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Another firm similar to ACC (aka Amblewagon) was Sharpe Conversions of Emmett, Michigan.
This was a father and son operation, run by Vern Sharpe and his son Mick.
They were in business from sometime in the early '70's and around at least
as late as 1979. Most of their work was conversions of station wagons into
service cars or hearses, but they also did some van ambulance conversions,
including some for the Alaska Pipeline Project.
Perhaps the most elaborate
work done by this firm was a Lincoln limousine built for a funeral home in
Akron, along with a matching hearse. The limousine looked similar to an AHA
Lincoln, except for the additional piece of glass in the rear side doors,
and it used an adjustable Lincoln front seat assembly in the middle seating
area of the car instead of jump seats. Something must have went wrong when
the car was stretched, because it seemed to sag in the center; and looked as
though it was welded back together with the jacks supporting the center
sections being a couple of inches too low for the mating pieces of the car
to be level. The matching landau hearse was built from about a '77 Mercury
Commuter station wagon, and it was altered cosmetically to look more like a
Lincoln. Sharpe's Lincoln hearse conversion was stretched about 2 feet,
with the leading edge of the rear side doors being lengthened as well as the
leading edges of the rear quarter panels. Stock side glass was used in the
doors, and the extra length had a filler panel covered in vinyl to match the
top; with a mirrored glass insert in the filler panel. The doorgate at the
rear was modified to open sideways only, with a large chrome plated piano
hinge on its left edge, and a matching dummy hinge on the right edge of the
door opening. The roofline was kept at stock height, and the cars had a
dropped rear floor for more interior headroom. The casket table itself was
an electrically operated extension table that was recessed between the rear
frame rails, and the entire rear floor was covered in aluminum. Inside the
rear side doors, there was a half partition behind the front seat, covered
in vinyl to match the interior, and the floor had openings to place floral
baskets in alongside the casket table itself. Driving that car was a strange
sensation in its own right, as looking in the inside mirror left the driver
with a feeling of pulling a tunnel down the street, due to the low roofline
and the dropped rear floor. It was believed for many years that there was
only one such conversion done, until a second "Lincury" turned up in the
hands of a car collector. Sharpe had a distinctive half top vinyl roof
treatment that consisted of vinyl over the entire rear of the car's roof,
behind the C pillar, with slim vinyl extensions running along the roof rails
to the windshield. Removable landau panels or a permanent landau roof were
available, and Sharpe offered a removable hearse floor that was finished in
aluminum and wood-grain inserts, with matching inserts available for the
inside of the doorgate. If there was one area where Sharpe had the edge over
other conversion firms, it was their drapes, which were made to open with
the rear side doors or doorgate, even if the door glass wasn't surrounded by
a frame. The drapes weren't attached to the glass at all, so the glass could
be opened if desired. The drapes were mounted on a separate framework that
slipped into sockets attached to the top of the inside door trim panel; so
they could also be lifted out if desired.
Sharpe never advertised nationally, so most of its work was for customers
in the Michigan area, and occasionally, they'd show a car at a funeral
service trade show. © 2004 Bernie DeWinter IV - Coachbuilt.com |
