\/p>\n

The fine horizontal\u00a0grille bars, for example, were set an the angle that reflected the maximum amount of light\u00a0for\u00a0a jewel-like appearance. There were fins, naturally, but just tall enough to impart a crispness and motion to the overall design.<\/p>\n

\"Cadillac<\/p>\n

Inside, the driver faced an equally well-considered instrument panel\u00a0that, despite a copious amount of\u00a0brightwork, was remarkably simple and functional. Two chrome-ringed pods defined a control center that included a speedometer, gauges, radio and something new for 1964: a\u00a0thermostat and controls for an automatic climate control system. The finishing touch was\u00a0a curiously\u00a0delicate two-spoke steering wheel with\u00a0an elegantly weighted dial at the top of\u00a0the column that unlocked its telescoping adjustment.<\/p>\n

Underhood was Cadillac\u2019s new 429 CID (7.0\u00a0L) V8, mated to a\u00a0Turbo Hydra-Matic transmission. With 340 horsepower and 480 lb-ft of torque, it was, pardon the expression, overkill, with\u00a0far more than enough power to\u00a0motivate\u00a0a fully loaded funeral coach to\u00a0speeds that seldom exceeded 40 mph.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"1964<\/p>\n

Cadillac at the time owned the U.S. luxury car market. More than 165,900 Cadillac models would ultimately be produced for model year 1964, vs. just over 36,000 Lincoln Continentals and some 23,300 Imperials. The DeVille series,\u00a0comprising\u00a0four- and six-window hardtop sedans and a hardtop coupe, was the volume leader. The entry-level Cadillac\u2013if one could call it that\u2013was the \u00a0Series 62, available as a\u00a0pillarless\u00a0coupe\u00a0and a six-window hardtop sedan. Topping the Cadillac range was the Fleetwood series, which included the Eldorado convertible, 60 Special sedan, the Series 75 sedan and limousine and the aforementioned commercial chassis.<\/p>\n

\"Ford<\/p>\n

Unlike the 1964 Cadillacs, the 1962 Fords had been\u00a0significantly restyled from their immediate predecessors. Ford\u2019s 1960 attempt at \u201cbatwing\u201d styling (on left above)\u2013clearly a response to Chevrolet\u2019s 1959 styling\u2013had been wildly unsuccessful, so much so that many\u00a0Ford stylists denied\u00a0responsibility for the production design. Unlike Chevy\u2019s go-for-broke horizontal fins, the Fords\u2019 fins seemed a half-hearted, play-it-both-ways effort\u00a0that\u00a0in rear view\u00a0looked a bit like floppy terrier ears.\u00a0looked \u00a0Indeed, it would be years later before stylist Joe Oros owned up, and many more years for the 1960s, particularly Starliners and Sunliners, to became genuine\u00a0collector cars.<\/p>\n

Not surprisingly, the 1961 Fords (on right above) dialed things back a bit with\u00a0less radical\u00a0styling and\u00a0short, slightly canted vertical fins.<\/p>\n

\"Galaxie1rear\"<\/p>\n

Sales rebounded, and\u00a0Ford had learned its lesson: for 1962, Ford styling was linear and conservative to the point of anonymity, with rear fenders that (probably coincidentally) sloped at the same downward angle as\u00a0GM\u2019s \u201962 full-size Chevrolets and Buicks.<\/p>\n

\"Ford<\/p>\n

In the 1962 Ford lineup, the Ranch Wagon was analogous to the base model\u00a0Galaxie. Available as a two-door sedan and a four-door sedan, the Galaxie sold almost as many units of each as the Galaxie 500, despite\u00a0an MSRP\u00a0only $160 less than its flossier stablemate. Buyers not fond of B-pillars would have to move up to the Galaxie 500 Victoria or Victoria XL hardtop sedans or coupes, while sun lovers could choose between Sunliner and\u00a0Sunliner XL convertibles.<\/p>\n

Naturally, there were wagon equivalents to the upscale models; the Country Sedan corresponded to the Galaxie 500, while the top-of-the-line wagon, the Country Squire, boasted Victoria trim and appointments. Oddly, the new-for 1962 intermediate Fairlane series did not offer a station wagon; buyers desiring something smaller than the big Ford wagons had to choose from the Falcon range.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"Oswald-Ambulance\"<\/p>\n

Also part of O\u2019Neal\u2019s fleet\u00a0was vehicle # 605, a Corinthian White 1962 Ford Ranch Wagon. One of 33,674 produced and as plain as\u00a0its Cadillac garage mate was grand, it was used primarily for ambulance duty\u00a0but also served\u00a0as a first-call vehicle used for transporting bodies to the mortuary\u00a0from the place of death. Today it probably seems strange that many funeral homes operated\u00a0the only ambulance service available\u2013there was, to put it\u00a0quite cynically,\u00a0no real incentive to transport\u00a0the injured quickly\u2013but that was the case, especially in rural areas and smaller towns.<\/p>\n

Under the Ranch Wagon\u2019s plebian hood rested\u00a0a 292 CID, Y-block V8\u2013the same base V8 that powered the dressier\u00a0Galaxie 500. Mated to a 3-speed Cruise-O-Matic transmission, it developed 170 horsepower. An\u00a0automatic transmission, power steering and power brakes were among the very few options on this particular Ranch Wagon. There was no\u00a0carpeting;\u00a0only textured rubber mats separated the metal floor pan from the soles of the passengers\u2019 shoes. The only audio system\u00a0to be found was the emergency scanner\/two-way radio that monitored police and fire calls. Neither air conditioning nor tinted glass protected its occupants from the brutal Texas sun.<\/p>\n

\"Cadillac<\/p>\n

It was a sunny Friday afternoon when O\u2019Neal got the call. \u201cThis is agent Clinton Hill of the United States Secret Service, and this is a legitimate call.\u201d O\u2019Neal never doubted it. \u201cI want you to load the best casket you\u2019ve got into your best hearse and bring it over to Parkland Hospital ASAP.\u201d Oneal instinctively selected the\u00a0Elgin Casket Company\u2019s Brittania model, a solid bronze affair weighing some 800 pounds. Unable to load it by himself, O\u2019Neal was forced to wait until several of his employees returned from lunch before the casket could be lifted\u00a0into the Cadillac\u2019s white and turquoise interior.<\/p>\n

Two days later, the same phone rang. This time,\u00a0it was the Dallas police frantically demanding\u00a0an ambulance be sent to police headquarters. This time, it was the Ranch Wagon\u2019s brief turn in history. \u00a0A worn gurney was hustled aboard, and the Ranch Wagon sped away.<\/p>\n

Two vehicles, two missions. One carried a slain president to his final flight to Washington; the other, his dying assassin. On the next work day, Tuesday, November 26, 1963, both vehicles were washed and then returned to the garage, waiting for their next assignment.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

NOTE: Another article by my friend Tony LaHood. Republished here with his permission. -TK There were those who considered Vernon O\u2019Neal a cumbersome and plodding businessman; far more people admired his Texas pluck, which manifested itself in his cheeky exuberance to shake things up. His instincts had paid off quite well; he owned the biggest-by-volume…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":344,"featured_media":16700,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mi_skip_tracking":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false,"jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true},"categories":[385],"tags":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"yoast_head":"\nA Tale Of Two White Wagons - Riverside Green<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/jackbaruth.com\/?p=16699\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"A Tale Of Two White Wagons - Riverside Green\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"NOTE: Another article by my friend Tony LaHood. 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