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Totally unrelated to the original Meteor firm, the Meteor Motor Car Co. (aka Caserta Professional Vehicles/Car Sales of Piqua,
Ohio) was started by Thomas Caserta in 1996. Caserta, a former 18-year
Miller-Meteor employee, produced
a handful of new
Meteor Carmelita coaches on Mercury Grand Marquis sedans at his West Ash St.
dealership in
Piqua, Ohio. The Carmelita is made by stretching the rear
quarter-panel of a standard-wheelbase Marquis by 13" which allows just
enough space for a full-sized casket to fit behind
the driver's compartment bulkhead.
Tom Caserta started out at Miller-Meteor in 1962, and after Cotner-Bevington
was acquired by Divco-Wayne, he was sent there to streamline production
methods. His efforts had a big influence on the popularity of C-B coaches in
the late '60's, as it was he who made the decision to make the list of
standard features in Cotner-Bevingtons so complete as to include
air-conditioning, radio, full wheel-covers and whitewall tires, etc. Export
sales were a common thing for his products.
© 2004 Mark Theobald - Coachbuilt.com, with special thanks to Bernie DeWinter
IV.
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