Just in time for Halloween! This 1956 Cadillac Hearse in Yucaipa, California needs a hellish amount of work to be resurrected to driving shape; in the meantime, it might make for a ghoulish bit of decor guaranteed to out-horror those ghastly inflatables in the neighbors’ yard. You can have a viewing of the original eBay posting here, with a Buy It Now price of $9700 or best coffin…I mean, offer.
This vehicle started its death life as Cadillac’s Series 75 Commercial Chassis, one of 2,015 built in 1956. Those were then sent to custom coach shops for final additions turning them into various service vehicles like ambulances and hearses. This one bears the custom build tag of Sayers & Scoville and Hess & Eisenhart out of Cincinnati, Ohio, the premium coachbuilder choice of the era. Underneath it all, this Caddy should have come with a 365 cu. in. 6.0 L engine and a 4-speed HydraMatic automatic transmission, a drivetrain good for 285 horsepower and 400 lb. ft. of torque. It takes a lot of power to move bodies around.
As with most projects of this size, there’s good news, and there’s bad news. The bad news is that the engine is missing a fair amount of parts. The good news is that the block is original and numbers-matching…though it’s going to take more than a couple spritzes of engine degreaser to get it back to working order. More good news from the seller is that this vehicle rolls and steers, so getting it up onto a trailer for transport home in order to cover it in plastic skeletons by this weekend is totally doable. Bad news: the seller reports “the car used to have a vinyl top, so the roof has a few holes here and there” and that there are “a few small spots of rust here and there.” Yikes. However, they also state the frame is “SOLID,” so we’ll call that good news.
The interior is terrifying, of course, but all of the glass looks to be intact, and the seller says none of it is broken, so that’s definitely a positive. And the back, um, cargo area still shows some of the original details that once made this vehicle the class of the genre. Maybe it’s not a classic grocery-getter, but this hearse could be quite a show-stopper once restored. Are you ready to bring this Cadillac back from the dead, or does it belong in the cemetery?
Nice, um, bumperettes, surely to mimic artillery shells( I can’t believe the public went for that) and possibly predates the author. What an outlandish hunk of,,steel. This behemoth tips the scales at just over 7,000 pounds, unladen. “Cargo” adds a bit more. Some drivers may have horror stories of trying to stop it. Certainly created for no other use, it’s instantly recognizable for what it is, and we’ll speak no more about it,,
Interesting camper conversion? Here in California it would become a mobile B & B.
haha I cannot imagine sleeping in this thing, even if it were restored to greatness.
Where did they get the evaluation of worth? Granted it looks like it would make a great prop for being in the driveway of a known house that’s has paranormal activity! Or cool to restore and display at some car shows, and have a period correct casket to store all of your gear and supplies while at the show. But for what needs done to bring it back, they’ll have to drop the price…
Hasn’t this been on “Barnfinds” before? Or there was one that looked very similar.
What amuses me is that people are afraid of these cars, and funeral homes, too. I blame hollyweird for that. A couple of years before I bought my current home, the previous owner died in the very same room I’m in as I type this. I’ve never believed the room or house has been haunted.
Warriors come out to play..