August 2020

Page A16 AUGUST 2020 FUNERAL HOME & CEMETERY NEWS S ec t i on A Funeral Directors Research,Inc. AMRA INSTRUMENT, LLC 623 N. Tower (P.O. Box 359) Centralia, WA 98531 “the shorter the supply line the better off you are” WEB DIRECT GIFT & PRICING TM ® www.amrainstruments.com www.preproomdirect.com Market Research by MKJ Marketing Volume down and you don’t knowwhy? © 2020 MKJ Marketing 1-888-MKJ-1566 www.mkjmarketing.com Glenn Gould CEO, MKJ Marketing Professional Car Society stages memorable Pre-Pandemic 2020 Micro-Meet 1966 Miller-Meteor Cadillac ambulance and matching hearse parts car earned ribbons in both the Rescue and Funeral judging classes. Both models were based on the 1/25 scale Jo-Han kits Canada was represented by this large 1/22 scale 1959 Miller-Meteor Cadillac Sentinel ambulance that Len Langlois fitted with a moonroof to showcase its patient compartment Ted Kalinowski of Windsor, Ontario earned Most Interesting Display honors for his diminutive, 1/87 HO scale diorama fea- turing a 1917 Ford Model T hearse being photographed by mini- likenesses of longtime PCS shutterbugs Brady Smith, Steve Loftin, Gregg Merksamer, Steve Lichtman, Walt McCall and Ted Kalinowski in front of a suitably-tiny cemetery gate John Kline won Best-of-Show for the 1966 Stageway Chevrolet Airport Limousine he spent al- most six months creating from a pair of 1/25 scale Revell Chevrolet Suburban kits. Details include a rooftop luggage rack derived from the top section of AMT’s Fruehauf tanker trailer kit and the sourcing of an auxiliary air conditioner and cab lights from AMT’s 1974 White Road Boss big rig George Hamlin honored Packard professional cars built through 1954 by the Henney Motor Company with his detailed, 1/43 scale diorama of a PCS Henney Chapter Spring Meet at the Route 66 Motel and Brooklin of Britain’s hefty, 1/43 scale white metal replica of Pope Pius XII’s 1947 Henney Packard Custom Super Clipper Limousine flying Vatican flags from its front fend- ers in front of a St. Peter’s Basilica backdrop FLINT,MI— Under normal circumstances the Professional Car Society’s February 29th, 2020 Micro-Meet would have been plenty memorable between its first-ever Leap Day staging and the sad confirma- tion this would be the last of sixteen an- nual hostings by Flint, Michigan funeral director and former PCS President Brady Smith and his wife Janet at their spacious and reliably welcoming Garage Mahal on the vehicle city’s rural Grand Blanc out- skirts. Once the subsequent Coronavirus outbreak and related lockdowns forced the cancellation of the 2020 PCS International Meet that would have taken place in Alba- ny, NY in June, however, those in the club’s extended family had added reason to be grateful this gathering was so well-attended by scale model funeral coach, ambulance and livery vehicle fanciers from points as far-dispersed as South Dakota, Illinois, Maryland, Tennessee and New York State! On top of supervising registration and a 2020 Diabolical Quiz challenging fel- low Micro-Meet attendees to recall ad- vertising spokestoons both famous and obscure, PCS Co-Founder George Ham- lin honored the Packard professional cars built through 1954 by the Henney Motor Company of Freeport, Illinois with his de- tailed, 1/43 scale diorama of a PCS Hen- ney Chapter Spring Meet at the Route 66 Motel and Brooklin of Britain’s hefty, 1/43 scale white metal replica of Pope Pius XII’s 1947 Henney Packard Custom Super Clipper Limousine flying Vatican flags from its front fenders in front of a St. Peter’s Basilica backdrop. Fellow Mary- lander Steve Lichtman debuted a 1957 Ford Keller FD ambulance derived from SpecCast’s 1/25th scale die-cast model of a Courier sedan delivery, while Tennes- see attendee Jeremy Ledford was award- ed ribbons in both the Rescue and Funer- al judging classes covering kit-bashed or scratch-built models for the 1966 Miller- Meteor Cadillac ambulance and match- ing hearse parts car he based on the 1/25 scale Jo-Han kits that have proven popu- lar starting points for many PCS Micro- Meet entries over the years. Canada was equally well-represented at Brady & Janet Smith’s by the 1/22 scale 1959 Miller-Meteor Cadillac Sentinel ambulance that Len Langlois (who runs an EMS museum in Chatham, Ontario) fitted with a moonroof to showcase its patient compartment. Windsor, Ontar- io attendee Ted Kalinowski earned Most Interesting Display honors for his dimin- utive, 1/87 HO scale diorama of a 1917 Ford Model T hearse being photographed by mini-likenesses of longtime PCS Inter- national Meet shutterbugs Brady Smith, Steve Loftin, Gregg Merksamer, Steve Lichtman, Walt McCall and Ted Kalin- owski in front of a suitably-tiny cemetery gate. “Ted did a great job depicting our backsides,” Steve Lichtman declared. Milford, Michigan modeler John Kline, meanwhile, won Best-of-Show for the 1966 Stageway Chevrolet Airport Limou- sine he created from a pair of 1/25 scale Revell Chevrolet Suburban kits. The typi- cally long and intensive build he started last September and completed one week prior to the Micro-Meet entailed such de- tailing as a rooftop luggage rack derived from the top section of AMT’s Fruehauf tanker trailer kit and the sourcing of an auxiliary air conditioner and cab lights from AMT’s 1974 White Road Boss big rig. John also earned the 2020 Senior Award for his previously First Place-hon- ored Eagle Coach First Call conversion of a 1996 Dodge Grand Caravan and treat- ed Micro-Meet regulars to an encore dis- play of such past achievements as a Weller Brothers 1957 Ford and his fantasy ren- dition of a 1976 Miller-Meteor Chevrolet Caprice ambulance. After awards were presented by Chief Judge and PCS Publications Director Walt McCall (who has edited all but the first two issues of THE PROFESSIONAL CAR since 1977), meet host Brady Smith gestured to the memorabilia surrounding his guests’ displays and declared “it’s your garage, too. All the junk on the wall of this building was stuff I had in my basement, and it would all be useless and meaningless if I couldn’t share it with you. This is not a car club - this is kind of a family … We used to only get to see our best friends once a year so this is double the fun. It’s not about the models but about getting together. It reminds me of a time umpteen years ago during a nice warm night at an International Meet where 100 people were in the parking lot and I thought ‘this is it right here. This is why we started this club.’ I love all of you and thank you for being here.” Funeral Home & Cemetery News readers who own or are simply fascinated by vintage funeral vehicles, limousines and ambulanc- es are invited to visit the official PCS web- site at www.TheProfessionalCarSociety.org and consider joining. For more informa- tion contact the club’s Membership Direc- tor Jeffrey Hookway at (973) 862-6047; hookjch@ptd.net; or 64 Mudcut Rd., La- fayette, N.J. 07848-4607. L i k e Us On Facebook!