Casket Maker Brings Personal Touches

Classic Car Caskets
Owner: Roland Poertner
Address: 1311 W. Walnut, Rogers 72756
Phone: (479) 986-0990
Hours: Monday – Friday, 9 a.m.-4 p.m.
Startup date: May 1, 2005
Web site: www.classiccarcaskets.com

For people who want to go to meet their maker in style, Roland Poertner is there to make that happen. In early May, Poertner opened Classic Car Caskets, a retail establishment supported by his manufacturing and customizing business.

Poertner’s specialty is customizing caskets to reflect customers’ personalities, cultures and lifestyles. Some examples of caskets in stock at the 2,000-SF showroom include serape designs for lovers of the Southwest, a black leather model with a CD player for motorcycle enthusiasts, a camouflage casket for the hunter or a Porsche-red casket for the car lover.

Traditional caskets, which start around $525, are also available. The model with full interior and exterior camouflage goes for $3,795.

“Whatever they want, we’ll build it,” said Poertner, who does cultural research before starting a new-themed project.

The custom-made caskets are built in Benton County in a 2000-SF manufacturing facility under Poertner’s direction. He said start-up costs were $30,000 to $40,000.

Poertner, a mechanical engineer by trade, said he decided to build custom caskets when a friend, who almost lost his wife, commented about customizing the casket. “I thought we could take it one step further than the traditional casket and capture the person’s personality,” Poertner said.

Classic Car Caskets has two employees and one showroom, but Poertner plans to add showrooms to other parts of Northwest Arkansas and southern Missouri.