Henney Motor Co. was in business from 1927 to 1954, producing several vehicles, including limousines, ambulances, and hearses. One of their preferred sources was Packard Motor Car Co. Ironically, Henney got out of their business about the same time as Packard merged with Studebaker. This 1954 hearse is a Henney/Packard collaboration using a Packard Patrician extended chassis. Located in Palos Heights, Illinois, this interesting project is being offered by a collector of these kinds of transport. It’s available here on Facebook Marketplace for a reduced price of $14,995. Thanks for the cool tip, NW Iowa!
Henney’s roots go back to the 1840s when Jacob Henney went into the carriage building business. The business changed and morphed over many years, involving one surviving family member after another. It was not until the 1920s that Henney made a big name for themselves in the funeral car trade. In the late 1930s, Henney began to adopt Packard-supplied chassis as their primary source. In 1939, Henney reached what may have been its best year in the business, producing more than 1,200 vehicles.
As best we can tell, Henney used the 156-inch wheelbase commercial chassis for its 1953-54 Packard Patrician-based hearses. The Patrician was a senior-level Packard that remained in production until the Studebaker-Packard merger brought along the ill-conceived “Packardbakers” of 1957-58, after which the Packard nameplate died. “Patrician” in Latin was a reference to the ruling class in ancient Rome. These vehicles were powered by a 359 cubic-inch straight-8 engine that produced 212 hp.
As the story goes, the seller bought this hearse from the widow of its previous owner and had intended to get it back out on the road. The seller has an affinity for these kinds of land yachts and – apparently – this one is one too many. It seems to have been garage-kept before and after his/her acquisition, so the body may be in decent shape. It hasn’t been started in at least 15 years, so the fuel system will likely have to be gone through along with the brakes and other fluids. If you have a Mercedes Sprinter van you’ve been wanting to get rid of, the seller may be willing to trade for it.
Love the old Packards, not sure how I would handle this one though.
I saw an old Caddy hearse in Plano Texas, and they made it into a limo… biggest uses seems to be around Halloween time and Senior Proms… lots of the guys want it (with chauffeur) to pick up their dates… in fact, usually 2-3 guys chip in and hire it. I heard the guy who owns this (somewhere in the DFW metroplex) can’t meet the demand… LOL
Back in the day, these were used as ‘surf wagons’.
I think it’s cool wish I had the $14k to put on a toy, I think it would be awesome to get it running and driving in time Halloween then use the winter to work on the rest of a restoration
That would definitely not fit in my garage, and my 96 year old neighbor would not like it parked outside.
It would be a Doggone Shame to leave it outside in the elements…
In 1973 I had a 1952 Henney-Packard hearse. When my grandparents were coming over to visit, dad told me to park it around the corner out of sight. Knowing I had Packards, shortly after they came to visit, grandma asked me if the old Packard hearse around the corner was mine, and when I said yes, she asked me for a ride, much to my dad’s consternation!
Did she ride in the front or the back?
Kim,
For her first ride she rode up front, but on a subsequent ride she rode in the back, because the casket table was long gone and the floor covered in black carpets, with a couple of black Naugahyde beanbag chairs to lounge in.
People are dying to get into these types of cars!
Henry Ford took his last ride in a Packard hearse.
And he said he would roll over in his grave before he would ride in one.
And HFII in a Caddy.
Somehow they found a Chrysler minivan *coachbuilt* one – not a “first-call car” but one with a custom rear with swing door and taillights from a 300 – for Iacocca’s.
About 1978 I was driving a 1942 Henney-Packard hearse and stopped for fuel. As I filled the tank I was approached by an elderly man who said he had been a Detroit newspaper photographer who had been assigned to photograph the funeral outside the church during Henry Ford’s April 1947 funeral. He said it was a cold & wet day, and the Packard hearse was idling outside the church, waiting for Mr. Ford.
He told me that as he stood near the left side of the Packard hearse, when the pall bearers began putting the coffin into the open rear door, they pushed to get it inside, and the hearse began to slowly roll forward. The driver was standing to the rear of the hearse, holding the rear door open, so this photographer was the nearest person to the driver’s door.
He said he rushed over, opened the driver’s door and yanked up on the emergency brake, stopping the car. He said no one seemed to notice, and after the hearse pulled away, the crowd dispersed, and he forgot all about it until he saw my hearse.
A few years ago I found a YouTube video of the funeral, filmed from a rooftop position on a building opposite the church. When I watched the video, sure enough, the hearse began to slowly inch forward until a photographer in a light colored overcoat opened the door and pulled on the brake lever!
I regret not getting his name, but back then I only half-heartedly believed the story.
Here’s the YouTube link; https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZBjDNu3zP1o
That is an interesting story, so ironic that Mr. Ford’s last ride was in a Packard.
Post this story in the YouTube comments.
That is one heck of a story. Stuff like that is why I enjoy this site.
I’ve always wanted a hearse but that is the only car that my said no way. Me or a hearse. I tried the argument about how much money we could save when we died lol
Bet she made sure that was a dead subject.
Would get it whipped back into shape
and use it for cadaver transport, or rent it out to local funeral homes to
ease their overflow. Folks say that
they wouldn’t be caught dead in one of these cars, but eventually you will.
I saw a similar Packard hearse for sale in Rapid City in the late ’90s. I played around with Xerox copies of it – what it would look like chopped, sectioned, etc. All far beyond my abilities but fun to dream of. It had no engine or transmission and due to its massive size and weight I thought a Duramax Diesel with an Allison Automatic Transmission would be a good choice for a powertrain. All within my ability. It was a solid, complete car and I think it was in the $4000-$6000 range but remember, this was the ’90s.
I find it unfortunate that the people responding don’t seem to appreciate the awesome coach work involved in these vehicles. I sincerely hope the next owner moves forward with the project.
Most of us probably don’t think that deep regarding the coachwork and fabrication. This was likely a cowl and chassis so maybe no frame sectioning.
Nelson, you are correct.
Like many automobile companies of the time, Packard supplied an extra long wheelbase chassis [156″ instead of 127″] to the Henney Body Co. It was indeed a rolling chassis that actually could be driven using a wooden box for the front seat. All the other Packard parts needed to complete the vehicle [trim pieces, lights, etc.] were either sent in bulk to Henney, or in boxes secured to the chassis.
This vehicle is awesome. There was one of these in a junkyard I patronized back in the mid 80s. I could have bought it for 300.00, although complete down to the wheelcovers there was quite a bit of rust that I could not fix at the time, so I passed. I did buy a 65 Crown Superior Caddy in 1985 from the original funeral home that bought it new. These cars are special in many ways, and depending on the builder are nothing short of hand built customs. One hearse is plenty in a collection and you need a big garage. Great car here. I know I have enjoyed mine over the last 38 or so years. Good luck to this fella as he deserves a nice make over and will draw a crowd wherever he goes.
Slide in an LS or a Hemi!
Yeah sure, simply slide one in !
Sure run down to the local U pull it and rip the drive line out of an Escalade and grab a Horrible Freight Chinese engine crane that will bend and maybe kill you when it collapses under the weight of the straight 8 and iron tranny in that Packard. Once past this, a little angle iron for mounts and a bucket of electrical ties and WALA your ready to smokem’ out at the local hehaw Tirapaloosa. Ofcourse the other exciting item will be watching all the six volt light bulbs go supernova when the 12 volts surge through the electrical system just before the cloth wrapped wiring ignites and burns the entire unit to the ground. Fire extinguisher sold separately…..LOL.
Back in the 1990s I passed on a 1957 Chrysler New Yorker Memphian hearse. It was among the last built before the plant in Memphis, TN burned to the ground. It had I believe, either the 331 or 392 hemi. The kid who bought from the local auto recycling yard in Doon, IA in the early 1970s used it for their rock band transport. They jacked up the rear end to accommodate the N50 x15 tires. It had Cragar’s all around. I watched him burn out and lay a patch for a full city block. A tremendously heavy car that looked for all the world like a big station wagon and not a hearse. Lousy gas mileage I heard. Anyway, it had been stored inside his dad’s garage for all those years. It still had the N50s, flat of course. $1500 was out of my league. I wonder if it’s still there. Hmm, 15 miles away…
Back in 1960 when I was in high school a classmate had an old hearse, seemed funny then but not so much now.
Back in 1970 when I was in high school a classmate had an old hearse, seemed funny then but not so much now.
Do you have the bed for it
Years ago I found an early 1950s Mercedes-Benz hearse in deepest LA, bought it, had a transporter pick it up and head toward home in Colorado. Meanwhile, I told my wife. She went berserk, so a fellow enthusiast in Pennsylvania agreed to buy the thing sight unseen. I called the trucker and told him to keep heading east. My buddy restored it as a tradesman’s van (which it actually was) and has won major national awards with it.
Another acquaintance used one of these hearses–modified with a huge modern V8 drivetrain–to trailer his vintage race car. Giving rise to my theory that all vintage race cars should be towed using period tow vehicles.
Perhaps you could have traded your wife for the Benz hearse.
I wouldn’t want it it’s probably haunted lol!
One correction to the title: This is not a Patrician. The Patrician name was reserved for use only as the top-of-the-line sedan. While the hearse and ambulances did use the various trim pieces and drive line specs from the senior Packard cars, Henney only referred to them by their body types, IE – The Landau hearse, the 3-way loading hearse, etc. This vehicle is a Landau.
Technically the 1954 Henney-Packard senior vehicles had the side trim of the cheaper Cavalier sedan. The difference is in the 3 small horizontal trim pieces on the rear side doors, between the 2 longer stainless steel side trim pieces. The Patrician had a one-piece larger & wider stainless steel trim piece connecting the 2 long strips together.
By 1954 Henney was in financial trouble, and production of these cars had dropped way down. A 1954 Henney-Packard hearse is actually quite hard to find today. Things were so bad at Henney, that James Nance, president of Studebaker-Packard, threatened to stop providing the commercial chassis units to Henney because they had not been paid for the chassis units already sent to Henney. Both companies also knew that the new 1955 Packards would be equipped with the new torsion level suspension, & as this could not be used in the commercial chassis, Packard would no longer supply the longer chassis.
And to hammer one more nail in Henny’s coffin [pun intended!], Packard’s substantial mechanical and trim changes for 1955 meant Henney would face significant new design and tooling costs, and the money simply wasn’t there.
And one more thing; Those amber parking light lenses [they were originally red but are now faded by the sun] were an option, and are VERY rare.
Excellent clarification !!
Thanks.
Mike
One of these (there were 2 different hearses used in the movie, actually) was used in a pretty lame movie made in the late ‘70s.
The Hearse. Pretty corny B movie with some lame acting. Joseph Cotten, Med Flory, and Trish Van Devere were a few of the actors.
Fun to watch just to see the old Packard
Tony,
You are close, The Hearse indeed had 2 Henney-Packard hearses, a nice on for the main scenes, and a lesser one that went over a cliff. However both cars were the older design from 1951-52.
Someone involved in the making of the movie said the car was packed with explosives and was blown up as it went over a sheer 60 foot cliff, yet the engine was still running after the scene!
Thanks, Bill. I’m not real good on a lot of these. When I saw them blow up the one in the movie, I thought it was a shame.
A hearse club here in Michigan regularly has get-togethers and it’s fun to see all the iterations of Final Responders.
Oh yeah, I would make this a camper.
Henney was officially founded in 1872, when the carriage works was moved to Freeport. Sold in 1960. Wikipedia has the 1927 date wrong, as my Henney is a 1926.