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I've always found it ironic that the first Henry Ford went to his final resting place (in 1947) in a 1942 Packard hearse...

So now I'm curious...was Lincoln even in the hearse BUSINESS that year?

The story I've read goes to say that the family looked for a Lincoln hearse but were unable to locate a funeral house in the area that had one. But of course there were Lincoln hearses, like Packards they were bodied by coach builders that specialized in that area though the Henney relationship with Packard was pretty much of an exclusive thing by that time.

If you go to the Professional Car Society web pages you might find some pictures of such Lincolns, I haven't checked but wouldn't be suprised if you found some.

You might also consider rattling around www.coachbuilt.com for information about Lincoln professional cars. There is a special dedicated section just of the coachbuilders for professional vehicles.

No, Lincoln was not in the hearse business. And neither Packard or Cadillac built hearses. Packard and Cadillac produced a commercial chassis that could be purchased for conversion to hearses, flower cars, ambulances, etc. Lincoln did not.

Many companies used the Cadillac chassis, Superior, Sayers & Scoville, Miller Meteor, Eureka, etc. In 1938 or so, Henney and Packard signed an agreement making each other exclusive. Henney would only use the Packard chassis, and Packard would only sell to Henney. This, plus the increase in Cadillacs popularity, resulted in there being far more Cadillac hearses than Packards. On rare occasions, someone could take a regular passenger car from another manufacturer and have it converted to a hearse. But this was much more expensive and less practical

It was not ironic, but on purpose, than Henry Ford was carried in a Packard hearse. Henry Ford was driven out of the original Henry Ford Company. After he was gone, the company was renamed Cadillac. Plus Cadillac was competition to the Lincoln division. So there was no way Henry was going to ride in a Cadillac hearse. The family looked for, but could not locate a Lincoln hearse. With good reason, with no chassis or manufacturer using Lincolns, hardly any were built. So a Packard was chosen instead. It was still competition for Lincoln, but Henry was never kicked out of Packard, and did not have an intense hatred of the company like he did for Cadillac.

Just to add to LINC400 comments, Packard and the Ford Motor Company had a fairly congenial relationship with each other. Ford's letter of congratulations on the event of Packard's 50th Anniversary is an example of that.

Linc and Owen, your comments make perfect sense.

Linc, I honestly had no idea that there was so much enmity between Ford motor co. & Cadillac for those reasons!

If Henry Ford died in 1947, how did he congratulate Packard on their 50th in 1949?

"Henry Ford was driven out of the original Henry Ford Company. After he was gone, the company was renamed Cadillac."

I don't quite undestand that statement. As i understand it it was Henry LELAND founded Cadillac and then Lincoln.

But i'm not sure what any of that has to do with Ford and Packard nor the hearse that the old man was carried in.

There are pics of Ford and some friends on hunting and fishing trips in a Packard. I'm on my noble at the moment and can't upload pics, but will when I get home if someone doesn't beat me to it.

If Henry Ford died in 1947, how did he congratulate Packard on their 50th in 1949?

The Ford Motor Company, obviously not the old man himself, issued the letter. Have you not seen a copy of it? It's been reproduced in a number of publications and I could probably find a copy if you're interested.

Quote:

CADILLAC


With the intent of liquidating the firm's assets, Ford's financial backers, William Murphy and Lemuel Bowen called in engineer Henry M. Leland of Leland & Faulconer Manufacturing Company to appraise the plant and equipment prior to selling them. Instead, Leland persuaded them to continue the automobile business using Leland's proven single-cylinder engine. Henry Ford's departure required a new name, and on August 22, 1902, the company reformed as the Cadillac Automobile Company. Leland & Faulconer Manufacturing and the Cadillac Automobile Company merged in 1905.

The Cadillac automobile was named after the 17th-century French explorer Antoine Laumet de la Mothe, Sieur de Cadillac, who founded Detroit in 1701.[2][3]



LINCOLN

The company was founded in August 1917 by Henry M. Leland, one of the founders of Cadillac (originally the Henry Ford Company). He left the Cadillac division of General Motors during World War I and formed the Lincoln Motor Company to build Liberty aircraft engines with his son Wilfred. After the war, the company's factories were retooled to manufacture luxury automobiles.

[edit] Purchase by Ford
The company encountered severe financial troubles during the transition, coupled with body styling that wasn't comparable to other luxury makers, and after having produced only 150 cars in 1922, was forced into bankruptcy and sold for USD 8,000,000 to the Ford Motor Company on February 4, 1922, which went to pay off some of the creditors. The purchase of Lincoln was a personal triumph for Henry Ford, who had been forced out of his second (after Detroit Automobile Company) company by a group of investors led by Leland. Ford's company, renamed Cadillac in 1902 and purchased by rival General Motors in 1909, was Lincoln's chief competitor.


Now, if you were Henry Ford, would you want to ride in a Cadillac?