Shouldn't Hearses Be Black?

[Guest BJM]

http://siouxcity.craigslist.org/cto/4218341953.html

And why do they call them Hearses? I would not want my last name associated with death.

[MCHinson]

Most I have seen are black. In my area of the country there are some funeral homes that use white hearses, and a few that use light grey hearses. The one that I owned many years ago, was green, but it was repainted that color when it was used by a rescue squad. It was a combination car capable of being used as a hearse or as an ambulance.

http://www.phantomcoaches.org/wwwboard/messages/595.html

[39BuickEight]

There are many white ones around here.

[Restorer32]

No idea but the landau irons on the one in the pic are mounted upside down.

[SBRMD]

Seems like plenty of white ones around Minneapolis too.

[Pete Phillips]

My friend Ed Logan (BCA member) has a dark navy blue one of these--same year, same style. I was with him when he bought it at a used hearse dealership in Cincinnati, Ohio. The owner of that dealership had about 100 of them in stock, all years, all colors, all makes. The man could tell you with pretty good certainty what part of the country the hearse came from, and the ethnic background of the funeral home owners, based on what color and what make the hearse was--it was amazing! For example, Black funeral homes in the South usually have white Cadillacs for their hearses.

Pete Phillips, BCA #7338

[avgwarhawk]

I have seen them in black, silver, gray and white.

[Marty Roth]

I was just about to add my thoughts when I noticed Pete's comments , and those of Chris as well - that holds true for the New Orleans area as well as other parts of the Deep South - black, silver, gray and white. Our white 1994 Cadillac Fleetwood Brougham served as a livery / rental to local funeral homes before I bought it back in '05 with only 50K (slowly-driven?) miles on it.

[60FlatTop]

It is good to see it listed as a hearse. A lot of the knuckle draggers call them a Hurst. I've seen them listed on Ebay that way. Hooked on Phonics strikes again.

Bernie

[Dwight Romberger]

Bryan,

No, fortunately there is no Mr. Hearse out there.

I had to double-check, but I was right. The common thought is that the fixture that held the candles hanging above a coffin looked like a 18th century wood harrow with candle "teeth" sticking up out of a flat board. "Herse" is Middle English for harrow. "Herse" later became the name for a fancy structure built over a coffin and then was extended to the name of the horse drawn vehicle that carried the coffin.

It was probably changed to "hearse" when American spelling was "standardized" in the early 19th century.

Edited December 26, 2013 by Dwight Romberger (see edit history)

[jscheib]

Thank you, Dwight.

You can learn something new each day on this forum.

John

[Guest 42buickman]

We learn something new every day on this forum, but, WHEN DO WE GET OUR DIPLOMAS ? And who hands them out, Mr. Earl ?

Happy New Year everyone, Paul

[Earl B.]

To add to the colors, I've seen dark maroon, a dark gray metalic...light on the metalic and a light blue...

[Guest 42buickman]

I had a '50 ambulance/hearse that was a dark brownish maroon and brownish gray two tone once upon a time, sold it to Ed Logan who painted it blue and white if i remember correctly. I really liked the original color, very stylish and classy. Found the car in Arkansas, so, maybe that was their color scheme. Paul

[whtbaron]

Yep... I'm north of the 49th and I painted a dark maroon one once. I've seen light grey, silver/black, black, light metallic tan.. just depended on the personal preferences of the fleet owner. There is no standardized colors for the industry other than what is popular and accepted.

[Guest BJM]

http://atlanta.craigslist.org/nat/cto/4156010949.html

THIS CAR HAS ORIG. STRAIGHT 8 MOTOR & DYNAFLOW TRANS.MISSING REAREND.$1800.00 CALL(706)476-6708

(WILL ALSO DO TRADE FOR A ROLLBACK BED)

[SBRMD]

I wonder if the rear fender spears on that Atlanta vehicle are consistent with those for '49 senior series two-doors?

[Dwight Romberger]

I remember this motorhomes build on new hearse chassis's on display at camper shows in the sixty's. They weren't big sellers.

[Guest morerevsm3]

we had a 1926 Buick hearse when I was about 12 years old, Dad bought it with intentions of restoring it, it was grey with black guards

[whtbaron]

Friend of mine had a 60's Caddy hearse he drove as a beater in the mid 70's. It didn't stick around long though, it was a pig on gas and he could never get a girl in the back seat!

[John_S_in_Penna]

When I was growing up, my friend's father owned a

local funeral parlor and had a Buick hearse of the same

vintage (early 1980's) as the one B. J. M. posted.

However, his was metallic gray--a seldom seen color.

His "funeral car" sedan was a early 1980's Electra Park Avenue

in a nearly matching color of gray.

You don't see Buick hearses nearly as often as Cadillacs.

A salesman told him, "You'll lose a lot of prestige if you don't

have a Cadillac." But that was irrelevant. My friend's father

wasn't pretentious. He was a modest, friendly man--and he was a Buick fan.

[superior1980]

This has to be one of the most unusual hearses I've seen, and an unusual color for a hearse as well.