To follow on from yesterday’s hearse posts, here is one that was seen at the Picnic at Hanging Rock car show which is held each February near Woodend, Victoria about an hour north-west of Melbourne. There are several things about this car and its setting that I could comment on, but which one of them is “Not Necessary”? Click through to find out…
If you guessed that it was a reference to the 1975 Peter Weir film “Picnic at Hanging Rock”, based on the 1967 Joan Lindsay novel, congratulations! A hearse would not have been necessary because the schoolgirls in the story simply disappeared. I am guessing that the second-most common response may have been the CRM-8 number plates which some may regard as a little 0ff-colour.
You may also have wondered about the use of the Rambler name; as outlined in a previous post on Australian Ramblers the use of American Motors in Australia would be rather incongruous to say the least, especially when the cars were assembled locally by Australian Motor Industries (AMI). Matadors were built from 1971-1977, all with the 360 V8 and automatic transmissions. They didn’t build hearses though; there were a few body builders who did that but I don’t know which one was responsible for this Rambler.
Hanging Rock is quite an interesting place, being formed when some magma exiting a volcanic vent cooled to create the distinctive cracking.
The formation’s official name is Mount Diogenes and technically it is the large boulder suspended over the path accessing the ‘rock’ that is called Hanging Rock, but it is so over-shadowed you will rarely even see Mt Diogenes on maps, usually in favour of the Hanging Rock Reserve.
Of course there are other nearby ‘hanging rocks’ also, usually on directional signs pointing to the real thing. You have to love people who take things literally!
Back to the car for the final factoid; the 16×7″ alloy wheels come from a late-1990’s Ford Fairlane Concorde limited edition (680 built). I wonder if they are similar to a type used on the Crown Victoria? These would have an offset of near zero, or about 3.5″ backspace.
Further Reading:
Car Show Classics: AMC Rambler Club At Melbourne’s Federation Square
Oh, so that’s a Matador! Sorry, couldn’t resist. I like the hearse.
Even in Kenosha Wisconsin – home of all things Rambler – I’ve never seen one of these.
Dating back to the Nash days, big AMC models were locally known as Kenosha Cadillacs. Looks like the builder of this hearse took that nickname quite literally. You’ve found a photo of a real unicorn.
The wheels do indeed look a lot like those used on several Ford Panther platform cars in the 90s.
I think this is the first Matador hearse I have ever seen. Didn’t PN do a piece on this vintage Matador entitled The Stench Of Death? Why yes he did:
https://www.curbsideclassic.com/curbside-classics-american/curbside-classic-1973-amc-matador-sedan-the-stench-of-death/
Doubly fitting with this one.
Yes those do look like the 1997 – 2002 Crown Victoria/Grand Marquis “HPP” 16×7″ wheel which has 6mm offset. They are made in Italy, so wouldn’t be surprising if they used the exact same wheel down under, particularly for such limited production.
That wheel is surprisingly popular with the 240sx tuner crowd too as part of a low budget 5lug swap because they are cheap used and are a light high quality wheel.
I never heard of these, so it must have been D.O.A.
Picnic is a sort of legendary Australian movie and I have tried to see it several times, but somehow something always comes up. As a big fan of Australian movies and music it is probably one of the very few movies I haven’t seen….yet.
As for the Matador reference, my mental picture was of that (weird?) mid 70s Matador COUPE and I was wondering how anyone fashioned that into a hearse.
As for those wheels, I have an 09 Crown Victoria and have often thought of getting a set of these to replace the “police spec” wheels currently on my car. Would have to find a set that are compatible with TPMS, though.
Those wheels won’t fit the 03 up cars as they need 45-50mm of offset instead of the 6mm as used on the 02 down cars.
Look for Mustang takeoffs from the 05-?? cars, come across the right deal and you’ll get the wheels sensors and decent tires, or at the very least the bands to snap your sensors in.
Otherwise since they are the band style you can get the universal bands that will work on any wheel.
The European school of hearsology, including England and Australia was all about lots of glass.
Very few Landau style coaches like in the US.
And most Euro-type coaches had only 2 side doors. Even US flower cars had 4 drs.
Great find!
Had there been a call for an AMC hearse in the US they’d have put the Landau-style hearse roof and curtains on a station wagon with no further modifications, certainly not a stretch like this one.
When I was growing up from what I remember the local funeral director had a standard GM B-body wagon in two tone silver-grey. I think it was a Chev Caprice but it may have been an Olds or Buick. Note none of them were sold here so it would have been a grey (third party) import.
Now the same business has been taken over by one of the big operators, I was at a funeral they ran only a couple of weeks ago but the make of the hearse has not stayed with me.
Not necessary? The original draft of Picnic At Hanging Rock showed a solution to what happened to the girls at the end (disappearing into some space/time hole or something equally silly) and her editor wisely cut it. Thus a great and enduring mythical story was born and still lives, rather than a forgettable potboiler. The original ending, then, was not necessary. Rather like the original rear ending of this Matador.
I can’t recall ever seeing Matador wagons here. Do you see a lot of ’71-on Valiant wagon bits in those rear panels, John?
That is a good point too justy – I have heard about the deleted last chapter, but never read the book and I think only seen the movie in school decades ago.
Yes the side does look a bit Valiant; the window line is a lot different from the standard wagon so the body builders may have done something similar. I saw a reference to 12 wagons having been brought in one year, the Matador was pretty expensive so it makes sense.
Not necessary? A roof rack on a hearse. Not like u taking anything with you….
I kinda like that stretched Matador. Wheels and all. But the roof rack grabbed me.
I didn’t think of that one Brian. I expect they were there to carry flowers, if there were more than would fit on top of the coffin inside. I don’t think that separate flower cars have been used in Australia.
Flowers would make sense. As interesting as it first looked to me I still like how it looks on the car. Nice looking car.
The roof rack is what I noticed first. I wondered if it was an addition by the owner, along with the wheels and the visor. All are things I’ve never seen here when professional cars are displayed. And, flowers on the roof? I can just image a trail of them in the road behind the hearse.
The roof is awfully low too…you’d HAVE to put flowers on the roof because the casket spray wouldn’t fit on the casket itself.
Just measured a Batesville OT9 Indigo Blue in the selection room and it’s 23 inches tall. Figure the rollers sit above the floor a smidge so the whole thing is about 2 feet tall…that’s where a raised roof comes in handy.
Newer hearses have higher roofs. Usually the side windows open as well as the rear door.
To notenufcars point, funeral processions are pretty slow and particularly 45 years ago I would expect that most would be a short distance from church to cemetary, eg the last funeral I went to approx 1.5 mile.
I suppose a flat-top coffin would allow a lot more space than an American-style casket. I see a lot more limousine style coaches in Cincinnati than I did in St Louis…must be a regional thing, kind of like full-couch caskets are big in Eastern OH and Pennsylvania and we ALMOST never see one.
The exterior sunvisor looks like a hell of an anachronism to eyes in North America, where that kind of visor was gone by the late 1950s. But Australia had laws against tinted auto glass for many years, and A/C wasn’t common, so accessories like front sunshades and rear (+side, on wagons) venetian blinds remained popular for decades after. Take a look at Hy-Way’s selection, especially when you get into the Holdens and Hondas, or RetroShades’ range of venetian blinds and front visors. From one or the other of those companies I bought a visor for my Volvo (see it here) and a visor and rear venetian for my Lancer (that’s here, visor not yet installed).
An external sunshade is more effective in stopping the sun hitting the window in the first place, plus tinting of the windscreen (windshield) is not legal today. Internal venetians aren’t really sold for newer cars, but rear external sunshades are and for 20 year old Falcons you can get front ones.
Quite hilariously, as late as VL Commodores (’86-’88), the Victorian Police specification had clearly not been updated since perhaps the ’50’s, which meant that the unmarked or undercover police operatives hid inconspicuously (in their air-conditioning) with a very cutesy Jane Austen sun bonnet over the screen top.
They may as well have finished it off with a posy as the hood emblem for all the invisibility it gave.
Car looks nice. I thought those wheels were called “snowflake” wheels such as were found on the early 1990s Australian Ford Falcons. I remember my ED Futura had wheels like that. I’ve seen similar on 90’s Toyota Camry’s, I think Blingin’ wheels seem a bit inappropriate on a symbol of Death.
Matadors are good cars. I have a ’72 sedan, with a 360 V-8 (5.9 litre) assembled in Australia. Currently undergoing light restorative work to bring back to original “survivor” status.
Leon – correct. They were from the Aussie falcon. I rode on those for a year. Then I put on old SS Cragars. The pic above was from years ago.
360 v8, has original A/C. Sun visor came with car. Flower rails on roof, some cars had them, not sure why.
It’s a stretched sedan. There are a couple of Matador wagon 4 door hearses in AU too. This is the only 2 door known, no-one recalls another being made from the coach builder in Sydney.
The car day at the rock is awesome, with many varied makes and models. Cheers.
There is also a 1970 Rebel SST in Australia that has been converted into a hearse.