It’s Wagon Wednesday today so we are going to see how many unique wagons we can dig up. Go check your local craigslist and your favorite forums and send them in! To kick things off we have this 1954 Packard Henney Hearse. The photos alone make this one worth a glimpse and there is even some intriguing automotive history here. It is listed here on eBay with bidding currently at $530.
Henney was in business from 1879 to 1960 and for most of that time they stayed busy building car bodies. They got into the funeral and ambulance industries and did quite well. They worked with many manufacturers, but this one was built on a Packard long-wheelbase chassis. Henney even had a part in the development of the beautiful Packard Caribbean! Read more about Henney here.
Saving the featured car may not make sense financially or logically, but these Professional cars are rare. It is just hard to find a market for something like this if you ever wanted to sell it on. There is an eight passenger sedan over on Hemmings if this isn’t really your thing… Keep the wagons coming!
When I was 17 I wanted to buy a 1953 Packard, Henney short chassis hearse, but my mother wouldn’t sign for it. Something about the neighbors thinking someone died.
Restoring anything nowadays is a labor of love. And something like this is preserving automotive history.
THAT is a cool car!
Wouldn’t be seen dead in it!
A hearse is not a wagon…hmmm, or is it a wagon for dead people? I almost lucked into a ’49 Packard hearse in high school! I think J.Pickett and I are brothers separated at birth…
Oh and if a unique wagon doesn’t have to be a barn find, I’d vote for the 1959 Scimitar Station Wagon!! (http://www.remarkablecars.com/main/prototypes/1959-scimitar-1.html) I remember seeing one at Bill Harrah’s auto museum in Reno back in ’75. It is even MORE amazing in person!!
Sandwitch Il. has a funral home with a Pakard Hearse sitting outside.
Dont know if they use it but it looks to be in good condititon and ready for use.
Wow!! I don’t get it! …there is every bit of $530 worth of car there! I checked Ebay and the price is still $530!??! Usually a posting to Barn Finds triggers a spike in attention and bidding…. $530?? Hmmmm??
IBOUGHT MY 83 EL-CAMINO FROM A FUNERAL HOME BEFORE THE TAX MAN COULD GET IT.WANTED TO BUY AN OLDER CADDY HEARSE FOR MY EXCAVATION COMPANY BUT WHEN I TOLD THE WIFE WIFE WHAT SHE WOULD BE DRIVING AROUND TOWN IN SHE PUT A STOP ON THAT DEAL REAL FAST.I DON’T KNOW WHY…..
Would’nt want to have been a passenger in this one……..looks like the last driver was into banger racing!!!…….maybe lost a few coffins on the way!
Funny thing is I was there for the first attempt to get this Packard out and heard it’s life history. Then posted it to my wedpage before it found it’s way here http://nosleepatall.com/moving-from-40-year-storage/
It did more use as car than a Hearse PLUS we have another ultra rare Henney on our lot that makes this thing as common as a Honda!
http://nosleepatall.com/henney-kilowatt-found-in-yard/
One of the rarest cars in the world besides any one off models…PRIUS #1
I went to college in Fairbanks, AK, in 1985-86. One day I was walking due South Cushman St. near the Salvation Army and G. I. Joe’s Surplus, when I came across a ’52 Packard hearse for sale. It was painted red; the landau irons on the roof had been replaced with lightning bolts; and the interior was done up like a custom van. Seriously. I think they wanted like $2500 for it, but that’s 1985 dollars. I also saw a ’41 Lincoln Continental for sale in Fairbanks, and a ’55-56 Cadillac sedan popped up on the university campus from time to time.