(first posted 10/31/2018) Once upon a time in the Low Countries, hearses based on American iron were the norm. As a matter of fact, many of them are still rumbling along just fine. It was quite a surprise though to meet a classic Mopar C-body in the flesh, as the hearses of yore were usually based on GM and FoMoCo products. The subject, a 1968 Plymouth Fury Suburban, also happened to be in an immaculate condition, still very much alive and kicking.
Retired but not tired hearses, a healthy niche market in the world of classic US cars. Often they get an out of control macabre humor treatment, but in this case it was kept rather subtle. YMMV, of course.
The Plymouth is powered by a 225 c.i. Slant-Six. Adequate, given its profession.
And what a sublime last ride it is, as if it was born to be a Death Wagon.
Now there’s a guy who likes to live outside the box. On the left a lifelike miniature of Magere Hein. That’s Meager Hein, our Grim Reaper.
The hearse was imported into the Netherlands just two years ago. Its first date of registration is August 8, 1968. I’m quite positive that Mr. A. Lerouge & Son, an undertaker from Belgium, was the Plymouth’s original owner. The company’s name and address were printed on a big, brown envelope, placed behind the right side window. On a related note, in Belgium (Flanders) the Reaper goes by the name of Pietje de Dood, Lil’ Pete the Death.
The Plymouth brand was buried many full moons ago, I hope this Suburban will refuse to go underground for years to come. Knock on wood.
Well I think it’s kinda cool looking. Was there a regular Fury wagon? As a normal wagon it would look great in black. With Cragers. Oh, yeah.
There are few things as beautiful as a C body wagon of this era, even when in hearse trim. A high school friend drove one of these, only in that medium metallic green that Chrysler painted everything then. It was the family hand-me-down for the high school kids to drive and had absurdly high miles but ran and drove just fine. I liked that car a lot then and I like them even more now.
It would be cool to own one if for no other reason than to get to say “I drive a Suburban” and then watch the looks on peoples’ faces when they see it. 🙂
Agreed. Our first family car in my memory was a ’67 Polara wagon with the 440. It had been a small town’s ambulance (w/out any real special equipment beyond lights), and to a 2-3 yr old, that just added to the cool factor.
We had an immense ’68 Sport Suburban in Sherwood Green Metallic (of course) when I was a kid. Replaced by a more sensible ’72 Coronet Crestwood. It was too big to fit in our garage, so my dad replaced the doors with a kind of string curtain and let it hang out.
This one would have been cooler than our ’68 – especially if it didn’t come with the optional brakes – as in you never knew when they would decide to work – ours was equipped with.
I would just die for a ride in that.
Yep, it gives me a stiffie.
At least this Plymouth looks pretty normal. Late model European hearses can be really odd-looking with their great big side windows.
I don’t think its passengers appreciate the view…
Don’t think many of these came with the 225 six. At over 4,000 lbs., it must have been a real slug. These pre-fuselage wagons, like the sedans and hardtops, do look good. Crisp, clean, angular styling was far different from the offerings at GM at the time. Was quite impressed with a ’68 Fury III sedan with 318 and A/C our school had as one of its two driver’s ed cars. Far better than the stripper BelAir sedan which had served as the other one.
Cool hearse. I’m a big fan of hearses as collectibles and seriously looked at some to buy. Low cost collector insurers like Hagerty don’t normally insure vintage hearses because they don’t recognize the genre. Old fire trucks and ambulances are fine though, and I don’t understand the distinction from an insurance point of view.
I’m not a fan of the macabre accessories, fake skeletons and real coffins are almost ubiquitous. I can appreciate the fun of it, but I’ve found the general public understandably gets upset at the idea.
Yeah, that would have been a tremendous looking car without all the goofy Halloween crap that people just ‘have’ to throw into an old hearse. I don’t see there really being all that much modification to a standard 1968 Fury station wagon to get into hearse trim, either, like the typical raised roof. Honestly, mid-sixties Mopar station wagons seem to be some great looking cars, nearly as good as the hardtops. I once watched a modified ’67 Belvedere station wagon pull a major wheelie on the dragstrip. That was impressive.
But this one with a slant-six engine is just as good. That’s such a great find and I can’t imagine the number of these left in any kind of running condition being in anything but single digits.
The single factory tail lights make this the base plain ‘Suburban’, similar to Fury I trim.
Ashes to ashes, dust to Duster…
I’ve often joked with my friends that I wanted to buy an old hearse and use it as a daily driver, just to see the reactions from people. My friend’s responded that I should sign up for a rideshare service and use it as my on the job vehicle.
We’re very weird people, but its okay. I would still like to own a hearse, if for no other reason than the sheer “WTH” factor of it. It’d be fun, even if I couldn’t find a parking space anywhere.
Surprised they made Plymouth Hearses, or any Chrysler corporation hearses. The only American brand hearses I’ve seen that weren’t the requisite Cadillacs tended to be Lincoln or Buicks. Which makes me curious as to what sort of criteria funeral homes have for what gets turned into a hearse, other than presumably “long wheelbase and must look decent in black.”
I think I can shed some light on cheaper hearses. Here in Uruguay, as cars have always been imported (or assembled from CKD) and taxes are extremely heavy (about 100%), an Impala was a luxury car.
The earliest hearses I have memory of were indeed Cadillacs, extremely long wheelbase vehicles with just a cab in front and a casket hold or a flower platform. (people with real means would have two or three of these vehicles sent, one for the casket and the other two for lowers).
These Cadillacs were used into the early 80s by some funeral homes. I don’t think there were more than half a dozen in town.
However, the other 95% were simply American station wagons. I remember in 1979, at my grandfather’s burial, that the hearse was a ’60 Ford wagon, which even had its rear seat folded. I don’t remember why, but my brothers and I came back from the cemetery in that rear seat. It was a weird ride, but as 14-year-old me was always taking a look at cars, I remember wondering how that wagon was so perfect. All black, of course, a manual transmission, and I think it had a 6 engine. Almost 40 years later, my memory could be misleading.
There were many Ford Country Squires from the early 70s, as well as Kingswood Estates and the like. Ford or Chevrolet, most of them. Almost all of them bought used from a diplomat, as at the time they were the only ones to be able to import a car. “Regular” people on the 70s could only get locally assembled cars here, and there were no big station wagons.
On the early 80s, I remember some TE-series Mercedes, as well as some Volvos 740. All told, an eclectic variety. Not one of them was specialty built as a hearse, or even an ambulance.
A lot of funeral parlors in the US couldn’t afford the expensive Cadillac hearses. There were shops who would convert cheaper cars like Pontiacs, Chevies, and Fords into hearses at a lower cost. Not every hearse was long-wheelbase, either. A fair number were standard-length station wagons.
That’s an interesting conversion. Looks like a Jetsons hearse…based on a 1960 Ford.
Pontiac made a commercial chassis, like Cadillac. I don’t know of Buick and Olds did, but there were Buick and Olds professional cars as well.
Buicks were exclusively built by Grumman, getting the Flxble moniker,
while Olds were built by Divco-Wayne, under the Cottner-Bevington brand.
The Pontiacs were a common sight in the smaller towns on the prairies back in the day.
If this Plymouth Fury hearse isn’t scary enough, may I present to you: The Frankenstude! MUA-HA-HA-HA!
Let’s have a look at the rear now, for maximum effect.
Amazing!
My dad bought a new ‘67 Fury III wagon with the 318 in daffodil yellow. It was a great road car and I recall many a mile seeing the world from the rear facing seat.
The hearse is sharp, and looks to be Fury I or II trim level. The side trim makes me think is like a Fury II.
Was the Suburban name used for export models?. I don’t recall the suburban name still being used during the late 60’s here in the states.
Plymouth used the Suburban name for regular and “downsized” Fury wagons all the way through 1978 – the last year for the big wagons. I don’t know whether Chevrolet objected to Plymouth using the name, but they had plenty of time to do so.
Here’s a close-up of the front fender badge.
Interestingly, it’s a base Suburban. Not even a custom for the frugal Belgian. Must have been a Fleming ;-).
I somehow missed that one through the years, but very cool to learn something new, as I always do when visiting here. Thanks!.
It’s interesting that this wasn’t converted back to a stock wagon many decades ago when it was first retired from hearse duty. A late ’60s big American car in Europe in the gas crisis era might not have been worth repainting a brighter color, but even if it was a case of transferring the existing hearse equipment to its’ replacement…
“Many decades ago” it still was a full-time hearse…This kind of vehicles is (very) well taken care of, is always parked indoors and doesn’t drive that much and certainly not fast, so gas mileage and severe wear ‘n tear aren’t real issues.
I still see hearses like the Chevrolet below doing their professional job.
Dead sleds here seem to be built out of anything large enough and a few one off bodies have turned up there was a twin spinner Ford hearse nearby but its gone now and a clam shell Chevy is still hauling corpses locally theres a 38 Dodge still in service too in Napier.
Several years ago, I saw a documentary about Central American banana farmer health issues caused by pesticides. During a funeral, they used a silver Mazda pickup as a hearse.
Sublime are the small round dot side marker lights front and rear on these. Always thought those were super cool
1965-67, Plymouth’s C body wagon names were analogous to Fury line.
My parents had a ’68 Custom Suburban, and I also have a dealer brochure. {And checked old car brochures site}
It seems the ’68 wagons interior/exterior trims were different levels then the ‘cars’. Custom Sub. looks like Fury III exterior trim, with full tail lights, but Fury II interior vinyl. Ours was turquoise body with black inside.
The top line ’68 Sport Suburban got wood panel trim. First Plymouth wagon to have this, [I think], and was supposedly the “VIP wagon”, but with Fury III vinyl inside. Cousins in MO had one, green/green.
Hi guys and Dolls this is the Ford Country Squire hearse off 1967,my Wife is the owner and whe wanna bring ihm back on the Street agronomische.whe Love this Car..!!
Greetings from Austria
Hans ans Lisi
When I was much younger and I went out with my grandparents, my grandfather would say ‘there goes a lucky guy’ everytime he saw a hearse. I would ask him ‘papa, why do you always say that when you see a hearse’? He would answer’ because his (or her) problems are over for good’!
A Hurst named Fury? Good thing its not a Demon.
I could tell this was a Belgian car by the ornaments on the roof, the Dutch hearses didn’t have them.
Back in 2010 when my grandfather passed away his hearse was a Benz, I think he’d rather have been in a Caprice.
He was a longtime American car owner, buying a new one every few years since owning a 1956 Chevrolet.
Interesting looking car .
I like hearses, I gave my 1980 Caddy Fleetwood chassis hearse to my big brother, he ran it a while then parked it when the TH400’s pan began to leak .
I also fondly remember my 1969 Chrysler station wagon, also in that green .
It was less than 10 years old, ran like a top and I paid $350 for it .
In Guatemala City, C.A. in 1976 I went to a funeral that used a 1954 Pontiac hearse, it looked very stately .
-Nate
Nice dead sled, I happened on a funeral procession last week led by a 38 Dodge hearse, classic US wagons are popular hearses in NZ my last uncle had his last ride in a 80s Buick, and a immaculate clamshell Chevy was in a local funeral fleet.
That big, heavy, car. A “slant 6”, under the hood? Wow! You could miss the motor if you opened the hood in a hurry.