Heinrik Sommer has uploaded a huge collection of CCs from Germany, and I’ve shown you a few recently. This one caught my eye; wow; how’s that for a big brick wagon? And a 2-door at that.
Ok; it’s a hearse. From Italy, actually. But it would make a very practical work truck, given that extra-long load bed and raised roof.
It’s for sale, too, which is where I came to know that it’s from Italy and is a 1978. Asking price: 5,000€.
if those windows opened, it would make a handy camper too. It was designed for bodies at rest.
Ex-funeral carriage?
I think I’ll hold out for the regular 240 wagon. Cheaper, easier to find body parts, and less creepy!
Happy Motoring, Mark
“easier to find body parts”??
(lol)
I thought these 2 series had a 242 (2 door sedan), a 244 (4 door sedan), and a 245 (a station wagon)….the badge on the back says 244.
Well, I guess technically, this one would have to be a 243.
Happy Motoring, Mark
And essential for that full, body-off restoration.
A 246 LR. ( 6 feet under, last ride).
The rear is its most unfortunate angle. Are the taillights from a Granada? The car would seemingly work well as a Ute as well, that’d be quite a long bed.
Yeah, I thought the same.
The taillights are from second generation European Granada (1977-1985). The smooth surface means 1977-1980 model years.
Yes, I agree.
THAT is a nice-looking Granada! 2.8 Ghia, pretty much top spec. I might prefer the wagon a hair but this would do just fine. For some reason this design just does it for me. Along with the last of the Audi 200’s prior to going full aero and the ’85-’88 Cressida, I guess they all look very similar and all have those large and wide taillights.
Nice era with straight-edged styling. Nowadays it’s hard to have “organic” shaped parts from one car model fit another.
5000€ for the car? That’s more expensive than a full fledged funeral would cost, hearse included!
True, but the funeral is a one-shot deal. The hearse can be used over and over again for many years, and mileage would probably be low , especially if the burial grounds are near the funeral parlor , or, if specified by the dearly departed, the church where the service will be held.
So, Italy joins Great Britain and Australia as home to the “display-window” hearse type. I wonder how wide-spread this phenomenon is. I’ve seen some truly enormous (long) side glass in photos of such vehicles — surely the largest pieces of glass ever installed on a motor vehicle. Who’s next; Canada, anyone ?
I don’t know how accurate you can say they are, but I’ve seen old western movies and tv shows where the “display window”, horse-drawn hearse was “the norm”. It’s possible that the switch from the horse-drawn to an automotive hease with windows/car bodies that got smaller with each generation led to the discontinued use of “display windows”.
Interesting that the side windows dip down below the beltline. I’ve never seen that treatment on a hearse in Australia. Long glass, for sure, but not deep like this.
It`s a hearse for sure.The large rear side windows are a ‘dead’ giveaway.
Since it’s from Italy, the coachbuilder is probably Pilato.
Although their Volvo 244 hearse had regular Volvo rear lights.
Roof isn’t raised; belt line was lowered for viewing glass. European corpses must be a lot shorter than American and Canadian stiffs.
BTW, by Volvo’s numerology that car is misidentified. A three-door wagon? Four-cylinder in the Second Series? – should be a 243 DL. 😉
If you can’t tell that the roof has been raised, than I strongly suggest a visit to the optometrist. 🙂
Lgbpop,
‘European corpses must be a lot shorter than American and Canadian stiffs.’
Me thinks Dutch, Lativan, and Herzegovinian people would like to have a polite word about your thinking.
I’ll let this article lully you into sleep:
https://www.acsh.org/news/2017/04/12/move-over-dutch-men-herzegovinians-may-be-tallest-world-11122
Not to mention the hearse has been extended at the rear.
Dang that’s pretty ! .
-Nate
I don’t want to go for a ride in that, thanks…
Yes, it should be a coachwork by Pilato. As said by PatrickDB, usually they retained original taillights, but sometimes there were such “parts exchanges”, and since they offered also an hearse based on Ford Granada, it’s possible they used its taillights on some units/variants. For example, they did also a (very rare, possibly almost unique) Mercedes W124-based hearse with Lancia Thema rear lights, that I’m attaching here. Of course regular W124 tails were the norm.
Maybe the 244 badge on the above example was added by the owner, but it could also be that they started from a sedan body.