MTFCA Forum

Wait til you see the latest issue of Model T Times. Excellent article about an original Hearse.

There is also one in the Funeral Museum in Houston, Texas. At least was when I went there.

I bet people are dying to get a ride.

The funeral museum in Houston is owned and operated by a corporation, Service Corporation International, based in Houston, Texas. Form your own opinion on corporation owned funeral homes compared to independent family owned funeral service providers.

Like these Hearses?

Bob in Texas wrote: ↑

Fri Jul 15, 2022 4:57 pm

There is also one in the Funeral Museum in Houston, Texas. At least was when I went there.

That TT hearse you saw is the same one in the latest T Times article, loaned by family funeral directors to that museum, now back in FL with the second owners , is restored original likely made in Wilson, NC by Hackney Bros. Have seen it up close and it is nice.

The bottom one has different side lights, suicide doors, rear view mirrors, an emblem on the door and spiral columns between the windows. Jim Patrick

The chassis used was primarily a TT, and the custom wood carved body work was done by several companies. Ford did not supply completed vehicle, just the chassis .

It was a cough that carried him off.
It was a coffin they carried him off in.

There was one in Maine about 30 years ago.

The undertaker's name was etched in the glass, I. C. Phingers.

I never learned where it went, but it left town.

There was child's Hearse on a MTFCA tour I attended some time ago (Fulton Mo from memory)
complete with small coffin.
Not real popular with the woman on the tour.

Back in the late 50's, I was looking for a vehicle to take to university. A local funeral home was disposing of a 1936 Oldsmobile hearse. I convinced my Dad to go with me to look at it. It turned out that the funeral home operator had recently died so the business had closed and his widow was selling the hearse. She allowed us to take it for a test drive but wouldn't get in the hearse, which surprised me. Anyway the vehicle worked perfectly, had a newly rebuilt motor and was in great shape. My idea was to buy the vehicle, paint flames on it and call it "The Devil's Chariot" and take it to University. It seemed to me that the area that previously accommodated coffins could be useful for other purposes Anyway, with unexpected insight, my parents scuttled to whole idea so I ended up with a worn out 49 Meteor (Canadian Ford) as my university transportation.

There is a hearse on a TT chassis here in Riverview at a funeral home. I haven't talked to the funeral director about it but plan to. Maybe I'll show him the article after it comes out. Bob

Does it have the original body??

Nah.... The funeral was a long time ago....

This hearse was on MI Jamboree tour last Aug. Open cab too!

Bob, you have to have waited your entire life for that straight line

Just think of what a great camper that would be with windows.

Why was Henry Fords last ride in a Packard? bobt?

Hum...Packard chassis hearse...curious ??? ...bobt...,. Probably predicted the demise of Packard, ...gear shift may have been left in neutral and even though the emergency brake may have been applied, the vehicle was moving forward as Henry Ford's heavy bronze casketed remains were being placed into the hearse, with the chauffeur running to get behind the wheel to apply the foot brake ...,. Remembering seeing this film event on a documentary of Henry Ford.

According the David Lewis there was no Ford hearses available. He mentioned that in a Car magazine (Car and Parts ) in a column he wrote for them.
I sent photo's of Australian Ford hearses and we corresponded for some years.
If the Model T' hearses were known to the funeral directors at the time they may have thought they were "not suitable for Henry"

The fact that a Packard hearse was used for Henry Ford's funeral is neither here nor there.

Most hearses and ambulances that were available in and around Dearborn at the time of Henry Fords death were most likely Cadillacs, Buicks, Packards and Studebakers, the reason being those were the chassis that companies like Miller-Meteor and Henney were using to build professional cars.

If there were any hearses built on Ford chassis in the 1930s and 1940s, I doubt they were used in major metropolitan areas like Detroit. A funeral home would have much more class than that, especially one hired by the Ford family.

Frankly, it's really no different today where, excluding mini-van hearses, hearses seem to be mainly Cadillacs, Lincolns and Buicks.

Many years ago, I saw a hearse that some "child of the '60's" was living in, and neatly written across the back was a little verse that for some reason, has stuck in my mind ever since:

"IT TAKES A HEAP A' LIVIN' TO MAKE A HEARSE A HOME"

Dave .... When do you expect the new issue of Model T times?

Robert - I received mine the day I started this topic. It is a little worn out now because somebody drooled all over it.

I guess you could call mine a dead issue???

A couple of comments on hearses. There was a country funeral home in my area that, back in the 50"s, was still operating with a 26-27 Chev hearse. Used to see it once in a while going by our house heading for the city. Probably going to pick up a client at the hospital in the city. Also in the 1950's, when I was delivering food products for my Dad's company, I was on a rural run to a couple of small communities on a gravel road (driving a 55 Pontiac sedan delivery by the way), when, on a long turn, I met a mid 30's Buick or Olds hearse midway through the turn in a 4 wheel drift. Quite impressive with dust and pebbles flying everywhere. Luckily the road was wide and I was able to move over enough to avoid any unpleasantness. I suspect the hears was also being used as an ambulance or the driver was just enjoying the day. Anyway, both these memories have stuck with me over the years..

Thanks, but could you save what's left by posting the story and pictures?...... That would revive your Dead issue?.. appreciate all your postings thank you.