who owns a Demers Funeral Coach ?

I was just reading the History of Demers Ambulance of Quebec and realized that for a short time in the 80's they built funeral Coaches and Limo's. The only picture I can find is in Gregg Merksamer's "PROFESSIONAL CARS" does anyone still own one ?
 
A hearse dealer once relayed that a coach builder's build quality reputation is largely a misnomer. His rationale is that it came down to employees and their moods on any particular day when constructing coaches. When deeper thinking kicks in, his angle overall has merit.

Even when keeping that in mind, Demers hearses are among lowest quality ever made for funeral industry. They used the cheapest materials while consistently having poorest fit, finish and execution - so much so that one wonders if it was part of design. Tough making an argument for another coach builder that was more bottom of the barrel from the same period.

'87 & '89 Demers Lincolns. Note arbitrary vinyl seams around landau iron in first image as an example. Whoops! Vinyl pieces not large enough? No problem, let's just sew a couple together... Stretching a chassis yet leaving rear door dogleg in? Well that looked good never.

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Even when keeping that in mind, Demers hearses are among lowest quality ever made for funeral industry. They used the cheapest materials while consistently having poorest fit, finish and execution - so much so that one wonders if it was part of design. Tough making an argument for another coach builder that was more bottom of the barrel from the same period.

Thanks, Atti for the astute observations regarding Demers products and their "quality". You've gotta keep in mind that this firm also built and sold the majority of the ambulances once used in Quebec. Now, that's a scary thought. However, as bad as Demers funeral coaches could be - and they weren't all rubbish - I'd have to give the nod for some of the absolute worst ever professional cars to B&B. These "Texas Bondo Sculptures" epitomized cheap in every regard. They often fell apart right in front of the owner's eyes. The Century Coaches products that were built by Andy Reed and based on original B&B tooling were significantly better but, were still cheaply built when compared to contemporary rivals. Many of the early Collins offerings weren't much better. In fact, the first Collins front-wheel-drive coaches were absolute abortions as well as being poor quality products. Other cheaply built coaches came from the shop of Carlos Allan in Mexico. These were really dicy products but, as has been said over and again...there's a butt for every seat.



















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Yes, Demers is still building ambulances. Because I now represent Cromwell Emergency Vehicles, and we sell and service only Osage ambulances,I will not comment on Demers fit, finish or quality. It is not our policy to run down our competition. We just show customers how our units are better and safer. :)
 
Mike

I owned a 1984 Demers for about 3 months... that's all I could take of it !
I hated it big time.

Sold it to a band who used it for about 4 years after that to haul their gear.

Darren
 
I asked Demers if they had anything on their history and they sent me 14 pages of company history.
The first thing I noticed on the first page was a statement saying that "Demers is the oldest continous ambulance manufacturer in North America ???? really ?? and then then I saw a picture of a horse drawn hearse saying it was Demers 1st custom built buggy when in fact its a picture of a Crane & Breed hearse, the same picture thats in Tom's book "American Funeral Cars and Ambulances Since 1900".

Then in 1960 they say they started building car-based ambulances in a garage behind Demers Funeral Home !!
then in the 1970's according to their own history page they introduced their first ambulance built on a van chassis ( today called type ll ) but the picture they show is not a type ll but a Van conversion !! and started building ambulances to North and South America, Europe, and the Middle East. By 1979 deliveries to the Middle east alone were more then 1,600 ambulances !

that goes to show some people just didn't care about quailty !

What I find interesting is that it was only in 2000 that Demers entered the U.S. market

All I'm saying here is that it makes you wonder about the things some companies will do to make themselfs sound good.

I think some people on here know more about the History of Demers then what Demers knows about thier own history ????
 
I vividly remember Demers displaying at the NFDA conventions a couple of times in the Eighties. They usually had a one-car display and set up a card table for literature and as a place where they could speak with prospects. I also remember them knocking competitive brands - especially their Canadian rival...Eureka - and touting their "all-steel" construction. Their representatives at these shows were somewhat obnoxious and I don't recall them ever having any real success selling cars from the convention floor (whereas, according to reliable sources, Eureka always managed to sell around 100 units at these huge national shows). The overall styling and design balance of the cars left something to be desired and their lack of quality obvious. These were simply "price cars". What one bought if you couldn't afford anything better and wanted a new car. It doesn't surprise me that they would falsify their history. Aside from being a poor quality "manufacturer", Demers is a sketchy operation and always has been.
 
I went at their shop one day around 2004 ans the 60's garage with all their stuff were still there (gone today) they used chevy tail lights as tunnel lights and most of their stuff was federal beacons.
 
Mike, there are still some out there, here are a couple more recent pix I have saved. The one with the dumb walmart props was taken within the last year. The other was for sale about 5 years ago, if I remember right Danny Ryder sold it. There is currently one for sale somewhere in Iowa that is on craigslist--its not one of these pictured. Like everything else, Im sure it depends on how it was taken care of, to keep in perspective, Ive seen top of the line coachbuilders fall apart in a very short time too.
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