An old Pontiac Catalina ambulance would turn heads
Mrs JT is perfectly happy to spend great goo gobs of money on weddings. We did it for the oldest girl last May, will do it again this coming June for the middle girl, and at some undetermined time in the future for the 3rd. The youngest suggested that she would elope and take the balance in cash. Her mother responded Not A Chance. I love a good party.
I suppose I should correct myself lest I be accused of being sexist; I realize males can be just as wasteful / profligate. Example, the man who doesn’t see the need for the $50k wedding who then wants to drop $90k on a new sports car, and his wife / S/O thinking, ‘a $22k Corolla will get you everywhere you need to go’. I watched Suze Orman for years and the pattern seemed to be, women want to squander money on overpriced handbags, jewelry, shoes, and LUXURY CARS; men want to squander money on overpriced watches, gizmos, and tickets to high profile sports events ($12k to go see the super bowl in person) and SPORTS CARS or RESTORED ANTIQUE CARS.
@Bing , good point. A funeral director can make things go smoothly. Like if you get a death certificate with so many errors and gross misspellings on it as to render it unusable. Then the State Anatomy board and the Dept. of Vital Records each pointing the finger at the other. Two revisions later and many phone calls with unhelpful bureaucrats, you go down there in person and security guard treats you like a terrorist after you were nice enough to donate a loved one’s body. . . yeah, a good funeral director could have cleaned that up in a few days.
Probably best to pre-plan so your loved ones don’t have to make those decisions in a time of stress. I’d say if you’re old and don’t have money enough for your funeral, instead of buying the whole life insurance, spend that money having ice cream with your grandchildren, enjoying a hobby, even playing bingo if that’s what puts a smile on your face, and donate your body to science. Enjoy yourself while you’re here. If you die with credit card debt, etc., your kids / grandkids have no liability for that, they don’t tell you that on the commercials.
And regarding funerals, “. . . all your flowers arrive at once, too late”. Maybe think about someone you care about and send them some flowers today, while they’re still alive and can enjoy them.
I have occasionally talked about a new car when the Accord approaches 200,000 miles (153,000 now). My children usually start the discussion asking if I will finally buy that Corvette I’ve wanted forever. Mrs JT usually mentions a new Honda. Of course, I’m no where near the Honda, talking instead about a new E350, GS350, 535i, or CTS. She is also quite happy to drive around in either the 2003 Silhouette or 2010 Cobalt.
Upon further reflection, I suppose I was too harsh regarding my view of funerals. For a large diverse family I suppose my suggestions might not work. I come from a small"ish" family that is slowly dying off. I’ve had relatives who said they didn’t want a funeral because, “most of the people who would attend are already dead”. Others were Veterans or spouses of Veterans and entitled to burial and vault at no charge at the Veterans Cemetery.
The last high-dollar funeral I attended was a situation where the family of the deceased did not like the surviving spouse / family thereof. In as few words as possible, with pretentious people its like, if you don’t buy the high-end casket and many bouquets of expensive flowers, its like saying you didn’t really love the deceased. The same kind of people who have to have to buy (or lease) a new high-end car every other year because “what would the neighbors think of me if they saw a Ford or a Toyota sitting on my driveway?” I just cannot relate to that kind of worldview.
Here’s another anecdote, off of this topic, but at least car-related. Many years ago, I worked at a now defunct discount store. Occasionally I would go out to lunch with a certain colleague of mine. This guy had worked there part-time all through high school and college. Shortly after he graduated they promoted him to department manager (the lowest level of management). After his promotion, he would insist on using his car to go to lunch, because “I can’t be seen riding in a Chevette.” I thought he was just being funny, but one day his boss overheard him say this and asked him what he drove. (It was the Mercury version of some Ford car) to which his boss sarcastically said, “Oh, the Chevette “L”!” In less than a week, he had traded in his car for a brand new Saturn. I lost touch with him after I left the company, I can just imagine what he must be like today. 
Well actually, my boss-(former and died last month), was pretty sensitive to the car I drove and how it compared to his. When I interviewed, I had a two week old 74 Olds. He had a 72 Pontiac. He commented on it but hired me anyway. Soon after he bought a Caddy. Then I bought a new Olds in 81 and shortly after that he bought a new Caddy. I knew it would not be smart to have a more expensive car than his so when I bought a new Buick in 86, my wife drove that one and it stayed at home, and I continued to drive the 81 Olds into the ground. He was kind of a car guy though but still I needed to know my place in the hierchy. He was born in the east and transplanted to the midwest so that may have had something to do with thinking. You know, where people had servants and they needed to know their role and place in the social scheme.
A hearse is a great investment. One day you can actually use it yourself.