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Tse Monument/Mausoleum Rosedale Cemetery Linden, New Jersey Next to the Tse mausoleum in Linden (a suburb of Newark), New Jersey, stands the monument to young Raymond Tse. Raymond, a 16 year old Chinese-American boy, longed for a Mercedes when he grew up. Unfortunately, he died unexpectedly of pneumonia in 1983, while in Hong Kong as a foreign exchange student. His family chose to give him the car of his dreams posthumously by commissioning Michael DiPiazza, a monument dealer in Hackensack, New Jersey to produce an exact replica of a Mercedes 240D stretch limousine. DiPiazza sub-contracted the work to Rock of Ages Granite in East Barre, Vermont. Rock of Ages called upon two of its best sculptors, Dante Rossi and Warren Sheldon to produce this stunning work. Rossi and Sheldon carved the monument out of a 34 ton block of granite using an actual Mercedes as a model. They were further assisted by blueprints supplied by Mercedes Benz. “They had the car right in front of them,” says Scott Rahenfuher of Rosedale Cemetery. “What they produced is an exact replica, from the headlights to the grill work, the tail pipes and the windshield wipers. Even the license plate screws are there.” It was decided not to sculpt the hood ornament or side view mirrors as it was thought they would be vandalized or stolen. “The story goes,” says Rahenfurer, “that the boy wanted a Mercedes when he reached driving age, and his older brother promised he’d have one.” Cost for the Raymond Tse’s Mercedes: $250,000.