Car Care a Must With Livery Firm

And with good reason. A livery service can't operate at a profit without satisfied customers. And the quickest way not to satisfy a customer is to furnish him with a sloppy car.

"We take car appearance seri­ous," said Bill Stapleton, vice presi­dent of Thorne Anderson. "We have to to stay in business."

Thorne Anderson is one of four companies that operate an inte­grated custom livery, funeral and flower service in Chicago. Operat­ing 100 Cadillac cars from three locations, Stapleton says the firm is the largest funeral livery service in the United States.

To practice good car care, each vehicle is washed every day and often twice if the run is short. An automatic overhead spray washer assists one man in keeping the cars clean. Whitewall tires are steam cleaned each day and a thorough vacuuming job is also a daily chore.

Because of the heavy use of salt on Chicago streets, all cars receive a hand wax job four times each year after a machine rub-out with a cleaning compound. The interiors are shampooed regularly.

Related to the program of good car care is the large amount of body work and subsequent buffing and painting carried out in the three garages.

"Most body refinishing is not serious," Stapleton said, "but scratches and nicks are plentiful. And we go through more new moldings than you would expect."

Stapleton's area of responsibility is the North Side garage where 37 cars are housed. Each garage is responsible for its own mainte­nance and repair work.

The cars at the North Side garage include 15 Cadillacs Series 75 lim­ousines, 13 hearses, six flower cars and three service cars. All are either black or "Chicago gray." The hearses have special bodies built by Divco-Wayne on the Cadillac "Z" chassis. Some of the cars are equipped with two-way radio for greater flexibility.

Limousines average 23,000 miles a year; limousines in custom livery pile up about 28,000 miles a year and the hearses and flower cars put on about 12,500 miles per year.

Because of the wide variance in total mileage between the individ­ual cars, proper maintenance rec­ords are a must. Each car has its own maintenance record and at a quick glance Stapleton can add up gas and oil consumption, tire mile­age and what service the car has "Maintenance Is Serious Business"

received. The records help Stapleton keep a close watch on expenses.

In addition, each driver has the responsibility upon checking in the car each day to record the amount of gasoline consumed and to notify the service department when it reaches 1,000 miles or no more than 1,200 miles for a complete lubri­cation. He also records any noise or mechanical problems. Major serv­icing is done immediately; minor adjustments are performed at the regular oil and lube intervals.

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In order to arrange the most ef­ficient schedule for his mechanics and body repair men, Stapleton pulls the cars in somewhere be­tween every 8,000 and 10,000 miles for a complete tune up. At this time, the cars receive new spark plugs, points and a thorough in­spection. Stapleton believes that the use of ethyl gas exclusively (about 3500 gallons per month) along with premium detergent oil and greases helps him hold engine problems to a minimum.

"We rarely incur any engine trouble of a major degree," Stapleton said, "since we replace primar­ily with original equipment parts from our local jobbers. The only work we send out right now is for transmission repair and front end alignment."

Little tire maintenance is in­curred since most are six ply tires. The heavier hearses use eight ply tires. Tires are replaced well be­fore the tread is gone to insure a smooth, safe ride.

Because of the emphasis on ap­pearance, cars are traded every two years. Replacement costs are rela­tively low, Stapleton said, because most cars are sold direct to users in small communities and to indi­viduals with large families.

One major maintenance problem encountered by Stapleton is tail pipe and muffler systems. The salts and chemical used in Chicago make periodic replacement to exhaust systems a must.

"Our customers demand prestige service and we give it to them," he explained.

"We may be in a specialized business but we face the same everyday maintenance and service problems that a lot of other fleets do," Stapleton said. "These prob­lems have to have our immediate attention or the car just sits idle in the shop. That's why we take our preventive maintenance program serious."