Alicia2 Loc: San Clemente

This car sits in front of a used to be funeral home..
This exactly how it looks so funny.

robertjerl Loc: Corona, California

The old hearse looks to be in pretty good shape for setting outside.
Not funny at all, shaped like that to be able to fit a full sized casket on a collapsible rolling rack for moving it.

jaymatt Loc: Alexandria, Indiana

Nice photo.

MorrisT Loc: Chattanooga, Tn.

This is an early 50's model. Do you have a shot of the front end (Grill & Lights)?

FatPokey Loc: Oregon

I like what you did, it looks like a painting. Did you photoshop for that effect? If so, what did you do, just curious.
Liz

ncshutterbug

A fabulous shot of a wonderful oldie! FIND OUT IF IT'S FOR SALE! Hubby needs it to go with his '51 Caddy convertible.

Doddy Loc: Barnard Castle-England

Its an ugly Vehicle Alicia...I wouldn't be seen dead in it!

Alicia2 Loc: San Clemente

Good sense of humor

skylinefirepest Loc: Southern Pines, N.C.

Yeah, that car is worth some money, restored. I used to drive one just like it except a few years newer. And the man I worked for never owned anything but black....he used to say that you can get fifty different shades of any color at all but black is black. We used to have an old Federal Q that would kill the headlights every time you got on the siren. We'd run from Moore Regional Hospital in Pinehurst to UNC or Duke and would fill with gas at Pittsboro on the way home. It had a huge engine and would suck gas at a scary rate. Back then all we had was a single red rotator on the roof and we would habitually run eighty on the open stretches. To convert it from an ambulance back to a hearse we'd take the light off the roof, put landau panels over the windows in back ( where that curved bar is in the photo ), and flip the floor panel so that we had rollers for a casket. The good old days!

Bushpilot Loc: Minnesota

Wow! An old Caddy hearse, that would be a hit at the car show. A really "cool" photo!

alby Loc: very eastern pa.

.....interesting skyline.... never heard of convertible uses for these vehicles.. two-fer-one......as long as it's black...

skylinefirepest Loc: Southern Pines, N.C.

Yeah, and I think that this photo shows the removable panels but I can't be positive. Ours were held in place by thumbscrews and when you took them off the ambulance decals were on the window. The floor flipped over so that you had casket rollers and a piece to stop the casket from rolling and when you flipped it over it had just a solid floor that stretcher hooks were attached to. The oxygen tank was also removable and it was up near the head of the stretcher. The cloth over the driver's head had a zipper in it so that you could plug in the red light and put it in place. There was a simple black plug that screwed into place when you were dressed as a hearse. The only sirens we had back then were the powerful Federal Q's that we still use on fire engines today. Geez, what memories...I started driving an ambulance and working at McKeithan Funeral Home just about the time I turned sixteen. We had Red Cross First Aid certificates and knew how to stop bleeding and give oxygen...nothing like what we have today just with the fire department. Now I'm a Medical Responder which is more detailed than what I was when I was an EMT many years ago. Today's EMT's are lifesavers...we now have ox monitors, de-fib machines, and much more on our fire engines and today's Paramedics are equipped to do iv's and such...and the military paramedics are on a level with some doctors when it comes to trauma. Even CPR is a more recent development and at first only a doctor could give CPR...now school kids are taught how to do it and save lives. My fire department got a "save" yesterday administering CPR to a woman who was un-responsive. That's what makes life as a fireman so soul satisfying.

OneEasyRider Loc: Mount Airy, NC

Neat shot Alicia!