THE HEARSE.DE PICTURE PAGE: FORD
Here are some pictures of Ford hearses. Ford, similar to General Motors with Opel and Vauxhall, had its own local dependencies in Europe, in Great Britain and Germany. For a certain time both designed and built their individual range of cars. Most important are the M-Series (in Germany) and later the Ford Granada and Consul models, which were more or less the same in England and Germany.
FORD:
This is, no doubt about it, a Ford hearse. According to Stefan Flincker and many
other Ford fans, the model is called "P7". Ford fan Frank Scholtysek even sent
me a complete lesson about those models: "This one is a Ford P 7 b, they were built until
1972. Most probably it has a 1,7 liter V4 engine, like most funeral coaches. There were also
2,0 ; 2,3 ; and 2,6 liter engines. The engine type also determines how the car is called:
Ford 17m P 7 b (for 1,7 l displacement) or Ford 20 m P7b and so on.
P 7 is the Ford internal label of the series, but also the last model that was called so.
After this model the Taunus and Granada models were introduced. The b only means, that the
series was heavily modified once. Originally, the car was simply called P 7, but the typical
German buyer didn't favour the bulky "american" style, and therefore was discontinued
after about one year. The style was modifed and called P7b."
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Kai-Uwe Müller sent me this picture. What is noticeable is that the car was stretched
behind the rear axle, giving it a bit of a strange appearance. Interesting car though!
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This is a Ford Consul (the cheaper version of the Ford Granada) flower car. Stephan writes:
"The car is still being used by a funeral home in Klosterneuburg close to Vienna (Austria).
However, they only use it every few months. The owner didn't know the model year, and he hasn't
got the documents close-by to look it up. Before they owned it, it was used by the municipal
Vienna funeral service, and he had purchased it directly from them."
The same car viewed from the rear. I like the proportions of the car, and the hand rail around
the rear deck gives it a very special note.
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This is Martin's car, which he is currently restoring. It is a
1976 Ford Granada; the coach builder ist Pollmann. This is
Martin's third hearse!
A sad sight: A hearse at a banger racing in Belgium. This is a 1974 Ford
Granada, also a Pollmann coach. Also owned by Martin (not any longer
I guess).
Another two hearses on collision course at a banger racing.
This picture was also provided by Martin, thanks a lot!
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This picture was sent in by Kai, it is a Granada MkII from 1982, converted by Pollmann.
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A british funeral limousine. Coach builder is Coleman Milne.
Another Coleman Milne limousine, however this style is more rare, looking a bit
like a stretched Coupe.
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A british Ford Granada hearse; coach builder is Coleman Milne.
You can see that the british hearses, similar to the italian ones, do not have any curtains.
Instead the coffin is placed on the deck, surrounded by flower bouquets for everyone
to see.
I have been told, the the windows are only covered with curtains for a jewish funeral.
This car has so-called bearer seats, for the casket bearers.
What is also interesting is, that british hearses have the hand rail on the roof; since
flowers, wreaths and bouqets are put there for a procession, the hand rail prevents them
from falling down.
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