Bizarre Hearses That You've Probably Never Seen
Most of us don't spend a lot of time thinking about hearses. You really only encounter them at funeral homes or cemeteries, and those encounters are hopefully uncommon. As a result, the hearse is a largely forgotten mode of transportation and when the time comes, as it must come for us all eventually, you're likely to take your final ride in whatever the funeral home has available.
There are, however, a few people who have spent an unusual amount of time thinking about hearses. They gazed upon the available offerings for end of life transport and found it lacking. Rather than curse the gods they took it upon themselves to re-imagine what crossing the ultimate finish line can look like.
Whether you're a fan of cool cars or just in favor of a little frivolity in the face of tragedy, these bizarre hearses prove that you can still make a statement, even in death. While death might be the end, that doesn't mean you can't cruise into the underworld in style. If it's the last entrance you'll ever make, you might as well make a good one.
1959 Cadillac Miller-Meteor
No discussion of unconventional hearses would be complete without at least mentioning the most famous hearse of all, the Ecto-1. While the car that carried the Ghostbusters on their haunted adventures had a custom paint job and a few aftermarket additions, it was a relatively popular funeral car once upon a time.
As the name suggests, the vehicle was a collaboration between Cadillac and a coachbuilding company called Miller-Meteor (via Quantrell Cadillac). Cadillac built the frame, engine, and most of the mechanical parts and then handed the car over to Miller-Meteor. They were responsible for putting on the final touches that would transform an ordinary Cadillac into a limousine, ambulance, or hearse. At one point, Miller-Meteor's professional vehicles were so popular that they controlled more than half of the market in the United States (via Coachbuilt).
The same qualities which made Miller-Meteor vehicles so popular among professional drivers and consumers are the same qualities that made it desirable for "Ghostbusters." Its sleek 1950s mid-century modern design commands attention and hints at a time when Americans looked toward the future with hope. When they believed. Or maybe it just looks cool. In any event, Miller-Meteor has since gone out of business but there are some '59 hearses cruising around out there, and some have even been customized to look like the fiction ghost-mobile.
Motorcycle hearse
From a certain point of view, there are two kinds of people: those who move through the world on four wheels and those who prefer two. For many, a motorcycle is more than a means of transportation, it's a way of seeing the world. A motorcycle requires that you be present, and it more directly interfaces with the environment. A good motorcycle ride can be thrilling, exhilarating, and a little dangerous. This appeals to a certain kind of person and the last thing those people would deserve or want is to take that last mile in the back of a modified sedan.
That's why My Last Ride Motorcycle Hearse Company, a part of Simpson Family Funeral Homes in Michigan, offers a motorcycle hearse to transport your loved one (or yourself) in death as they would have wanted while they were alive. Of course, the motorcycle hearse technically has more than two wheels, it wouldn't very well be able to carry a casket otherwise, but it maintains the spirit of the thing and that's what matters. When the time comes to take the final ride, you can do it with handlebars out in front, just as it should be.
Tesla Model S hearse
If you're looking to get into the funeral business but you're concerned about the environmental impact, you're in luck. A Norwegian engineer named Jan Erik Naley, in partnership with a local automobile factory, converted a Tesla Model S into a functional hearse that is completely electric. According to CNBC, the conversion is achieved by purchasing an ordinary Model S and cutting it in half. Then the car is extended about two and a half feet (80 centimeters) in order to accommodate a casket in the back.
One particular example was posted to a Norwegian classifieds website called Finn, listed with a sale price of 1.99 million Swedish Drona. That comes out to a little more than $200,000 USD at current exchange rates. According to an interview Naley gave to Broom, this is the fourth Tesla hearse he has constructed and all three of his prior creations were sold.
It seems the funeral industry is transitioning toward a greener future right along with the rest of us. Just because you're destined for the dirt doesn't mean you have to guzzle gas along the way. This is the most carbon-neutral you've ever been, and a fully electric hearse can help keep it that way right to the very end.
Armored battle hearse
According to the Daily Mail, a Helmdon, Northamptonshire man named Nick Mead embarked upon an unusual project a few years back which resulted in the construction of the most well-protected hearse on the scene. Mead spent six months and 3,000 pounds ripping out the guts of an FV432 armored personnel carrier from the 1960s.
He started building the armored hearse as a gift to himself, so he could take his final ride in it after he died. Then he heard that his tank-driving instructor was critically ill, and Mead sped up production hoping he could honor his teacher with the maiden voyage. Where soldiers may once have hunkered while on their journey across dangerous terrain, you can now load a casket and send it off with all the protection semi-modern military technology can offer.
Your casket will be transported in a transparent encasement surrounded by armored glass. And the whole compartment is carried atop the rolling treads of a disco-era tank. If you're expecting violent resistance on the way to the grave, this armored battle hears might be the best, and only way, for you to achieve eternal rest.
Monster truck hearse
This is the hearse to end all hearses. Where most strive for subtlety, almost wanting to blend into the background, the monster truck hearse is an ostentatious slap in the face to death itself. An American mechanic called Jimmy Driver bought the hearse, a 1967 Cadillac, for $600 (via The Sun) and slapped it on top of the oversized frame of a full-blown monster truck. By Driver's estimate, he's sunk thousands into the monster truck hearse, and it's actually declined in value. That may be true monetarily, but its emotional value is immeasurable.
With the six-foot-by-six-foot truck frame and the body of the hearse combined, the truck known as Mortis allows passengers to ride 10 feet above the ground before they're six feet under. At least, it would if it was actually in service. Its hulking mass makes it a slow-lumbering thing with a top speed of about twelve miles an hour, plenty fast for a funeral procession, but its days of carrying the dead are over. The driver uses it for mudbogging, a sport that involves driving modified vehicles through cantankerous swampy terrain.
Converted 1991 Toyota Crown
Many of the hearses we've seen so far indeed commanded attention but lacked the elegance you may be looking for in your final chariot. That is not a problem with this converted 1991 Toyota Crown. According to Road and Track, this vehicle began life as an ordinary Crown sedan, a model of car popular in Japan since the 1950s.
This particular car was later imported to the states from Japan and put up for sale on eBay. It has since sold. Before all that, it when through a conversion process that turned it into the glorious but unusual vehicle it is today. At first glance, about three-quarters of the Crown appears to remain intact, while everything from behind the front seat from the door handle up has been removed. In its place is an expanded compartment decorated with stylized wood architecture. That's where the casket slides in.
Despite the somewhat jarring transition between the semi-modern Toyota and the timeless ornately carved wood, there's something elegant about this one-of-a-kind vehicle that is certain to send you or a loved one off in a memorable but respectable way.
Maserati Ghibli hearse
If you're the kind of person who absolutely has to travel in extravagance, even in death, then the Maserati Ghibli hearse afterlife transportation option you're looking for. It comes from Italian company Ellena SRL, which is known for making luxury hearses from equally luxurious cars. Their current offerings include several models of Mercedes, a Jaguar J40, and of course the Maserati Ghibli.
Pricing information isn't clear on the website, but the hearse's specs are. Comparing the hearse length with the length of a standard Ghibli reveals that the body has been extended about 1,650 millimeters (about 65 inches) to accommodate the casket. It also comes equipped with a hydraulic coffin lifter and a removable stainless steel cross, which would be a strange automobile accessory under any other circumstances. Additional features and functions are available by request.
It's the sort of hearse that looks like it's heading somewhere fast which may not be what you want when where you're headed is the grave. But in terms of backseats in which to spend your last few minutes above ground, we can't think of a nicer one.
Jaguar E-type hearse
The 1971 film "Harold and Maude" explores the unconventional friendship between a young man obsessed with death and a 79-year-old woman. In the movie, Harold's fascination with death manifests in him driving a hearse as his default mode of transportation, something which horrifies his high-society mother. In an attempt to break him of what she sees as a morbid practice, she buys him a luxury car. Harold takes a torch to it and turns it into a new hearse, over the course of two days. Then it gets driven off a cliff.
"Harold and Maude" fan Ken Roberts went hunting for a replica of the Jaguar hearse from the movie, expecting that someone must have made one in the decades since the movie's release, but he found nothing. So, he set out to make it himself. While the job may have taken Harold only two days, Robert spent four years making his (via Car Scoops).
We know the car was made from an E-Type 2+2 coupe (via Indigo Auto Group) but Roberts is intentionally vague about what else was involved. He suggests that if anyone else wants one of their own, they'll have to figure it out themselves. How it was done is a secret he'll take to his grave.
Barbie Dream Hearse
The Barbie is among the most popular toys of all time and has become a symbol for a certain way of life, even if that way of life isn't anatomically or socially realistic. The Barbie debuted in March of 1959 and much of its success ties back to it being one of the first toys to be advertised directly to children (via Britannica). It became a runaway success.
In addition to the titular doll, toymakers Mattel developed an entire world around Barbie, which includes a robust cast of other characters, accessories like the Barbie Dream House or the interactive Hello Barbie, and a list of animated television shows and movies too long to recount. In 2023, we'll be getting a live-action adaptation from director Greta Gerwig, starring Margo Robbie as Barbie and Ryan Gosling as Ken.
Few objects or ideas have attained such enduring cultural influence so it was almost inevitable that someone would come along to turn Barbie's saccharine world on its head. That person was Seattle resident Kat Taylor, the creator of the Barbie Dream Hearse. As reported by KNKX, the Barbie Dream Hearse started as a play on words before Taylor got to work bringing it to life. Built from an old Cadillac, the Barbie Dream Hearse is the perfect ride for your next hurrah or your last hurrah.
Jet-powered hearse
For when you need to get to the gravesite as quickly as possible, we've got this jet engine-powered hearse dubbed the "Dead Quick." It was built by speedster Matt McKeown, who has made a name for himself building high-speed vehicles with unconventional beginnings. He holds a Guinness World Record for riding a shopping cart at 70.4 miles per hour, faster than anyone else ever has and he's set his sites on the hearse record.
Dead Quick is made from a 1992 Ford Cardinal and the world's most confusing ex-RAF jet-powered provost engine (via BBC). According to McKeown, hearses make good land-speed vehicles because they're aerodynamic. That's not an adjective we'd usually associate with cars carrying corpses but he's the land speed record holder.
At present, the Guinness World Record for fastest hears (yes, that's a thing) is held by Shane Hammond, who drove a hearse at 115 miles per hour in February of 2010. According to McKeown, his converted hearse can reach speeds of up to 200 miles per hour. He intends to smash that record or die trying.