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It was a sad day at our local undertakin' parlor! This has been my place of employment since 1977. Today was the first time in our history (in business since 1926) that our livery service send a non commercial chassis hearse for the 10 am service. Lincoln and Cadillac are out of the business. The new style was nice, an extended Escalade with pretty chrome wheels, and a power tail gate. All of the younger employees ran right out to see it,but I just looked through the window with a tear welling up in my eye. But it was no M & M or Superior land yatch that I'm used to. This just isn't as much fun as it used to be, maybe it's time to retire. They all said what a day it was when Grandpa bought that Packard Henney in '39 that served him faithfully all through the War years and up to the mid-fifties. Anybody out there hearing me?

Yeah, I feel it. As long as there have been hearses there have been Cadillac and Lincoln (after '22) AUTOMOBILE BASED hearses taking our dear departed to their final resting place.
Think twice before leaving a job that there is always constant demand for and can't be sent to China or India (yet).

You guys need to get a Packard hearse just so people can see what it is like to really go out in style. Mandziuk funeral home will be taking me away in a Packard hearse when the time comes.

Amen MrPB Amen.

Joel. Most likely when i die my heirs will just plow me under with, and most appropriately, a Massey-FERguson. (note encrypted capitalization).

I'd rather walk than take my final ride in an Escalade...

What would Jesus have done????
In lieu of a Packard, or god forbid Pilots order for a Lincoln, I'm sure he would have found a Cadillac or big Buick most appropriate indeed.

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Chances are your body would be stolen, along with the Escalade.

The Cadillac Escalade is on the top of the list of American's 10 most stolen cars. I don't know why.

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The imprisioned former mayor of Detroit made the Escalade the vehicle of choice in the Detroit hoods. Nice ride.

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Ummm...that just happened here in Cleveland. See the ugly story at the Cleveland Plain Dealer's website.

Last I heard, of the two victims, only the crematorium is filing charges...

My friend collects hearses. I didn't give them too much thought before I met him. But I still would never have wanted to have my final ride in an Escalade or Dodge Caravan. Now that I have viewed a bunch of his books and attended several hearse club meets to see the old carved sides, and elaborate postwar landau styles, it is even more disgusting to think that eventually all funeral homes will be using truck or minivan based vehicles for hearses. I guess it is one more indication of how people and society simply lack the class of decades ago. I guess it is only surprising in that they have managed to hold onto the traditional luxury car based ones this long, considering how the rest of the auto industry abandoned traditional luxury cars ages ago.

I do have to add that Lincoln does not go back to the early days of hearse building. From the 1930's only Cadillac and Packard offered commercial chassis for building hearses and ambulances. (That is why a Packard hearse, not Lincoln was used for Henry Ford as previously discussed on this forum) Packard never produced as many chassis as Cadillac, and 1954 was the last year Henney built Packard hearses and ambulances. After that, Cadillac basically had the entire market. While you would see the oddball Chrysler, Pontiac, Oldsmobile, and even an Edsel, it was far more efficient to build from the Cadillac commercial chassis than buying a whole car and then cutting it up, modifying it, and paying for the whole car when most of it from the front seat back would not be used. In 1985, Cadillac discontinued its commercial chassis. So then there was no advantage to buying a Cadillac for conversion because you had to buy the complete car from Lincoln or Cadillac and then convert it. That is when you started seeing Lincoln hearses.