Vehicular Renaissance
By Trisha Murphy
Royalty will arrive Saturday when “Queen Victoria” takes her place among the elite motorcade arriving one by one at the Palatka riverfront for the 26th annual Open Car Show-Cruise In.
Sponsored by the Azalea Region Antique Automobile Club of America, the event will be from 8 a.m. – 2 p.m. and will showcase antique, custom, and classic vehicles, vehicles from the 1950s and 1960s, hot rods, muscle cars and other special interest vehicles.
Vehicles will be on display around the clock tower on Memorial Parkway. Admission for vehicles and spectators is free for the non-judged show. The public is invited.
Dash plaques will be awarded to the first 100 vehicles that enter, and there will also be door prizes and a 50/50 drawing. For details or to register, call Art Hall at 386-546-0073 or Clara Cox at 904-553-5303.
One of the featured vehicles during the show will be “Queen Victoria,” a 1967 Cadillac Superior Coach manufactured in Lima, Ohio. The hearse is owned by Karl N. Flagg, owner of Karl N. Flagg Serenity Memorial Chapel in Palatka and senior pastor at Mt. Tabor First Baptist Church.
According to Flagg, his family appreciates the historical significance of the hearse and its rebirth.
“This hearse or funeral coach has been in active service for several months and is used for initial service calls, funerals and, of course, antique shows,” Flagg said. “This will be the very first antique show since its renaissance.”
Flagg said he purchased the 58-year-old vintage classic in February 2023 following a nationwide search, during which he found it in a garage in Daytona Beach. Sales manager Brian Freeman facilitated the transaction after it was authorized by Breck Sloan, the general manager and owner of the Beck Automotive Group in Palatka.
Flagg, 65, a lifelong resident of Palatka, said the hearse was used by funeral homes as an ambulance prior to the state offering professional rescue services.
“This vehicle is nostalgic and it speaks volumes about the quality craftsmanship by the General Motors Cadillac division during that era,” he said. “By a family’s special request, we drove in an escorted funeral procession to an interment at a memorial park in St. Augustine several weeks ago.”
Flagg said numerous vendors played an important role in the restoration of his vintage vehicle, including Beck employee Craig Alexander, who rebuilt the engine to include air conditioning, which was not available during 1967. Beck Collision Center also made repairs to the vehicle.
“It’s been a year for the restoration, and we are still planning to restore the interior upholstery soon,” Flagg said. “But we needed to place it on active duty.”
Although Flagg didn’t participate in the restoration of the classic himself, he watched and admired the work being done.
“I was amazed at the talented people who work diligently to restore it to its glory days,” he said.
Flagg, who previously served as mayor of Palatka and was a county commissioner, said having a vehicle like Queen Victoria, which has a total of 60,254 miles to date, takes him back to when he was in fifth grade. At the time, he spent six days a week at the Boyd family funeral home in Palatka, something he said prepared him for his lifelong career.
“I actually drove a 1968 Cadillac Miller-Meteor hearse during my teenage years at the Boyd funeral home I served,” he said. “It takes me all the way back to my middle and high school years when initially I could only wash and wax it. Then I became a licensed driver until it was retired and traded from the active fleet of service vehicles.”
Flagg is looking forward to talking with local residents at this weekend’s event and in future shows so long as he doesn’t get any service calls and have to leave.
“I hope senior citizens will have moments of reflections, admiration and reminiscing that gives them peace of mind from the past,” he said. “Younger citizens will remember the model from movies and documentaries.”
Flagg said he would love to see another addition to his fleet – a matching limousine.
“It would be fully sanctioned by families who request it for funerals,” he said.
Art Hall, vice president of the Antique Automobile Club of America, hopes the public will show up to this weekend’s car show to see the hearse and other vehicles, for fellowship and to participate in a 50/50 drawing at 1 p.m. There will also be a hot dog food truck.
“We’re expecting some of our cars to come from DeLand, Jacksonville, Ocala and St. Augustine as well as local cars,” he said. “We’re hoping for 200 or more spectators.”
Flagg is not sure how he would react if he were to hear, “All hail the queen,” when he arrives at Saturday’s show but said it would be interesting to find out.
“It gives me professional pride to own and operate this hearse,” he said. “When it brings historical significance and relativity and therapeutic comfort to a grieving family, we are blessed to sincerely share their bereavement and aim to facilitate their healing process.”
This article was originally published in the Palatka Daily News, Palatka, FL, Wednesday, February 26, 2025.
https://www.palatkadailynews.com/local-news/vehicular-renaissance