Got an extra 200,000.00 ?

Darren Bedford

PCS Member
1932-34 Ford hearse

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Ford-Other-...17adf434d&item=281234326349&pt=US_Cars_Trucks

This 1932 Ford V8 Hearse has been in service in New Zealand. It arrived in 1933, and took 1 year to build the body to Henry Fords specs, went to service in 1934. The Ford arrived from grill to back of doors, and the rest built by New Zealand coach builders. The hearse has been registered as a 1934 Ford V8 Hearse and is in service by Gray's Funeral Home, Rotorua, New Zealand. These photos were taken before a funeral. She has the original motor with polished Alloy heads that has been reconditioned. ( Receipts to show). The mileage is 40,965 miles on the clock. Old hearses are very sort after, and attract a lot of interest around the world and this old beauty is now up for sale. It is to be believed that this hearse is the only 32 -34 Ford V8 Hearse of its kind in the world. A real investment that is still working day to day. Genuine reason for sale.


Darren
 

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32 Ford hearse

This is a 32 Ford. Many states and countries titled a vehicle when it was sold or first registered. I doubt Henry Ford had much to say about how the vehicle was completed once he sold it to the first owner. I have never heard of a Ford factory built hearse.
Nice item but pricey. The polished heads would probably be after market items. Here again Ford did not devote time to do this kind of extra work when the line was building hundreds of cars a day.
Mike
 
The term "Henry Ford's specs" can be interpreted very loosely, as in, Ford set the length and width of the chassis, and the coachbuilder (the description mentions a New Zealand coachbuilder) built it to those dimensions.

Henry Ford built cars and trucks in volume. It doesn't seem likely that he got on a ship and sailed to NZ, just to tell them how to build a single hearse body.
 
Did ford ever build a factory hearse??



The somber, dignified 1931 Ford Model AA Funeral Coach ($1,750), body by Briggs, was upholstered in dark green mohair and came equipped with rollers and stops set into the floor to handle heavy caskets, loaded through side doors. This unit was based on the Standard Model AA Panel, while a companion model - the Model AA Funeral Service - was based on the Deluxe Model AA Panel and had different door and side window configuration. It was equipped for general funeral work with a removable tray halfway up the body so that two caskets could be loaded.

The Ford Model AA Ambulance ($1,800), body by Briggs, looked just like the Funeral Coach, but instead of casket-loading hardware, came with a medicine chest, dome lights, fan and a buzzer to signal the driver. The Funeral and Ambulance units came standard with steel spoke wheels.

According to "The Commercial Fords" book by Loren Sorensen there were 75 Funeral Coaches and only 17 Funeral Service vehicles produced. He says limited production began on the Ambulance and Funeral Coach models in February, 1931, and on the Funeral Service unit May 4 of that year. These were vehicles unique to the traditional Ford commercial line and would never be offered again in any model year.




Bandleader Red Wilson found that a converted 1931 Ford Model AA Ambulance made an ideal tour bus for his seven-man group and assorted instruments and baggage. Even with this type of sale, fewer than 100 of these units found buyers - an expensive lesson to the Ford commercial sales department, which had incorrectly projected a big demand. Double side doors and wire wheels were standard on these big coaches.

Fred
 
that answers that question. Briggs was one of I believe two body builders that ford used. or were there 3. Ford bodies, Briggs and Murray If I recall my education from my A buddy. then Ford did build a factory hearse and ambulance on the AA chassis in 1931 0nly.
if I recall the description the Briggs body had a lot more wood in it then the Murray.
 
Here is a 32 Ford, no idea on the coachbuilder.
 

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