How do I trace the owership and production location of my Superior?

[Otto Parts]

I want to trace the history of my 1960 Superior Crown. Any and all helpful hints are appreciated.

OTTO PARTS

[60Crown]

Did you end up buying Dave Link's coach Otto? If so, congrats!

[Otto Parts]

Yes I did

Thanks Atti.

Any idea how I can find out it's history?

[hotroddwayne]

Your best bet is to get as much info as you can from Dave & hope he has some history on the coach. Usually with the old ones like this your only hope is through word-of-mouth. The coach companies were sloppy at best on keeping records so it's hopeless to try to trace it's history through Superior. Keep your ear to the ground on NHAA and a couple other coach enthusiast websites (you know where you have to ask for the best answers) and maybe someone will have some history for you. This exact coach you bought is very well known in the hearse community. I will tell you this... also keep your guard UP because there have been so many attempted internet scams ran from stolen images of your new coach it isn't funny. That's how I met Dave... he found out I reported a couple scams i'd found of people attempting to sell this coach online & I KNEW they weren't the real owner. He'd written to thank me & we've talked a couple times since. Good luck & i'm sure you'll find some history on your Superior soon...

[nmoncrief]

This is something I have actually been curious about as well. Does the Black Book provide any insight into the number of cars produced by each conversion company per year? Also, assuming that the original owner has provided you with all of the history that they know, how does one continue on from there? Any tips or tricks would be helpful.

Thanks! :0
Nick

[hotroddwayne]

Although I don't own the infamous "black book" yet from what i've heard there are numbers available as to the total # of commercial chassis sold each year, but it's not broken down by coach builder as to who received what & how many of each model coach were produced.
From what i've learned your best bet is to gain as much info as you can on your coach from the seller & hope you find an old business card or something with the name of an old funeral home in your coach. Funeral homes were (and still are) traditionally family-owned & operated so sometimes you get lucky when contacting a potential previous owner. The funeral home that originally ordered my coach have been very nice & provided me with lots of history & even some "in service" pictures over the years. Some funeral homes don't really offer to share any info though as they prefer to keep to themselves. To alot of them it's just a car & served a purpose, so they could care less about your quest for hearse history. I ran into a brick wall researching the '51 Superior & the '67 M-M, but the S&S had a "specially built for..." tag under the hood & the Georgia funeral home was very nice & polite with me in sharing info.
You can also sign up to the PCS website, do a post with as much info you have so far & a couple pix... and maybe someone will recognize the coach. Especially note the exact location you bought it & it may spark a memory. Even if they don't know which funeral home operated it, they may know if a member once owned it... and that's at least a start...

[nmoncrief]

I think Bryan has told me basically everything he knows about the car, which is a good deal. (I bought the 63 S&S from Bryan Moore) But you're right, I was more insterested in knowing how many were produced that year, etc, etc. I wish those numbers were still around, it would have been really nice to know that.

[Boogeyman Con Carne]

In 1960, Cadillac produced 2194 Commercial Chassis, 977 of which were used by Superior. 194 of those were ambulances, which leaves 783 to cover Landau, Landaulet, Limo, Flower Car, Hearse and Combination variations.

$10,614 is what the Crown Royale Combination Limo rear servicing style went for...

All per the "Black Book" p.291.....

[Boogeyman Con Carne]

1963 Cadillac produced 2695 Commercial Chassis. There are no breakdown numbers in the black book, but if you can tell me the styling, I can tell you the origional MSRP...

[nmoncrief]

I'm a little new so styling would be...? I know it's a 3-way if that helps. I don't actually have the car as of yet, it's still being worked on.

[Boogeyman Con Carne]

Landau/Limo 3way/endloader/combination/ambulance victoria/park row

[Boogeyman Con Carne]

Power assist or manual 3way table?

[nmoncrief]

Ok sorry, a few of those terms are foreign. I know it's a 3-way and I know it's power assisted. I am assuming landau since it's not a limo. I don't know the difference in victoria/park row. Hope that helps.

[nmoncrief]

Here are a few pictures of this helps: http://www.professionalcar.org/forum...php?albumid=59

[Boogeyman Con Carne]

You have a 1963 Cadillac S&S Victoria Landau 3-way with power assist table. MSRP was $14,381.

A landau is the style with the chrome "Landau Bows" on the rear quarters instead of a 3rd window (Limo style). S&S called the Landau a "Victoria" and the Limo a "Park Row". Black Book p.307...