Thread: Anyone Here Drive A Hearse?

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So I was thinking of buying a new Truck or Van because I haul large stuff for my yard haunt (i.e. 4X8 sheets of foam, etc) Then It dawned on me, a Hearse would haul the stuff and add a creepiness to my Cemetery parked out front. My question is, What are the do's and don'ts for buying a Hearse. I read that most service vehicles "retire" after 40,000 miles and anything over that is personal use. Any insight is appreciated.

I don't know about your D.O.T. regulations where you live? When I had mine (here in New York), the insurance for a hearse was astronomical! I had a 1984 and it cost me $1,000 a year for just liability! That's with NO accidents or tickets on my record!

When I questioned it, they said that they classify hearses as COMMERCIAL vehicles and they lump them in with other vehicles such as dump trucks. They also stated that hearses were not pleasure vehicles, even though it was over 20 years old.

We had a business at the time and used it for advertising in order to drive it and write off the insurance on our taxes.

I will say that it was a lot of fun to drive and had a VERY comfortable ride. I used it for everything, including hauling lumber. I could buy sheets of anything and keep it dry at the same time.

I took it for a muffler job and the workers WOULD NOT drive the car into the bay. I had to drive it in for them . Also, when we had a stereo put in, the workers came up with every excuse why they couldn't do it until the manager stepped in and MADE them do it.

We let a local haunted house use it as a display a couple of times. We used it for trick or treating a couple of times, etc. It was fun. We eventually had FLAMES put on it to make it look like a hot rod and got a lot of looks!

I even had someone ask me if they could use it for a REAL funeral to save on costs! I thought it was tacky because of the flames and the advertising on it.

Our hearse eventually "died" and it was too costly to repair. It had a 368 limo engine in it and it was severely underpowered! I got 12 miles per gallon. If you get one, get one with a LARGE engine so the car doesn't strain.

P.S. it was great for camping... You could really stretch out, that is if you cover up the coffin rollers on the floor .

Check the regulations before you buy!

But it was a 57 Caddy hearse!!
My friend has owned and driven several and used them and threatened to use them to go bill collecting from his up-scale customers, and got good results.
There might be some Pontiac or Oldsmobile hearses that might be somewhat physically smaller with even V-6 engines but don't live in a hilly area! "Ungh! Ungh! Ungh! I think I can, I think I can I think I can!"
Old Caddys have some very tricky mechanical workings and sometimes nobody can find were certain wires are routed or relays were hidden inside because hearses are custom built. Limos and hearses can suffer from doors binding because of weight and length..how do You fix that?
I heard about a web site that can give alot of info concerning individual cars as to miles and how many times they took someone for that last ride, imagine that? One 1967 Caddy hearse did incredible duty while it's production line twin only did 50 graveyard runs!
The 57 Caddy (junker) I had used the same brake parts as something like a 1957 2 ton truck(alot to stop, you know) Where those parts would be coming from I never discovered.
There is a used hearse dealer somewhere around Cleveland, Ohio, maybe? Find him on-line.

No, but about a year ago I tried taking one in on trade.

I believe Glass Eye' has one. Check with him. I'm not sure about anything else though. Sorry. But it sounds sweeeeeet.

I do have one, a 1983 Caddy. Unfortunately it does have the 368 and not a lot of power. I basically use it as a static prop in my cemetery so it serves its purpose however I would love to dump some real money into it and be able to drive it around town once a month or more. Good luck, they are really fun to drive but expensive to maintain! I will try to embed a video of it in use...
YouTube - Tawnya's 40

there's a few others on here who have hearses. you could probably do a search to find them. i can't off hand remember who they are. maybe ishwitch is one, eanderso13, Trac28, Growler. not real sure.

Hi there,

I'm new here. Although i don't own a hearse, you might enjoy this true story about my late father.

Our family lived alone high on a hilltop in West Virginia...there was a small cluster of homes full of nosy neighbors below.

Whenever my dad drove a new vehicle home (which he did often...he loved cars), all the nosy neighbors would come out on their porches to see what was going on.

One day he bought a used ambulance!

With siren screaming, he drove at breakneck speed up our hill. The neighbors, of course, were on their porches gawking.

Dad got me and my brothers to come out and paint the ambulance black and deck it out with side curtains and a fake mortuary plaque.

He drove it sloooooooooowly down our hill at twilight and sold it immediately to someone else.

The neighbors never saw the ambulance or the 'hearse' again. Nor did they figure out Daddy's prank...but they talked about it for years.

My dad died on Halloween of 2008. I miss him every day.

best regards,
Cadillac

that's a very nice story cadillac, and a nice reminese

Glass eye, I love this video!! What a great Birthday gift and the tombstones and sayings were great!
Being that my late father is the reason I love Halloween like I do, I love your story Cadilac..