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player ready...You can tailgate at Chicago Bears games in style, or you can party in John Mulhern’s Bearsmobile . . . wheels to die for (you’ll get the pun in a minute).
“We needed our own special tailgating vehicle, just for use for when we go to the Bears games,” said Mulhern, 40, a season-ticket holder who considers using mobile homes and the like “too nice for Bears games.”
His solution: A 1966 Cadillac hearse, which Mulhern says is about 22 feet long, had about 55,000 miles on it when he bought it last year and has probably “never been over 20 miles an hour in its life.”
Mulhern, a contractor who lives in Riverside, was considering milk trucks, classic police cars and other kitschy alternatives before he spotted the hearse on eBay and bought it for $2,500. Mulhern took it to a body painter in Itasca, telling him to “go crazy.”
It’s wacky, all right.
Painted dark blue, the artwork includes a “Fender of Fame” of retired jersey numbers of such greats as Walter Payton; a bear in a Bears jersey taking a paw-swipe at Green Bay Packer Brett Favre; “Monsters of the Midway” painted in orange letters; and a kid engaging in a more personal affront to the Packers logo.
“We have a lot of fun with that car,” said Mulhern, who gets help with the hearse from brother Mike. “We probably have 400 or 500 people come up to us while we’re tailgating. They just absolutely love the car and they want their pictures next to it.”
He’s not sure if the Bears know about it yet, but Mulhern would be happy to offer the car up for appearances at charitable events.
The Bearsmobile was featured in ESPN’s 25th anniversary promotional celebration, “Season of the Fan.” Cameras approached Mulhern during a Bears-Viking game last year to talk about it, and Mulhern was appreciative of how he was shot, considering his condition at the time.
“We were already three sheets to the wind by about 9 o’clock,” Mulhern said laughing. “My brother thinks they took one word out of every sentence I said and pasted them together.”