Hearse

The funeral hearse was originally a wooden or metal framework, which stood over the bier or coffin and supported the pall.

[3] Petrol-powered hearses began to be produced from 1907 and, after slow initial uptake due to their high cost, became widely accepted in the 1920s.

A first call vehicle is used to pick up the remains of a recently deceased person, and transport them to a funeral home or morgue.

[9] Usually, more luxurious automobile brands are used as a base for funeral cars; since the 1930s, the vast majority of hearses in the United States and Canada have been Cadillacs and less frequently, Lincolns.

The Cadillac Commercial Chassis was a longer and strengthened version of the long-wheelbase Fleetwood limousine frame to carry the extra weight of bodywork, rear deck and cargo.

The fleet division of Ford Motor Company sells a Lincoln Town Car with a special "hearse package" strictly to coachbuilders.

Car-based ambulances and combination coaches were unable to meet stricter Federal specifications for such vehicles and were discontinued after 1979.

Coachbuilders modify Mercedes-Benz, Jaguar, Opel, Ford, Vauxhall Motors and Volvo products to hearses.

Some second-hand Rolls-Royce cars have traditionally been used as hearses though the high cost of newer models is generally considered prohibitive.

In the United Kingdom it is possible to hire 'non-traditional' hearses that have usually been converted from various production vehicles such as vans or 'estate' style cars which may have held a particular memory for the deceased.

American market vehicles such as the Lincoln Town Car and Cadillac DeVille, which are otherwise fairly uncommon in Japan, are often converted to hearses in both styles.

[citation needed] In Hong Kong, light goods vehicles of Isuzu, Volkswagen and Ford are used as hearses by most of the privately operated funeral homes.

[21] Sam the Sham of the Pharaohs (known for Wooly Bully and Lil' Red Riding Hood) was known for transporting all his equipment in a 1952 Packard hearse.