There are some cars you wouldn’t expect to encounter parked next to a vacant commercial building in Virginia. A Rolls-Royce hearse is one of them. Before coming across this vehicle, I’d never seen a Rolls-Royce hearse, so it was worth a stop to investigate. This hearse isn’t exactly in spry condition – it’s evidently been parked here for a several months, and an older Rolls-Royce left to sit has probably been diagnosed with multiple ailments. Assuming astronomical repair costs, its condition may well be terminal. Oh, and yes, that’s a cemetery right across the street.
This particular vehicle has enjoyed its 15 minutes of Internet fame before, as it was featured (in much better condition) on Bring a Trailer in 2017. At that time, it was offered for sale by a well-known importer of Japanese-market vehicles, leading the BaT submitter to speculate that the hearse conversion was done in Japan. After examining this hearse, I’m leading towards the same conclusion, though unfortunately we have no information about the coachbuilder.
The first notable thing about this car is that Rolls-Royce hearses are almost unheard-of in North America. I’m sure there’s a few somewhere on this continent, but I’ve certainly never seen one. Once I got beyond the peculiarity of finding such a specimen, the next thing that occurred to me is that this car looks rather natural as a wagon body. The rear compartment’s roof is raised, though not exaggeratingly so, and the contrasting vinyl (Everflex?) top masks much of the awkwardness that a fully white body would likely exhibit.
The windowless sail panel gives away this car’s hearse vocation, though it’s easy to squint and see this as a custom-bodied station wagon. Aside from the rear hatch’s awkward and slightly uneven angled cutout, the bodywork looks well-designed for its purpose.
Our featured car appears to be an American-market Rolls-Royce, with left-hand drive and a speedometer showing miles per hour. But there’s a few clues that point to the hearse conversion being done in Japan. For one, Rolls-Royce hearses seem to be more common in Japan than in North America – research turns up several companies that do such conversions, though none seems to exactly match our example. Another clue is present as well – this car has front and rear license plate adapter brackets featuring bolt holes for different size license plates. Since Japanese plates are slightly larger than 6×12” North American plates, such brackets are often necessary.
Coachbuilt vehicles like this often borrow parts from other cars, and one mystery here is the source of this large and wide rear window. I can’t place the donor vehicle. Maybe a reader here can help with this mystery, and match up the window’s shape and defroster pattern with a known vehicle.
Regardless of the country of origin, I wouldn’t be surprised if this conversion took place well after the car’s 1991 build date. It seems that many high-end hearse conversions worldwide are done with used cars rather than new models. But like other pieces to this puzzle, that’s little more than speculation.
US market Rolls-Royce sedans came equipped with sealed-beam headlights until 1993, so this car has been retrofitted with European-style flush-fitting headlights, a common upgrade for Silver Spirits and Spurs.
Taking a look inside, one can see glimpses of a bygone era’s luxury, with “exquisite veneers and supple hand-stitched hide,” to quote a period Silver Spur brochure. The item stretching across the center console is a cover for the windshield wiper motor assembly that typically resides under the hood, so maybe non-functional wipers are one of this hearse’s current challenges.
This photo from one of the earlier sale listings shows the casket compartment. The casket slides in on the right, while the driver’s-side rear seat is still intact, making this a three (live) passenger car.
From what I can tell, this car was sold by the JDM dealer several years ago, and then sold again by a Northern Virginia used car dealer. The car is still displaying a 30-day temporary license plate that expired in December 2021, so quite possibly the current owner bought it from that dealership, but shortly afterwards some mechanical problems quickly threw the new owner’s plans into disarray. And here it sits.
Seeing any Rolls-Royce down on its luck, as this one appears to be, is somewhat surreal. After all, the “Best Motor Car in the World” deserves better than enduring a slow decay next to a vacant building. But it’s easy to speculate as to why. Thirty-year-old Rolls-Royces may seem alluringly attainable by virtue of their sale prices, however these are high-maintenance cars with expensive parts. Not planning accordingly could easily end up with a disabled car that just sits for lack of resources.
So, what could the future hold in store for our featured hearse? The current owners are likely in over their heads, and this would be a tough sell to a new buyer. Under any circumstances, a Rolls-Royce that’s been sitting unused for a long time probably has more than its fair share of unresolved issues – so this one needs a buyer who has the knowledge and/or resources to undertake a Rolls-Royce project and has the interest in owning an old hearse. The chances of finding such a buyer are rather slim.
This cobweb-covered Spirit of Ecstasy is a fitting allegory for an aging once-regal vehicle that likely now has one foot in the grave. But even in its current condition, a Rolls-Royce hearse is quite a sight to behold.
Photographed in Fairfax, Virginia in April 2023.
I’d love this as a station wagon. It looks doable to convert it.
Should be picked up.for less than the sedan because most buyers don’t like old hearses for obvious reasons. Got to turn heads at a RR owners rally..
I can identify with this vehicle. Long a lover of upscale vehicles, I now have reached the age (and health) of calling myself a vintage Rolls Canardly. I roll down one hill and can ardly get up the next! Seriously, this is the first ROLLS-ROYCE hearse I have ever seen. My late brother had several ROLLS-ROYCE automobiles. Repairs were very costly. In late 70s, believe he spent $25,000 on his 62 CLOUD and had to wait months for correct leather to arrive. At this hearse looks better than most contemporary awkward Cadillac conversions.
My take on it? WHAT A WAY TO GO!
Not just the source of the window, I think the whole rear hatch came from a donor vehicle. I kind of hate for a unique vehicle to be too much of an internet celebrity.
That’s a good point about the whole rear hatch coming from another vehicle. Still can’t fathom what it is though…
My guess is a late 90’s Volkswagen T4 Transporter. It’s unusual to find a window that big. Looks like they took the top half of the VW tailgate and joined it to the RR boot lid. Note the demister stripes are similar and also that there’s no wiper hole in the glass.
And if you look REALLY carefully, the slight change of direction in the side edges of the tailgate just above the base of the window is still there (it becomes more vertical below the window).
Great catch. That looks like a close fit – closer than anything else I’ve come up with.
One thing that doesn’t appear to match though is the defogger pattern. There may be a few explanations for this (for example, I’m not sure if all Transporters had the same defogger pattern), but the hearse has two defogger tabs on the edges of the back window that the Transporter examples I’ve found online don’t seem to have (highlighted in red circle in picture below).
But other than that, it seems to match.
Great guess. The narrow seal looks about the same width, and the metal shape looks the same too. I suspect we have a winner!
Not only that, but the electrical connections for the demister are indeed about half way up each side. They don’t show up in most pictures from the outside, since on the VW they are hidden behind a painted black border. Perhaps this was removed for some reason. I’ve attached a rather crappy picture of the connection.
I don’t know if you still have access to the RR hearse, but the VW window size is 1410mm wide by 680 high. If that checks out, I suspect that’s the one!
And, for good measure, here’s another pic of the back of the van.
Try again, smaller file size.
Definitely looks like a match – thanks for solving the mystery!
If I can swing by the car again and take some measurements, I will. Thanks!
The rust streaks on the quarter panels do it no justice.
Very interesting find. I’ve never seen a Rolls Royce based hearse, but I know that here in Italy some were built by Pilato Autotrasformazioni, one of the most important companies in the coachbuilding.
Not directly related, but the same company also did some on-offs with Rolls Royce front ends on Mercedes bodies, like this one I attach.
Deviant.
Wow – and the front end is made to resemble a Camargue too. Probably the only Camargue tribute vehicle ever built!
Yes, evidently the customer ordered it as such 😀 it seems there were a couple of them, with little differences due to the client’s requests, but I have the picture only of this one, which even appeared in a 1981 movie.
Cue the music for Neil Young “Long May You Run”. Neil wrote that song about his 1948 Buick Hearse that he named Mortimer Hearseburg that died of transmission failure.
Here’s hoping it gets saved instead of broken for parts .
-Nate
The pathos I feel in looking at and reading about this RR hearse is very real. Sold in much better condition in 2017? And look at it now, with those reddish rust streaks on the white paint on the treat quarter panel, like in an old bathtub.
It also makes me wonder what clientele (rhetorical question, as the answer would be the affluent) would specify a Rolls-Royce hearse for his or her funeral, as if it even matters. “Nope, a Cadillac won’t do.”
This car’s sad slide reminds me a bit of a once-nice hotel that gets sold out of a franchise to an independent owner, where it’s quality and upkeep starts sliding precipitously before the sad end. This thing is like the Hyatt House / Purple Hotel of Lincolnwood, Illinois on wheels. Unlike the Purple Palace, I hope this car has a future.
I was wondering the same thing about funeral homes that operate high-end models for their hearses. I’m just curious how effective of a marketing tool it is – and I realize that answer likely varies by ethnicity (after all, Japanese funeral homes often have both “western-style” hearses and “temple-style” hearses where the vehicle resembles an ornate religious temple.
Very true about this car’s resemblance to formerly-grand buildings. I have heard of the Purple Hotel so I looked it up just now – very similar story of something special gradually wasting away.
Henry Ford didn’t even have a Ford made vehicle for a hearse. His last ride was in a Packard. In the 75 years since then I don’t believe that he has complained about it once.
Cool – a casket that can slide in on Roller rollers.
What a great vehicle this would have been for a Rolls dealer or service specialist to use as a parts chaser. You just know that someone out there could use and care for it, and also that this owner cannot. If only those two people could find each other.
Hmmmmm. That upper tailgate and glass sure does look familiar but doesn’t quite match anything I can think of. The shape of the tailgate wraparound reminds me of a Toyota Hiace van, but the glass seal is too narrow. Glass shape looks similar to a ’90-93 Volvo 240 wagon, but the Volvo tailgate doesn’t wrap around, and I suspect the glass would be too narrow for the wiiiiiide Rolls. Could be an 80s/90s JDM wagon tailgate, but I can’t find anything similar that doesn’t have a wiper in the glass.
Stumped by this one. Were it not for the mph on the speedo, this could be a Japanese market car. I have not seen many hearses here and the ones I have are invariably newere cars, based on Toyota Crowns, Century or Nissan Cimas. Foreign cars can also be used on occasion: I’ve seen a few Lincolns, but no Rolls yet. That doesn’t mean they don’t exist, or used to be more prevalent back in the go-go late 80s / early 90s.