Hearse

The name is derived, through the French herse, from the Latin {{lang|la|herpex}}, which means a harrow. The funeral hearse was originally a wooden or metal framework, which stood over the bier or coffin and supported the pall. It was provided with numerous spikes to hold burning candles, and, owing to the resemblance of these spikes to the teeth of a harrow, was called a hearse. Later on, the word was applied, not only to the construction above the coffin, but to any receptacle in which the coffin was placed. Thus{{Catholic Encyclopedia|wstitle=Tenebrae Hearse|inline=1}} from about 1650Oxford English Dictionary Online accessed 26 January 2018 it came to denote the vehicle on which the dead are carried to the grave.

Hearses were originally hand-drawn then horse-drawn after the decoration and weight of the hearse increased. The first electric motorized hearses were introduced to the United States in the early 1900s.{{cite web|title=A Brief History of Hearses|url=https://auto.howstuffworks.com/hearse1.htm|website=www.howstuffworks.com|date=30 March 2009|access-date=12 May 2018}} 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. The vast majority of hearses since then have been based on larger, more powerful car chassis,{{cite web|title=A history of hearses, plus the tale of the man who set Elvis's hearse on fire|url=https://www.funeralwise.com/digital-dying/a-history-of-hearses-plus-the-tale-of-the-man-who-set-elviss-hearse-on-fire/|website=www.funeralwise.com|date=3 March 2012|access-date=12 May 2018}} generally retaining the front end up to and possibly including the front doors but with custom bodywork to the rear to contain the coffin.

Corbillard 3.JPG|Ancient hearse hippomobile (France)

File:SLNSW 8565 1919 model Renault hearse at Wood Coffills funeral parlour.jpg|1919 model Renault hearse, Australia, {{Circa|1930}}

File:Dodge Magnum 2006 (15902557573).jpg|Modern hearse, 2006 Dodge Magnum in Chile

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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.

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File:Clapham Junction Sir Winston Churchill's Funeral Train geograph-2675150-by-Ben-Brooksbank.jpg]]

A few big cities provided special rail lines and/or funeral trolley cars and/or subway cars to carry bodies and mourners to remote cemeteries such as in Sydney, NSW and London and tram services were common. Chicago, Illinois operated 3 different funeral trolley cars over the elevated tracks in downtown Chicago to outlying cemeteries in the western suburbs. A special funeral bureau handled the funeral trains which sometimes operated 3–4 funeral trains a week over the "L".

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File:Motorcycle-Hearse.jpg

File:Motorcycle_hearse.jpg

A motorcycle hearse may be used during the funeral of a motorcycle enthusiast.{{cite news | url = http://www.bbc.co.uk/cambridgeshire/content/articles/2006/11/07/motor_cycle_hearse_feature.shtml | newspaper= BBC News | title= Has the world gone mad? A motorcycle hearse…? | first= Susan | last= Bowden Pickstock | date= 9 November 2006 | access-date=10 February 2012}} It is either a motorcycle with a sidecar built to carry a casket or urn at the side of the rider, or a trike that carries the casket behind the rider.

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Two styles of formal hearse bodywork are common. One style has opaque rear panels so the coffin is barely glimpsed. This American style is fitted with a heavily padded leather or vinyl roof and each side decorated with large mock landau bars resembling the braces used for the folding leather tops on some horse-drawn carriages. The other has narrow pillars and large windows revealing the coffin.

File:Malta - Mellieha - Misrah il-Parocca 02 ies.jpg|Mercedes-Benz hearse with large rear windows

File:Hearse Memphis TN 2013-03-10 003.jpg|American-style Cadillac hearse

File:Holden Hearse 03.JPG|Holden Caprice hearse

File:Chevrolet Silverado Hearse in Indianola, Mississippi.jpg|Chevrolet Silverado hearse in Indianola, Mississippi

Since the working life of a hearse is generally one of light duty and short, sedate drives, hearses often remain serviceable for a long time and hearses 30 years old or more may still be in service.{{cite book |last1=Sfectu |first1=Nicolae |title=The Car Show |date=26 September 2011 |publisher=Lulu.com |isbn=9781447876359}}{{self-published source|date=November 2020}}{{self-published inline|date=February 2020}} Due to the costs of owning an expensive custom vehicle that sits idle "80 to 90 percent of the week", individual funeral homes reduce costs by renting or utilizing a shared motor pool.[http://www.pioneerlocal.com/evanston/business/194494,pp-bzofuneral-010407-s1.article] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090831053400/http://www.pioneerlocal.com/evanston/business/194494,pp-bzofuneral-010407-s1.article|date=31 August 2009}}[http://www.nysscpa.org/cpajournal/old/14038924.htm Providing advisory services to funeral directors] from The CPA Journal

Perhaps owing to the morbid associations of the hearse, its luxurious accommodations for the driver, or both, the hearse has a number of enthusiasts who own and drive retired hearses. There are several hearse clubs.{{cite web |url=http://www.grimrides.com/clubs.htm |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121223154831/http://www.grimrides.com:80/clubs.htm |title=Grim Rides: Other Hearse Clubs |website=Grim Rides |archive-date=December 23, 2012 |access-date=December 26, 2012 |url-status=dead}}

{{More citations needed|section|date=March 2023}}

File:Hearse-r.jpg

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 rear of the Cadillac commercial chassis was considerably lower than the passenger car frame, thereby lowering the rear deck height as well for ease of loading and unloading. The Cadillac hearses were shipped as incomplete cars to coachbuilders for final assembly. Since the late 1990s, most Cadillac based funeral cars have been constructed from modified Cadillac sedans, until late 2019; The XTS chassis was discontinued from General Motors, and as such any new Cadillac hearse will be built on the XT5 SUV chassis, with the S&S Coach Company now building certain models of hearse on the XT6 platform.

The fleet division of Ford Motor Company sells a Lincoln Town Car with a special "hearse package" strictly to coachbuilders. Shipped without rear seat, rear interior trim, rear window or decklid, the hearse package also features upgraded suspension, brakes, charging system and tires. This was replaced with the Lincoln MKT, which has also been discontinued, followed by the Continental which also was discontinued after a short run.

The limousine style of hearse is more popular in the United States. It is common practice in the US for the windows to be curtained, while in other countries the windows are normally left unobscured.

Until the 1970s, it was common for many hearses to also be used as ambulances, due to the large cargo capacity in the rear of the vehicle.{{cite web|title=Hearses served as ambulances at one time|url=http://www.bgdailynews.com/special_sections/bicentennial/hearses-served-as-ambulances-at-one-time/article_aa3b7068-fde2-11e1-9f10-0019bb2963f4.html|website=www.bgdailynews.com|date=13 September 2012 |access-date=12 May 2018}}{{cite web|title=Ambulance and EMS History|url=https://www.alamance-nc.com/ems/about-us/history/|website=www.alamance-nc.com|access-date=12 May 2018}} These vehicles were called "combination cars" and were especially used in small towns and rural areas. Car-based ambulances and combination coaches were unable to meet stricter Federal specifications for such vehicles and were discontinued after 1979.

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File:2013 Mercedes-Benz E250 BlueEFFICIENCY SE CDi Automatic Hearse 2.1.jpg hearse]]

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. An example of this is the Morris Minor Traveller, a popular and well-loved car in the United Kingdom. File:Morris Traveller Hearse.jpg

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In Japan, hearses, called {{nihongo||霊柩車|reikyūsha}}, can come in two styles: "Foreign" style, which is similar in build and style to an American hearse, or a "Japanese" style, in which the rear area of the vehicle is modified to resemble a small, ornate Buddhist temple.

The Japanese-style hearse generally requires the rear of the vehicle to be extensively altered; commonly, the rear roof is cut away from the front windows back and all interior parts are removed from the rear as well. The ornate Buddhist-style rear area, generally constructed of wood and in which the casket or urn is placed, is built on top of this empty cavity and most often is wider than the base of the vehicle, so that it sticks out on the sides, over the rear body panels. Popular bases for these hearses are large sedans, minivans and pickup trucks.

The ornaments on a Japanese-style hearse vary by region. Nagoya style decorates both the upper and lower halves of the car body.[http://www.09net.jp/syouhisya/car_preview/n2.html 全国霊柩自動車協会] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070510093842/http://www.09net.jp/syouhisya/car_preview/n2.html |date=10 May 2007 }} (Nagoya type hearse house type) from 09net.jp {{in lang|ja}}

Kansai style has a relatively modest decorations unpainted.[http://www.09net.jp/syouhisya/car_preview/n3.html 全国霊柩自動車協会] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070927193403/http://www.09net.jp/syouhisya/car_preview/n3.html |date=27 September 2007 }} (Kansai type hearse house type) from 09net.jp {{in lang|ja}}

Kanazawa style is known for having a red body (other styles mostly have black bodies) with gilded ornaments.[http://www.fukou.co.jp/car_4/p2-b.html] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090829221611/http://www.fukou.co.jp/car_4/p2-b.html|date=29 August 2009}}

Tokyo style, found anywhere else in Japan, features painted/gilded ornaments on the upper half of the body.[http://www.09net.jp/syouhisya/car_preview/n1.html 全国霊柩自動車協会] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070927193337/http://www.09net.jp/syouhisya/car_preview/n1.html |date=27 September 2007 }} (Kanto type hearse house type) from 09net.jp {{in lang|ja}}

"Foreign" style hearses are mostly similar in appearance to their US counterparts, although their exterior dimensions and interiors reflect the Japanese preference for smaller, less ornate caskets (this in light of the national preference for cremation). This means that, in contrast to American hearses, the rear quarter panels require less, and sometimes no, alteration. These are generally built from station wagons such as the Nissan Stagea, or from executive sedans such as the Toyota Celsior (Lexus LS in the US) and Nissan Cima (Infiniti Q45 in the US). 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|date=June 2018}}

File:HK HH Universal Funeral Parlour D.JPG

In Hong Kong, light goods vehicles of Isuzu, Volkswagen and Ford are used as hearses by most of the privately operated funeral homes.{{cite news | url=http://big5.xinhuanet.com/gate/big5/news.xinhuanet.com/ent/2006-09/15/content_5094741.htm | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061109233355/http://big5.xinhuanet.com/gate/big5/news.xinhuanet.com/ent/2006-09/15/content_5094741.htm | archive-date=9 November 2006 | script-title=zh:關海山屍骨未寒遺囑掀罵戰 前妻子女攔車祭父 | publisher=Xinhua News Agency| date=15 September 2006 | trans-title=Guanhai Shan’s bones un-cold will lift the pre-war wife’s wife | language=zh | access-date=2 June 2018 }}{{cite web| url = http://ent.163.com/06/0314/16/2C6H5EKD00031H2L.html| url-status = dead| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20060324053112/http://ent.163.com/06/0314/16/2C6H5EKD00031H2L.html| archive-date = 24 March 2006| title = ͼ ־ΰ ѧ ѷ _ }}{{cite web|url=http://hk.apple.nextmedia.com/news/art/20120426/16283092|title=紅磡靈車司機醉駕撞欄|website=Apple Daily 蘋果日報}}

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In Singapore, most standard hearses are built on a commercial van chassis, such as the Toyota Hiace, the Nissan Urvan and the Mercedes-Benz Vito, while the grand/traditional Chinese/Indian hearses are built on a lorry chassis such as the Mitsubishi Fuso Canter and the Isuzu Elf. There are also some limousine hearses in Singapore that are built on a luxury car chassis, such as Mercedes-Benz, Maserati and Jaguar.{{Cite web |last=Wong |first=Derryn |date=2024-05-03 |title=Last rides and last rites: The rise of the limousine hearse |url=https://www.businesstimes.com.sg/opinion-features/last-rides-and-last-rites-rise-limousine-hearse |access-date=2025-03-29 |website=The Business Times |language=en |quote=These are highly-customised limousine hearses made based on luxury cars from brands including Mercedes-Benz, Jaguar and Maserati.}}

File:Cadillac Hearse.jpg

Amongst hearse enthusiasts, the 1959 Cadillac Miller-Meteor hearse is considered one of the most desirable, due to its especially ornate styling and appearances in several feature films, notably an ambulance version (Ecto-1) in the 1984 film Ghostbusters.

In the 2016 Ghostbusters reboot, the Ecto-1 is a 1984 Cadillac Superior hearse.

The Rogues prowl around in a graffitied 1955 Cadillac Hearse in the film The Warriors.{{cite web |url=http://www.v8tvshow.com/forum/index.php?action=printpage;topic=9768.0 |title=Print Page - the Sinister 15: Murilee's Favorite Bad Guy Movie Cars [Movie Cars] |access-date=2015-01-26 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140103135431/http://www.v8tvshow.com/forum/index.php?action=printpage;topic=9768.0 |archive-date=3 January 2014}}

Musician Neil Young's first car was a hearse, which was used to transport the band's equipment.{{cite web|title=Five Famous Hearses|url=https://www.historicvehicle.org/five-famous-hearses/|website=www.historicvehicle.org|access-date=12 May 2018}}

Celebrity hearse enthusiasts include rock singer Neil Young and three-time NASCAR Sprint Cup Champion Tony Stewart, who had his hearse customised for a television show.{{Cite web|url=https://connectingdirectors.com/1272-tony-stewart-s-1984-cadillac-hearse-smoke-deville-pictures|title=Tony Stewart's 1984 Cadillac Hearse – Smoke Deville - Pictures|date=2010-01-26|website=Connecting Directors|language=en-US|access-date=2019-11-22}} 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.

In April 2021, following the death of Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, it was revealed that the prince had helped to design a custom-built military green, Land Rover Defender which was used to transport his coffin in his funeral procession at Windsor Castle.{{cite web |last=Coles |first=Any |url=https://news.sky.com/story/prince-philip-bespoke-land-rover-hearse-designed-by-duke-of-edinburgh-revealed-ahead-of-funeral-12276173 |title=Prince Philip: Bespoke Land Rover hearse designed by Duke of Edinburgh revealed ahead of funeral |website=news.sky.com |date=15 April 2021 |access-date=15 April 2021}}

File:Richard de Beauchamp effigy Warwick Church.jpg effigy at Warwick, surmounted by a hearse for a pall covering]]

• In the traditional Holy Week services of the Roman Catholic Church and some Anglican churches, a candelabrum with 15 candles on it is used for the service of Tenebrae. The candelabrum is referred to as a "hearse".{{cite book |last1=Kosloski |first1=Philip |title=Into the darkness of Good Friday: The ancient liturgy of Tenebrae |date=12 April 2017 |url=https://aleteia.org/2017/04/12/into-the-darkness-of-good-friday-the-ancient-liturgy-of-tenebrae/ |access-date=17 April 2019 |quote=On each day of Tenebrae (Spy Wednesday, Holy Thursday and Good Friday) a special triangular candelabrum (called a Tenebrae hearse) is displayed, traditionally holding 15 candles.}}
• A structure that is sometimes placed above the coffin of a distinguished person at their funeral and subsequently above their tombs.See J. Wodderspoon, Memorials of the Ancient Town of Ipswich (Longman, Brown, Green and Longmans, London 1850), [https://archive.org/stream/memorialsancien00woddgoog#page/n366/mode/2up p. 317 and note] (Internet archive).

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• Bier
• Car body style
• Combination car
• Commercial vehicle
• Flower car
• Minivan
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Category:Funeral transport

Category:Commercial vehicles

Category:Car body styles