I need help with a Henney 3-way table

[Bill Carlin]

Does anyone have any information, drawings, manuals, etc for the hydrolic table that Henney put into their hearses? I am working on a 1938 table that is the Heise Patent. I have parts, but I am not sure of the wiring. Any help would be appreciated.

[John ED Renstrom]

Meteor used that same table.

[Keith Snyder]

The Meteor table was supplied by Eureka. The tables used by A.J.Miller were supplied by Henney.

[Mike McDonald]

Bill: Nothing to do with your question.... but just a little Henney-Heise trivia.... William Heise was also a large Henney Dealer-Distributor in Los Angeles (Southwest Area) and Seattle (for the Pacific Northwestern States). He apparently was quite wealthy and philantropist to San Diego County having a Large (and beautiful) County Park in the Julian Area named after him. When I was growing up in San Diego County in the early 50's the predominate make of Funeral Cars and Ambulances were Henney-Packards for any first class funeral home or fire department..... with Superior Bodied Cadillacs and Pontiacs coming in at a distant 2nd. On family cars, the exception seemed to be Cadillac 75's that may have been far cheaper or more readily available? MM

[John ED Renstrom]

The Meteor table was supplied by Eureka. The tables used by A.J.Miller were supplied by Henney.

right you are but they were both a Heise table.

[Keith Snyder]

Although there's relatively little on him on the web, there's a lot of information on Heise, his inventions, relationship with Henney and his dealership in the recent Henney book. From what I've read, he was a real dynamo - funeral director, inventor, car dealer and much more.
A 1948 Cadillac Series 75 nine-passenger business sedan listed for $4679 (McPherson & McCall's new Series 75 Cadillac book) while a comparable Packard sold for $3450 - $4700 depending on which Series (Super Eight or Custom Eight) one selected ( Dammann's Packard book). According to these sources, a 1953 Cadilac Series 75 went for $5604 while the Packard limo cost $6900. In '53 there were only 100 Packard limos built as against 2200 Cadillacs.

[Mike McDonald]

Jim: That answers my question on funeral homes choosing Cadillac 75's versus H-P's. The small town of Fallbrook in Northern San Diego County (next to MCR-Camp Pendleton) where I was born and raised... still only has (1) well respected and busy funeral home. In the early 50's they had several H-P's (a '42, '49, '51, and a (1) 1953 Superior-Pontiac Service Car. In 1954 they bought two H-P's to retire the two older units (the '42 and '49) and in 1956 they bought a new Series 75 family car that were all used up until the early 60's, then going to all Superior-Cadillacs that they have bought to this day.

The same Fallbrook Fire Department had 1937, 1942, and 1951 H-P Ambulances that were mostly "hand me downs" from the City of San Diego and Camp Pendleton + a brand new 1954 H-P that we are restoring now.... so Mr. Heise must of had a good sales crew out and about. MM

[Mike McDonald]

Sorry Keith..... used the wrong name (Jim) for the reply. MM