In times past, I have travelled in Coleman Milne funeral limousines based on Mk2 Granadas, and found them quite roomy.
Yesterday I travelled in one of these for the first time:
www.limousines.co.uk/volvo.ihtml
While I wasn't short of leg room (and wasn't laid out in the back!), the car was very cramped for elbows. Certainly, with three across the middle row, none of us could get our seatbelts on easily.
The car wasn't very manoeverable either. The limo was clearly brand new to the particular funeral director, as at one tight roundabout we had to go right round in order to access the first exit - a sort of 400 degree turn I suppose.
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Fascinating.
Wilcox is another old name in the field.
Why on earth (or wherever) would they need an 'electric deck' and self-levelling suspension? Who's travelling in the back who could give a stuff?
Oh for the days of the Daimler Majestic Major. Ultimate comfort for your last ride and 120mph if you're tight for time...
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...Why on earth (or wherever) would they need an 'electric deck' and self-levelling suspension? Who's travelling in the back who could give a stuff?...
Self-levelling suspension is easy - lots of people load and the coffin.
Many ordinary limos are self-levelling at the back.
I wonder if the 'electric deck' is something to do with loading or carrying the coffin?
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But the Volvo would be a far better car in which to be hit from the side by an errant Transit. That's where the width goes - impact protection.
I don't think there's a saloon car made these days that will comfortably take three full-size adults across the back seat. MPVs manage it by (a) making the sides near-vertical, and (b) staggering the seats so the occupants aren't competing for shoulder and elbow space.
I haven't been in a Mercedes S lately, so perhaps that can do it, but even there I suspect the back is optimized for two. And a regular S80 is very nice to be driven in. My local airport taxi firm uses 'em, and when it's just me in the back it suits me fine.
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I had read or heard somewhere that Volvo V70s I think it was had an apallingly large turning circle / lock. So much so that they were quite difficult to park without embarrassment.
Doing a "Russ Swift" handbrake assisted parking maneuver in a hearse, while fun, would probably not be seen as entirely appropriate, when engaged in its primary function or duties anyway.
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>> Doing a "Russ Swift" handbrake assisted parking maneuver in a hearse, while fun, would probably
>> not be seen as entirely appropriate, when engaged in its primary function or duties anyway.
Excellent Idea, I will have the requirement written into my will.
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Actually, I was thinking much the same...
:-)
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>> Actually, I was thinking much the same...
>>
>> :-)
Me too.
A good 30 second rolling burnout along the front of the crematorium would also go down nicely. :-)
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Embarrassment is putting it a bit strongly, Humph, but my S60 - same steering gear as the old V70 - ain't the world's tightest turner. It certainly pays to reverse into a space rather than out, and that usually requires a second, corrective manoeuvre to straighten up once into the space. I've never had to do an extra circuit of a roundabout - but then I've never had a corpse on board either.
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My elder brother, sadly no longer with us himself, once bought a Vauxhall Carlton estate from an undertakers. It wasn't a hearse as such, having the standard body shape of the estate but had been used for "collections". The privacy type glass in the back was a bit of a giveaway at a time when such a feature was quite unusual. He said it was ideal for keeping his dogs cool. Lovely car but he always maintained a reluctance to empty the ashtrays, just in case it was someone he knew...
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I like the Binz hearses. Based on an E-class Merc with a big, er, hearse-like rear, but with ClS front wings, bonnet grille, bumper etc. Make you realise how closely related the CLS is to the E
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With death the major industry in our ' village ' I see ' casket coaches ' on a daily basis.
Most of our local guys seem to favour Mercs now although I've seen a few Volvo mourner's cars in the line up.
Hearses need to be able to carry a fair weight with some big coffins and perhaps 2 0r 3 pall bearers in the dicky seats. Often there will be another coffin and corpse under the deck....you can see the doors when the back is opened up.
A large number of funerals, mostly burials, are carried out by the horse drawns. There are 3 in use, black, white and silver. Usually the hearse and the nags are unloaded from box vans in a big layby by the cemetery and collect the coffin from one of the chapels in the cemetery for onward transport to the grave.
Sometimes, a body will be brought all the way from home by horse, often gangstas and druggies. It's qute a sight to see it cantering down the dual cabbageway like a stage coach escaping the Indians !
Whipcrackaway !
Ted
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As per what Ted says, I saw a programme on the telly once, and the coffin car has 2 coffins in it - one up top on display, and another underneath. Saves them a trip back to the wherever to get the next stiff.
As the coffin in the crematorium is going down, then next one is rising in the back of the hearse. It's like a production line these days.
A couple of fat stiffs, plus the carriers all hanging over the back axle is a fair weight, especially if you opt for the oak coffin with real brass handles.
Last edited by: Dave on Wed 18 May 11 at 23:26
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>> Often there will be another coffin and corpse under the deck....you can see the doors when
>> the back is opened up.
I am surprised this happens. I think! OMG.
Been a pallbearer once and the body+coffin (solid oak) was sooooo heavy for 4 people. And at the graveyard it was a problem. Never will do that again. The ground being uneven, graves very close (inches!) and the heavy coffin. I thought we might drop it.
Our local undertaker is not far away. I see the family use most of the cars for general use. One of them live on our road and have at least two of the 'company cars' in use. Not the hearse obviously.
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Been in three funeral cars sadly :(
One was a fairly bland but comfortable E class with two sets of rear doors, e.g three rows of seats.
One was an X reg (1981) Granada cut and shut job which I didn't really feel that safe in the back on high speed country lanes.
The third was a very bland but comfortable Omega limo.
Personally I want to go in the back of a Lada.
Last edited by: RattleandSmoke on Thu 19 May 11 at 00:55
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My old man travelled his final journey in a very old Chrysler hearse which was a surprise to me in 1960's Northumberland as Chryslers were very uncommon at that time.
Personally I want one of these ........
www.youtube.com/watch?v=FcARwkk3jO8&feature=fvwrel
Not for a while yet though................
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Volvo S80 - Funeral Car have changed - Mike Hannon
