Larry Edsall / Special to The Detroit News

Last Rides look like scale model cars, but actually are cremation urns designed to hold the departed car guy's ashes.

Macabre auto aftermarket enters the afterlife at SEMA Show

By Larry Edsall / Special to The Detroit News

November 7, 2011

LAS VEGAS, Nev. -- Turns out the automotive aftermarket now extends into the afterlife.

The Specialty Equipment Market Association (SEMA) Show here annually showcases the latest in aftermarket automotive equipment, from air fresheners to hot-rod engines. But the SEMA Show this year included one of the most macabre if fascinating booths in its history -- Last Rides Custom Urns.

The urns actually are one-of-a-kind cast sculptures that resemble scale-model vehicles. The difference is that they are hollow inside and hold the ashes of the dearly departed.

Last Rides is the brainchild of Jessie Enriquez, an artist, fabricator, mechanic and woodworker from Tucson, Ariz. His sons Christopher and Erik were manning the booth that displayed several examples of the family's work.

As the story goes, the family was talking about funerals and various family member's wishes. Several said they wanted to be cremated.

Turns out, this was no casual conversation. The family began checking to see what sort of urns were available and discovered nothing that it thought expressed the deceased's personality.

After creating several prototypes, the family found its solution, and a new business. It sculpts a clay model of the client's favorite vehicle -- one he or she has owned or restored or simply one he or she might have wanted to drive. The model is cast, hand painted, and mounted on a wooden base.

Several people have purchased their urn to display now in a home, office or garage with the idea of actually using it for its intended purpose at a later -- hopefully much later -- date.