1939 Packard Super Eight Hearse
Bonhams
Presale estimate: $150,000–$190,000
If you like to arrive in style, then surely you’d like to depart in style as well. This one-off Super Eight Hearse certainly fits the bill. Commissioned by an upscale funeral home in Virginia, the car wears bodywork by Henney of Freeport, Illinois, which was a major supplier of limousine and hearse bodies at the time. According to Bonhams, it is the only known car with a chassis from a Packard Twelve powered by the straight-eight from the Super Eight.
The interior is chock-full of blue fabric and wood trim, and the rear suspension features a hydraulic self-leveling system to keep the ride height consistent whether there’s anything (a casket, for example) in the back or not. It cost about $10,000 when new; that’s roughly $186,000 today.
After being used as a tour vehicle by a rock band in the 1960s, the Super Eight Hearse found its way to the consignor in the late ’90s. He reportedly paid $900 for it, then restored it over the course of a decade.
Bonhams
Presale estimate: $150,000–$190,000
If you like to arrive in style, then surely you’d like to depart in style as well. This one-off Super Eight Hearse certainly fits the bill. Commissioned by an upscale funeral home in Virginia, the car wears bodywork by Henney of Freeport, Illinois, which was a major supplier of limousine and hearse bodies at the time. According to Bonhams, it is the only known car with a chassis from a Packard Twelve powered by the straight-eight from the Super Eight.
The interior is chock-full of blue fabric and wood trim, and the rear suspension features a hydraulic self-leveling system to keep the ride height consistent whether there’s anything (a casket, for example) in the back or not. It cost about $10,000 when new; that’s roughly $186,000 today.
After being used as a tour vehicle by a rock band in the 1960s, the Super Eight Hearse found its way to the consignor in the late ’90s. He reportedly paid $900 for it, then restored it over the course of a decade.