1955
Eureka (USA) This company,
like others listed below,
specialized in commercial vehicles including hearses, funeral limousines, ambulances and flower cars.
Hess & Eisenhardt (USA) Skyview
Limousine [6 were built as tour cars for the Broadmoor hotel, Colorado]. All were
finished in Mandan red with Pecos beige upper side window trim. These
wagons could accommodate twelve passengers. There is at least one known survivor; it was
offered for sale in SSA89, p.32. Photo McC p.311 [test prototype] and SS
10/96, rear cover. Article in SSA96, pp.20-27. One more survivor (perhaps the same
one?) was on sale in the Self-Starter issue for April, 2001. Look also at the Dream Cars section for 1955, to view other another
creation by H&E, considered to be more a dream car than a professional model. Built to replace a group of aging Cadillac Series 75 sightseeing
coaches built in 1947, the Hess & Eisenhardt Skyview limousines were built using a
Cadillac Series 86 commercial chassis mated to a slightly altered Sayers & Scovill
limousine-style hearse body. On some of the cars, four large smoked Plexiglas panels
supported by a framework of exposed chrome-plated cross-members were inserted into the
roofs for year-round sightseeing. The other Skyviews featured a roll-back canvas roof
similar to the ones found in A.J. Miller's pre-war Broadmoor coaches. The Skyview's were
built using a body-shell from a S&S Victoria funeral coach, but the Broadmoors's
sloping C-pillars differed in one respect. Although set at an angle, they were perfectly
straight and unique to the Skyview while the sloped C-pillars found on a Victoria funeral
coach were noticeably curved. Skyviews shared the 3-piece rear windows found on most
S&S professional cars (except for the high headroom ambulance and flower car) but the
glass was fixed in place. The bottom half of the rear loading door opened into a small
storage cavity behind the rear seat and the spare tire was stored in an under-floor
compartment. A feature unique to 1955 Broadmoors was their Eldorado-sourced rear wheel
openings, which did not continue into the 1956 editions. Six were built and three are
known to survive. Surprisingly when the Broadmoor Hotel replaced the aging 1955-56
SkyViews in 1959, Hess & Eisenhardt's arch-rival, Superior Coach was awarded the
contract.
This portrait of Messrs. Hess & Eisenhardt
is believed to be from the mid-fifties
 
(Left) one of the first
Skyview observation coaches built for Colorado's Broadmoor Hotel
(Center) artist's impression of the proposed Broadmoor Hotel Skyview
tour car
(Right) this survivor was sold for $7,500 at a Kruse auction (lot #3663, Auburn,
IN,
September 1999; the program asserted that only five units had been built)
 
Above: the Broadmoor hotel takes delivery of a full
complement
of the year's Skyview observation limousines; five of them are seen here
 
 
 
 
A survivor needing TLC (2007)
 
  
Perhaps this is the car ... after a full restoration?
[ Pics (immediately above): © and courtesy of "Grim Rides" ]
Hess & Eisenhardt (USA)
Special custom limousine for Mamie Eisenhower, wife of the then 34th US President, Ike
Eisenhower. Features include elimination of "C" pillars, a Series 62
coupe rear window, a rear roof line with lower, Florentine curve, sabre wheels
and a retractable roof panel over rear passenger compartment. Photo McC p.309. This car is
believed to be today (2004) in the collection of French enthusiast, Olivier Delafon, at
the Chateau de Monjalin, near Avallon, in Burgundy, some 155 mi. SE of Paris.
Olivier collects the cars of heads of state.
Factory publicity photo
 
Left: behind the Renault Vivastella once owned by
Marshall Pétain, who was
France's premier under the Vichy government, during the German occupation,
is the custom Series 75 limousine without "C" pillar (see enlargement)
These original showroom photos were found in an old
album that the (Cadillac) factory had discarded;
recovered in a dumpster in MI, the album was subsequently sold on e-Bay in 2003
Lehman-Petersen Coachbuilders (USA)
Built for a handicapped Senator, this car incorporates a wheel chair and metal ramps that
exit the passenger side, much like the invalid cars
designed on Cadillac chassis by Schmidt & Bartelt in the early forties.
It has the regular limousine divider window as well s factory air conditioning.
 
Meteor (USA)
Even though they may resemble creations by the
larger commercial car manufacturers
(Eureka, Miller, Superior), in fact, this car and the one below are
"nothing" cars,
drawn by Cadillac for their commercial chassis ads
.
Meteor (USA) This company
specialized in commercial vehicles including hearses, funeral limousines, ambulances and
this type of flower car, below.
Miller (USA)
S&S [Hess & Eisenhardt]
(USA) again built their famed S&S models on the Cadillac commercial chassis. Two
are shown below, in addition to a B&W factory drawing.
 
Superior (USA) This company
specialized in commercial vehicles including hearses, funeral limousines, ambulances and
this type of flower car, below.
Superior combination coach
 
 
This survivor was found on the Internet
Superior Super Rescuer ambulance
 
Superior ambulance attendant seats (left);
compound curve windshield for greater visibility
 
 
The illustrations or this entry are from the 1955 Superior
ambulance brochure
 
Surviving Superior Moderne
ambulance
Could this be the one in the previous row?
Although it carries '56 wheel covers,
it is a reconstitution of a '55 Superior Moderne limousine ambulance
[ Photo: © Bud Juneau, Self Starter annual, 1998 ]
[Unknown, Greece?] Special funeral coach.
This one was photographed on the Greek island of Leros [sorry for the poor picture]
Photo: courtesy Stefan Achilles, Aachen
[Unknown; possibly Meteor] Special
flower car, photographed in Cuba
Photo: Internet, 2014
[Unknown, Switzerland] Special
ambulance body on Cadillac chassis. Used by Metropole Clinic in Lausanne.
[Unknown, USA] Special
ambulance
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