The world of Japanese market imports is as vast and diverse as you can imagine, and while we typically associate JDM finds with actual Japanese cars and trucks, there were plenty of German and British marques that found favor with Japanese customers. Oftentimes, you can find the rare Alpina-modified BMWs and Mercedes-Benz AMG models with barely any miles on them, but also configured with right-hand-drive steering. This 1986 Rolls-Royce Silver Spirit hearse is even more unusual for being a Japanese market vehicle that was imported from Germany, which uses left-hand-drive steering, making this stately cruiser well-suited to life on American roads. Find it here on craigslist with just over 40,000 miles for $18,000. Thanks to Barn Finds reader Larry D. for the find.
Of course, if it’s going to be your final ride, shouldn’t it be in maximum comfort? This Silver Spirt may have an unconventional rear seat arrangement, but that doesn’t mean you don’t need your own writing desk. I do find the image of a rear-seat passenger quietly eating a meal or writing a piece of correspondence while the casket rides alongside. Perhaps this makes sorting out the will and signing all of the estate paperwork easier? Regardless, this Rolls is still quite nice inside, with what looks like soft leather, striking red carpets, and wood trim (real wood, at that) all in outstanding condition. There’s also plenty of curtains, too, should you want to put the precious cargo out of sight, out of mind.
There’s no escaping it: this is a hearse inside, but it’s not like your conventional corpse carriers. In this case, the rear seat passenger sits pretty darn close to the casket, which is quite a bit different from your standard U.S. model which I believe reserves the rear cargo bay solely for the casket and not a casket plus a solitary backseat passenger. The seller will throw in a casket he created as a prop to complete the look, but what if you went a different direction entirely and converted it into a Silver Spur shooting brake? Find a standard rear seat and then create a third row, and you’ll be like some Middle East sultan that all the luxury car makers love to make one-off wagons for.
It certainly seems possible with this matching blue vinyl top already installed and thus blending the custom bodywork into the rest of the car quite nicely. Of course, you may want larger windows than what’s seen here, and I’d also want a conventional rear wagon door. The whitewalls can obviously stay, along with the new parts the seller has thrown at it over the last few months which includes a new power steering pump, battery, and spark plugs. The seller has also installed a new Bluetooth stereo to replace the non-functional original. Overall, this is a clean Silver Spur with tons of potential as either an actual vehicle used by a funeral home or a prop for a business that can make the deceased a central part of its marketing plan. How would you use it? Would anyone else love to see this converted to a wagon?
I wouldn’t be caught dead in that thing………….
my gawd!!
I know for sure that people are dying to ride in it.
I never understood the idea of a hearse. Why not a standard van or a station wagon? Many of us would prefer being hauled to the cemetery in the back of an old pickup. Being sent off in some pseudo luxury vehicle is idiocy. How many of us could afford, or even preferred a luxury car when when were around, so why pretend you are something you are not when you croak? MLK got hauled off in a wagon drawn by a mule team. A humble decent man. We all should learn from that fine example.
How about a Home Depot rental utility trailer? Save a trip and haul some drywall…
Sometimes a hearse is the closest some people will ever get to riding in a luxury automobile.
When my uncle died of natural causes the funeral home wanted hundreds of dollars to go get him because they lived two hours away in the cascade mountains. So my aunt not able to afford it on her income and not able to completely lift him by herself got him outside and used tie down straps to tie him to a sheet of plywood then wenches him into the back of the truck and took him to the funeral home. She said the Funeral director was mortified when she came to their building with his body in the back of the truck
I hope she ‘winched’ him into the truck though I’ll bet he’d prefer to be ‘wenched’ into a pickup.though preferably when he was alive. Great example of ‘can do’ American spirit. Tough lady though necessity is the mother of invention they say.
As for the RR . its a little awkward, styling wise, to my jaded eyes. But what a ride to pull up to the VFW hall.
Yep mountain woodie gotta love auto correct when you try to use speak to text
“The funeral director was mortified” – nice pun.
a high school buddy always drove and El Camino. when he passed he was hauled to the cemetary in the bed of his 1968 El Camino. all of us in the car club did smokey burnouts in his honor! I drive an El Camino because of him. Diabetes is a cruel disease.
Funny you would say pickup truck! True story. I used to work in Public Health, and a funeral home called incredulous that a family wanted to do just that! We researched if it legal, and it actually is (at least here in California). The family refused to say what they were going to do with their loved one, so we guessed it was for the carpool lanes on our toll bridges. That MAY work in the winter, but with our summer heat, that could create an issue…
“At 60 miles an hour the loudest noise in this Rolls-Royce comes from the electric clock”
Hopefully…
Best idea ever make a extended cab truck out of it. You would have the only one. That roof plug probly would come off fairly easily.
I was thinking the same thing about the truck topper. This is a classic example of an after hours build, here, hold my beer!
People are dying to get into these.
Take off the lace and the roller, add some vinyl fake wood trim on the outside and you would have an upmarket Family Truckster. You think you hate it now, just wait till you drive it.
Looks like a lunch snack table in back seat. Kind of gross 🤮
No, on this model that is a “Personal Walnut Autopsy Tray”.
I like old Cadillac hearses but this gives me the creeps, not that I’d buy one of any kind.
Just why !!!!!!
Time to throw a few bucks at this and turn it into an “estate” (station wagon).
Then sell off all of the hearse hardware to a willing buyer in the UK.
Build in a slide out freezer and set up as the Corpsicle truck!
Hideous and creepy
Would make a neat camper
Why do so many people automatically call any car ever sold in Japan as JDM? JDM is Japanese Domestic Market, that is a car built IN JAPAN for sale IN JAPAN. This car was built in Britain for the export market. I expect stuff like this on Facebook but not on a car blog.
Rolls or no Rolls, that is the ugliest hearse I’ve ever seen!
I see a weekend camper that would get me all the Goth girls I want, especially if I leave the casket in it.;-)
With some minimal body work getting rid of the vinyl top and a new paint job taking out that casket Holder thing and put in a surf board rack you can probably double or triple your investment. Unlike most the comments above I think this thing is kinda cool
if I had money to burn, I would buy this, convert it to a wagon and I would be one happy man.
A Mercedes with a camper.
So today folks we have a real funeral car. Not like that Caddy pickup from yesterday. lol!
Yes indeed!
Excuse me, would you have some Grey Poupon?
Rolls-Royce Hearse ! Nothing better and cheaper than to cremate and UPS the remains to the family. Make a Bonfire and spread the ashes. As they say, ashes to ashes, dust to dust ! Lets all sit around and bust our glasses.
I’d love to park this out front of the trailer. I’d be the KING OF THE TRAILER PARK.
What a butt ugly vehicle obviously a butchered sedan. the exterior “coachwork” looks almost homemade and may very well be vinyl stapled to plywood. Compare this to hearses built by Henny, Meteor, Superior, Hess &, Esienhardt or scores of others. where some real artistry and skill went into their creations A vinyl top is the ultimate cop out. You can put it over anything.
Looks like the trunk is still there. Any decent body shop could probably turn this into a ragtop.
Denny, The frame might not withstand the torsion when road situations are encountered were this made into a convertible and working ragtops are a very difficult to create taken by themselves, This is why there so many “California Tops” put on coupes that have been castrated or ragtops that have had their windshields chopped. Getting the original ragtop to work becomes a major engineering feat that most customizers are not capable of. Muntz Jets had California Tops that were crudely made when examined. There was just too much involved although owners did manage to build working convertibles tops for their cars. Even the fabulous Cord 810s did not yet have tops made when displayed at the New York Auto Show in late 1935. They worried about that later.
How to double your money fast:
https://carsandbids.com/auctions/KPYBLYxN/1986-rolls-royce-silver-spirit-hearse
I am a player would you please contact me 816-223-7017 Verlin
Just so you understand this Verlin, the owner probably has no idea you posted that. You might want to look at the link in the original posting and contact the owner through that link.
Would make a swell “Ute”
I love hearses, having owned over 20 over the years. I don’t love this! It tries so hard to be tasteful…but it is not. Not tasteful, not creepy, not anything an American hearse is supposed to be. It looks like a caricature of a hearse.
Stevieg, Had a ’38 LaSalle Hearse, body by Superior with a still intact interior. Parked it on the street, Could not help but put a carboard box in the crypt area full of spare mechanical parts topped with one of those plastic replica skulls for the morbidly currious. Loved watching them stand on the running board and bolt backwards suddenly when they spotted it.
I always enjoy pulling up to bus stops. People at bus stops get freaked out by hearses. Nothing like watching a bunch of people simultaneously stepping back 1 foot lol.
I am a serious player please give me a call I Send somebody down to Houston to look at this to see if it’s worth spending any money on I live in Kansas City it’s just an hour away I’m not coming unless I talk to someone 1st 816-223-7017 Verlin Have a blessed day
This Craig’s List post has expired.
So the link is “dead”?