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Thacker Coach - Annapolis, MD - There was a company in
Annapolis, MD called Thacker Coach that used to do Chrysler, Mercury and some Ford
hearse conversions in the '70's and '80's. Mostly, these were wagon
conversions, as I've never seen or heard about any stretches. Thackers were
pretty popular with some of the smaller funeral homes in Washington, DC and
Baltimore. Thacker Casket was/is also the local casket distributor, and
Thacker Lincoln-Mercury was a big LM dealer in Annapolis (talk about your
horizontal marketing).
Joseph (Joe) Thacker was an S&S dealer as well as the manufacturer of the
Thacker station wagon pro-car conversions. His most famous creation was the
Thacker Chrysler Crown Coach, which was built on full-size (pre-1978)
Chrysler New Yorker Town & Country stations wagons.
I have seen brochures for their 1981-1982 Mercury Marquis Custom Landau
Hearse
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THACKER CASKET COMPANY, 7422 Old Alexandria Ferry Road Clinton, MD 20735
301-856-5100.
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Wagonus Americanus by Gregg D. Merksamer
The PM Zone checks out the wagons at the American Station Wagon Owners
Association "Ultimate Tailgate Party VII."
ASWOA members take pride in buying wagons on the cheap, but John Gambo of
Parkton, Md., may have set a record when he traded a case of beer for this
1989 Ford Crown Victoria "Custom Landau" minihearse/first call car converted
by Thacker Coach of Annapolis, Md.: "It wasn't cheap beer," Gambo stresses,
and the car did need a new transmission. "You can do anything with it and
they won't stop you," says Gambo's father Rick, who adds that the car had
been used for the funerals of his mother and brother in 1992. "People back
off and let you into intersections you would otherwise have to wait 10
minutes to enter."
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Considering how much attention Cadillac station wagons attract, it's
surprising that a factory-built version has never been offered. R.S. Harper
of Fraser, Mich., created this 1972 Sedan DeVille conversion owned by
California enthusiast Alan Clark.
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