Son Ed was perusing Craigslist when he found this unusual find: a 1953 Packard “hearse”. I assume it’s most likely actually a “service car”, used to transport corpses to the funeral home, as it’s just too modest for actual funeral use. A little bit of research turns up some interesting things about this particular Henney “Junior” Professional Car, like the fact that it was a flop. But that doesn’t make it any less compelling.
The site coachbuilt.com is a treasure trove, and in its Henney section has this to say about the Junior:
In 1953 and 1954 Henney offered a budget-priced short-wheelbase (127″) companion to their long wheelbase (156″) professional cars. In order to keep down it’s price, the Junior’s chassis, unlike that of the Senior, was from the budget Packard series and the interior trim was made from cheaper materials. Henney was well into the production of the Junior before it realized that they were losing money on every Junior built and instituted a huge price increase that effectively killed the model.
Total production of the appropriately-named Henney Junior’s totaled 500, 380 in 1953 and only 120 in 1954. A substantial number of the 1953 coaches were sold to the US Government at a loss a fact that helped contribute to Henney’s already-poor financial picture.
The Junior was awkward-looking at best, a window between the side door and the rear quarter window would have helped the car’s looks immensely.
Another factor that hurt the car was its rear compartment length, which looked good measured at the floor, but translated into a less than ideal length at the beltline because of the angle of the rear of the body and the amount of floor length that ran under the top of the front seatback.
Stiff competition from emerging “budget” coach producers in Indiana and Tennessee doomed the project, and Packard’s cancellation of their long-wheelbase chassis for the 1955 model year doomed the full-sized coaches as well.
The only discrepancy is that coachbuilt.com says it was on a 127″ wheelbase, but it looks just like the Clipper two-door sedan, and my Encyclopedia says that the Clipper model 2633 commercial chassis (Henney Bodies) did use the 122″ wheelbase chassis as the regular Clipper. So this is really a glorified sedan delivery.
Power for the Clipper came via the smaller of Packard’s venerable flathead straight eights, with 288 CID and 135 hp. Three-on-the-tree here, keeping with the budget approach.
It’s quite a find, given that just 500 were made. And the price is $7800; junior priced too.
Hat tip to Ed!
Opening the back of that thing makes me smell the formaldehyde from here. Neat car, just dunno if I wanted it.
To the seller: Please tell us what is wrapped in cloth in the back! Curtain rods? A Bazooka? Jimmy Hoffa?
Neat find. Looks like a restoration shop from all the old cars parked around. I’ll take the red 65 or 66 Chrysler parked near the building. 🙂
Definitely an awkward-looking thing. It’s okay from straight side on, but from 3/4 view, the tall and narrow nature of the top really becomes evident, which doesn’t help the already somewhat tall and narrow body of these cars. Cool find though.
Now that is awesome. That would make a good daily driver/home depot duty car without the stigma of a hearse.
It looks like a a panel van.
Seems like a Chevy or Pontiac sedan delivery would do the same job for a lot less money, and probably looked more dignified. This bulbous shape looks cartoonish, like a Betty Boop car.
“Superhero Car!”
Seussian
If it wasn’t so rare it would make the basis for a neat ute style conversion.
I wish that the door was a little wider. I could see that being a problem for anyone other than funeral homes.
It’s still neat, though.
nothing a chop won’t cure… Given the right circumstances and modifications to the drive-train I’d use it as an everyday car.
Rare and odd enough to be very interesting, but the sloppy overspray on the rims and ugly painted bumpers make me thing that all that blue is hiding a lot of rust and bondo.
Awkward looking, space-inefficient, slow by today’s standards, not even a proper commercial chassis, etc. … as much as there may be to pick at with this car, it would be a fun occasional cargo hauler, as long as it is not riddled with rust as Gene speculated. It has a lot more character than a 1986 Oldsmobile Custom Cruiser!
Good thing that it is too far away on the West Coast, because at $7800, it is within a little bargaining of being worth considering.
“Stiff competition?” Pun intended?
The ’53-’54 Packard-Henney Junior was designed to primarily be used as an ambulance, not a funeral coach. Smaller town services couldn’t afford the Cadillac ambulances that dominated the market. Enter commercial coachbuilders such as Superior building on Pontiac and Oldsmobile chassis for less expensive ambulances. Although Henney was a quality maker, had had an exclusive contract with Packard for their commercial chassis since 1937, apparently they were also one of the higher cost makers as well. As competition increased after the war, Henney was less able to compete, shut operations down in late 1954. Note also that although these were based on the Clipper components, they have the Senior model taillights grafted on in place of the usual Junior series “hotdogs”.
For those interested in the history of 1951-1954 Packards, pick up a copy of “Packards 1951 to 1954 by Robert J. Neal. Its the ultimate authoritative resource on every aspect of these mid-years, postwar Packards before the dramatic V8 years and South Bend fade away.
It probably was about this time the “Amblewagon” ambulance conversions based on station wagons came on the market which were a better answer to the same question.
Notice that this appears to have coachbuilt upper door frames, not exactly a low-cost solution.
Nice, a Packard panelvan I like it.
I suspect they designed this with the ultimately devastating military contract in mind – that blank middle panel in the greenhouse was SOP for the military’s “metropolitan” (i.e. civilian) ambulances at the time. They had recently sold a number of full-size ambulances to the Army as part of the Korean War rearmament, but the Army was moving to smaller, cheaper ambulances.
Nice ;
It appears to be more Sedan Delivery than a Combination Rig .
I’d rather have a similar vintage Chevy Sedan Delivery but I imagine the Hot Rodders have boosted their prices well above this , non ? .
-Nate
That additional side window you mention was an optional feature actually.
From this side of ‘The Pond’ there is something very Charles Addams about this car – what a mortician drives on his night off.
Creepy, but in a cool way.
IMHO, Packard and Henney were not very smart on this… they should have used a regular roofline, windshield, door and saved money. This would have made them look better and could have also been market as a sedan delivery and a two door wagon for the Clipper line to regular buyers, thus expanding its appeal and marketability. As it was not necessary to display the body on the way to the morgue!