HOW JOHN RABOLD GOT HIS 1970 COMBINATION
When I was working for WTWO TV 2 in Terre Haute, Indiana, I was sent to get video of a fatal car accident near a town called Dana. It was one of the coldest days of the year, (December 1998) out in the wide open, with the wind cutting across the field something horrible like. What had happend was a semi truck rearended a SUV full of elderly people, which then bounced it off an oncoming tanker truck. I remember when I arrived, how everything seemed frozen in time. The firetrucks from the area volunteer fire departments were old, a little baracade was set up that said 'accident zone", the town's single flasher was at least 30 years old, and two hearses were sent to retrieve the bodies. Now thats something I had not seen before in this day. Most of the time an ambulance or the mortuary service's first call car (usually a mini van) is sent. As I set up the camera, the first hearse drove past me. I remember looking at it, admiring the all white paint, the removable landau panels, the beacon on top, and just the way it just fit the scenery. Right away I wanted to know who owned that hearse and if they would sell it someday.
About six months later, I met a couple PCS members that lived nearby Terre Haute and went to their funeral home. Clay Mack and David Waite of the Frist Funeral Home. As they were showing me around, I spoted something in their garage. THE SAME HEARSE THAT WAS AT THE ACCIDENT!!!! Seems that they used it as their first call car, and sometimes for funerals. I told them if they ever decided to sell it, to let me know. Well, they said that they liked it too much and they had no plans to sell it at the time. A few months after that, I moved from Terre Haute to South Bend, Indiana for a new job, thinking that it would never be.
Well, one day I see that Clay had posted a message on the PCS message board that they had decided to sell it. I was all over it, as well as other PCS members. But in the end, I was the victor! I have it in my possession now. After I got it I called the TV station I used to work for to get a copy of the video I shot of that accident, only because I wanted to have video of that car "working." To me its kinda of a reminder, that although we do have an appreciation for these cars and tend to overlook the "morbid" side of them, that these cars were built for a purpose, and I now have video of mine doing its job!