Lincoln Hearse @ Hershey

I'm certain many of you noticed the unique '69 Continental Hearse in the Professional Car class. Apparently not done by any well-known conversion company like S/S or Miller, the owner told me it was done by himself by grafting the rear roof section from a '64 Cadillac hearse onto the Lincoln sedan. The result being the only Lincoln Continental hearse conversion, according to the owner. Is this type of owner-conversion acceptable in the AACA Professional Car class? It was awarded a 1st Junior.

If the facts are as stated the vehicle does not qualify for AACA judging.

Steve, I was just a curious admirer, and those were the "facts" as I understood them from the owner. Regretfully, my next question should have been, when was it converted? The Lincoln indeed was nicely done, but I could not find any conversion company emblems on the vehicle. That's why I inquired who did it. I wonder if anyone on the judging team inquired and asked for documentation from the owner.

So quick question. Assuming this story is correct (and have no reason to believe it isn't) AND the car was awarded a 1st Junior - does the car keep it's First Junior status or will it be pulled. It is a catch 22 IMHO - if you let it stand then it lessens the value of a First Junior Award overall but if you pull it, it makes the judging team look bad.

I am curious as to how it was awarded a First Junior to begin with - why did the judges not question the conversion? Surely these folks are experienced in judging professional cars.

Bob

I would say no way,but at this point,someone will have to dig in to it.Glad it was brought up.Something so odd should have some great documentation ,at least on the field,The judges are great,but nobody knows all the history.

I'd love to see a photo of the car.

It has to be the paperwork with the car,as from the builder,this one sounds like a resurrection. I do not know how they give out the classes they judge,always wanted to.Can you get that many judges together per class that know about a certain car.What if it is a one of ?Interesting question.

Was this the car? It's a bit odd looking.

That's the one. The owner did say it is one of one. Odd that he said it was a '64 Caddy roof grafted on to the Lincoln.

FWIW: JMHO: If this would pass AACA judging then I agree with Bob Hill that the value of the AACA Awards are starting down

a path I do not like. They are getting more and more devalued. Ever since they "reworded" the judging book to include every "dealer

installed" item to be Ok is what started it. AACA is slowly getting away from "factory originals". Too Bad. Larry

We're armchair quarterbacking here. The burden of proof lies with the owner. Apparently the judging team took this vehicle at face value. And someone might say, why not? It's a hearse. Anyone remember the Met taxi last year?

That's the one. The owner did say it is one of one. Odd that he said it was a '64 Caddy roof grafted on to the Lincoln.

That roof style with the sharply angled windows was used on Superior hearses built on 1957 to 1960 Cadillac chassis.

This also raises the question, if, and I say IF, this is not a legitimate conversion recognized within AACA guidelines, does it alter the awards outcome for the other vehicles in the class with regards to the 10 point spread?

I just saw a post on Facebook about it. Someone had taken a picture and posted it and here was another person's response

"The owner made it himself from a 64 Cadillac Superior Hearse and a one owner 69 Lincoln. Quite a car to see in person. I saw it at Hershey."

obviously the the story is getting out that this was NOT a production automobile or a professional conversion. Afraid the fallout could be negative on the AACA Judging process.

Bob

From the Judging Guidelines:

The burden of proof as to the accurate representation of a vehicle is the sole responsibility of the owner.

Misrepresentation of vehicles: The Class Judging Committee reserves the right to remove from the AACA

list of First Prize winners, any vehicle judged after January 1, 1982, that is found to have been

falsely represented at a National Meet.

Thanks Matt. AACA is justified in having a further conversation with the owner as to the authenticity of this vehicle.

Regardless of what the outcome is; it is still great workmanship.

Gentlemen. AACA is aware of the issue and is following established procedures to ensure that there is due process in this matter. Once all the facts are gathered then the club will know what is necessary to do. No judging system is infallible but once a mistake has been made and we are made know of it we do all we can to correct it.

I've been told by more than one Chief Judge that once an award is given, it cannot be taken back, but the vehicle can be "prohibited" from receiving other awards in the future. I see that "Repeat Original HPOF" is an exception.

Chris, nice meeting you at Hershey. AACA has at various times asked for the cooperation of vehicle's owner to return awards if the circumstances dictate it. Again, the club is aware of the issue and is handling it.

I can see multiple arguments with this one....

First off, when was the car built and is there documentation as to when it was built??

Second off, in the race car class, someone can take a car and turn it into a race car so long as the vehicle was a race car at least 25 years ago, with that same thought process, what's the difference if you took a car 25 years ago and made it a race car, or if the car was turned into a hearse??

In the case of many small town fire departments, there were fire departments out there that would buy a chassis and make the fire equipment for that truck based on their finances and the needs for the community. With that in mind, why couldn't a local funeral director buy a car and turn it into a hearse??

No matter how you slice it, it still isn't stock....

I'm not saying that I would accept the Lincoln hearse either, but I am bringing this to your attention so that everyone could look at both sides of the coin. I think if I were on the Judging Committee I would give this a lot of thought before a final decision was made because there are valid arguments on both sides if the vehicle was built back in the day versus something that someone cooked up in their garage 5 years ago.

This is a case where I'm glad that I don't own the vehicle, and I'm also glad that I don't have to be stuck with having to deal with this vehicle.

From the Judging Guidelines:

The burden of proof as to the accurate representation of a vehicle is the sole responsibility of the owner.

Misrepresentation of vehicles: The Class Judging Committee reserves the right to remove from the AACA

list of First Prize winners, any vehicle judged after January 1, 1982, that is found to have been

falsely represented at a National Meet.

I submit another scenario in that the owner probably was not misrepresenting anything, as we were also told by him that he did the conversion himself. If he was out to dupe anyone, he was only out to dupe those who didn't ask.

If it's a situation where he didn't say and the judges didn't ask, he ought to get a special award for slipping through the cracks. The judging guidelines look like they were written by Congress and he probably didn't read through line-by-line to know he wasn't eligible.

This car no longer appears in the revised list of Hershey Meet winners.