Gaudy Hearse

D

Dave Mellor NJ

Well-known member
Looks like a stretched single A truck
 

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There was a light gray 'children's hearse' on a Model T chassis seen at Hershey years ago. I've seen a model of it for sale recently.
 
They stretched that thing a good bit. I was thinking AA but it has the smaller wheels. I wonder what the rear torque tube looks like.
 
Dave Mellor NJ said:
Looks like a stretched single A truck
547859
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That hearse was in the Den Hartogh Ford Museum in The Netherlands and was sold, on 23 June 2018, at the Bonhams auction of that museum when the museum closed and its entire contents were sold off. Here is the link to that entry in the Bonhams auction with lots more photos and details about that Ford Model A hearse: https://cars.bonhams.com/auction/25077/lot/179/1931-ford-model-a-hearseengine-no-aa3957075/

Since then, it has kicked around various internet sites in Europe, for sale.....

It is a typical Dutch hearse of the era. Here is an era photo of a very similar one, also in The Netherlands:

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Brad in Maryland
 

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Tangent Warning: All kidding aside, this is built to established conventions of European horse-drawn hearses. Black wood bodywork, often elaborately carved to resemble cloth drapery, with carved wood ornaments on the roof were familiar features. Glass sides were typical though not ubiquitous. The horses drawing the carriage were often fitted with black tack and wore black feathered “hats”(?) styled after military helmets. I’m no expert on horses, so they’re probably not called hats.
If you built model cars in the 1960’s-70’s you may remember a George Barris creation, The Boot Hill Express. I snapped a picture of it with my Kodak 620 format camera using a tiny flashbulb. (Flashcubes were not yet invented.) The Barris show car was in The Museum of Modern Art exhibition “The Machine at the End of the Machine Age.” Based on a horse-drawn hearse of this style, had typical Model A ( or T?) transverse leaf suspension - but fully chromed. Also the typical huge drag slicks in the rear and a fuel injected 426 Hemi filling the compartment meant for the coffin. They also showed a Bugatti Royale, a Cisitalia, and a De Tomaso Vallelunga. The Boot Hill Express, the show at MOMA and all the cars mentioned are viewable online.
 
Interesting. The Bonham’s description that Brad cited lists this as a AA chassis. The engine number is AA, but I don’t see anything else AA about that running gear. Looks like five-lug 19" wheels to me, and a standard 3-speed gear shifter.
 
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