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Pics and emails from a Lady that contacted me in regards to seeing if the custom hearses her Great Grandfather had made are still in existence. The hearse had custom ivory statutes and also played music. They were unique enough that it generated interest from Packard Corp. Below are the pics and excepts from the emails we exchanged. If anyone knows anything about the history of these specific unique hearses please let me know and I will pass along the info to Michelle.

Dear Sir,
I am trying to find Packard hearses that my great grandfather owned in the early 20's. He owned 5 funeral Parlors in New York & had had at least 10 Turned into hearses with ivory statues and musical hyms. I have original letters from Packard motor co, stressing their interest in his cars because they saw pics of them in the newspaper. if you or anyone you know has these hearses, I would love to get in contact with them.I can send you pics if you would like. They are very beautiful cars.

Thank you for your time,

Michele Scuderi

and

Thank you Kevin, I will look through some of the paperwork. I am sending you some photos of the hearses. I hope you like them, because they are very unique and have lots of stories to go with the pics..including mafia funerals and when hearse drivers went on strike had first women drivers.

The picture with the Lady in the car was one of the Female drivers that were employed when the Hearse Drivers strike was on.

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A fascinating bit of Packard history. I would hope that some survive. Thanks Kev.

i bet they paid the woman less too...if i was him i wouldn't care about the male drivers ever again. you guys go on strike...fine i'll hire a female for half your wages and still do my business. done.

Wow, that is some rig!! Notice the difference in wheel construction front to back - typical of cars of the era with only 2-wheel (rear) brakes.

You would think a Hearse like that would have ended up in a museum, and hopefully not in a WWII scrap drive.

Michele, it isn't much what I can give. I found a Ford A, that looks like converted from the same body maker and another one.


[picture source: www.justacarguy.blogspot.com]

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Michele,

The second link below shows a coach builder that built a body style very similar to what is shown in your pictures.

http://www.nmfh.org/exhibits/hearses/gallery.php

http://www.coachbuilt.com/bui/g/geissel/geissel.htm

Regards,

Dave

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One of the better-known US makers of these "art-carved" hearses was Miller. Photo by this writer at the PAC National in Asheville, NC, 1993.

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Dave (32model901), I followed the second link and think that you've found the correct coach builder (A. Geissel & Sons - 1891-1970s - Philadelphia)






[picture source: www.coachbuilt.com]

Dave(32model901),

Which museum is the '29 Packard hearse in?

The museum contained in your first link, the National Museum Museum of Funeral History, may be a good point of contact for Michele in her quest to find if any of her great grandfathers Packard hearses have survived.

Looking at the NMFH Website, saw a couple of Packards in their Photo Gallery.

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