Conference terri::cars_uk

I just received the membership list for the Professional Car Society (hearse, 
ambulance, limo, flower car club based here in the US).  The vast majority of 
ambulances and hearses seem to be Cadillacs, at least from the 1940's up.  
What is the 'typical' ambulance, hearse and limo in the UK and other 
countries over there?

Dave

    'Typical' ambulance is more you sort of Ford Transit / Bedford HA(?)
    box van conversion rather than a modified estate car. Hearses are more
    that sort of thing, the Austin Allegro estate springs to mind :-) Most
    of the one's I've seen were Ford Granada based (Dorchsters?), but also
    Austin Princess, Rover 800, a nice Morris Oxford lives round here
    somewhere (then there's that film with the E-Type hearse!).
    Traditional limo's are Rolls-Royce Silver Wossnames & Daimler
    Landaulettes (sp?), with virtually any luxury saloon being the base for
    'stretch' limos (Granada, Rover, Jaguar - that one looked odd).
    
    These are all 60's/70's onwards examples, anyone come up with any earlier
    one's?
    
    Andy

    There always were RR hearses, but I haven't seen a modern one. At least
    one company around here has a fleet of stretched Volvos, hearse and at
    least two matching limos. Wouldn't want an accident on the way to the
    crem!
    
    Andrew
    
    PS I just remembered a firm in Huddersfield uses stretched Mercs.

    >>....(then there's that film with the E-Type hearse!).
    
    	Harold & Maude! Funny (but weird) film........!

> Wouldn't want an accident on the way to the crem!
    
I can remember an article in a local paper a few years ago about some
old guy whose last wish was for the Hearse to be driven through his
village at 80mph.  I think the police actually gave the go-ahead for
this, but I'm not certain.

Chris.

    .962�What is the 'typical' ambulance, hearse and limo in the UK and other 
    .962�countries over there?
    
    Typical ambulances in France: Citroen hydraulically suspended cars, ie
    used to be Citroen DS, now mostly Citroen CX or Vans (Renault-Matra
    Espace), all specifically built/modified by 3rd parties, coachbuilders.
    
    Hearse ? anything big enough, Citroen CX, Peugeot 505, ....
    
    Limo ? several types: Renault and Peugeot have a high-end line of cars
    with all luxury items and extended wheelbase. These are used by top
    managers and by government officials as 'company' cars. Real limos with
    extended wheelbase are not very popular over here. There are however a
    few top end Cadillacs, Mercedes, ... for rent about everywhere.

    British ambulances are split into two camps
    
    1.National health- these are purpose built variants on large vans
    not sure who makes the chassis probably Bedford (GM) or old British
    Leyland.  The bodies are made by specialist Ambulance builders
    as distinctive as the British Taxi cab!. Not something you're
    likely to want to collect!
    
    2.Private Ambulances- Any large estate car as in France, or 
    National Health ones in private livery.
    
    Limos? Various old Vanden Plas (BL) or Daimlers some stretched
    Ford Granada's etc
    
    Hearses are same as Limos but with big side windows etc .
    
    Matt.

I know that some of the British ambulances are, or were a few years
ago, based on Vauxhall/Bedford vans.  An acquantaince of mine often
used to moan about what a pain they were to drive, weighing over three
tons and only having a 1.6 litre engine!

Chris.

    The Bedford ones lost their popularity somewhat a few years ago when a
    whole load of them had to be taken off the road after an outbreak of
    wheels coming off. Not what you need on an ambulance.

    Notice that the Ambulances on 'Casualty' are Renault Traffice (?) Vans
    converted for the job.
    
    How about adding Police cars to this discussion.
    
    I noticed alot of Caprice Classics acting as Police cars in the US.
    
    Staffs Police have big Jaguar saloons patrolling the M6.
    
    Dave D.

    >>How about adding Police cars to this discussion.
    
    Hampshire Police are using Cosworth Sierras (Not sure what the plural
    of Sierra is) around the Chichester area.  Think I saw an article where
    a Police force are using a late model Lotus, presumably not as a Paddy
    Wagon.

    
    A Lotus Carlton, proberbly.
    

    ref .13
    
    That's the one, where do they put all the cones, warning triangles,
    handcuffs etc?  They'll also have to be carefull with their trunchions
    when they get into the car. 8-)
    
    

    The Met have tried a number of fast cars, and think the Porsche 968 ??
    Club (No luxeries, just speed) is the best they've seen.  I remember
    that another one that tried was the Rover 220 Turbo but it didn't have
    sufficient grip.
    
    Those police Jags I was talking about, they look normal on the motorway
    cruising at 50 or so, but when they return to base (Staffs Police
    Traffic HQ is Beaconside Stafford) the're back ends are high up with
    the suspension and the motors sound very throaty.  Like some sort of
    custom car job !
    
    Hamps police use BMWs.  I've seen police in Moscow using them now too.
    
    What do we know about fire engines ??
    They must be really  powerful to move a few men, loads of equipment and
    some thousands of gallons of water at high speed !
    
    Dave D.

    I heard the Lotus Esprit was only being used as a Demo car.

> Wouldn't want an accident on the way to the crem!

From my great aunt's cortege I watched a lady driver travelling in the 
opposite direction keep her eyes on the hearse as we passed slowly by - 
not on the car in front of her which stopped to turn right.  Fortunately 
there were no injuries (apart from the cars!) and it brough some light 
relief to the occasion.

Mike

       
    Many of the UK NHS ambulances were coachbuilt on Ford or Bedford
    chassis by a specialist company in Longford in the Irish Republic - look 
    for the name "Hanlon" on the rear mudflaps. Many years ago, I was able to
    scrounge a bit of pipe and an expansion box from Noel Hanlon to enable
    me to get home legally in an old Cortina with an exhaust system that
    blew when I was on holiday there. I couldn't afford the 'Kwik Fit'
    jobby (or its Irish equivalent!) so he saved me a lot of noise and
    embarrassment. I know he was having a few problems a while back and had to
    make some of his workforce redundant, but I hope the company is still in 
    existence .. nice man.
    
    

    
    There are several VolksWagen ambulances about, based on the 1�ton van
    chassis. Renowned (allegedly) for catching fire, these were bought to
    get over the problem of the Vauxhall wheels falling off :-)
    
    
    Tony.
    

    This week's Carweek has a 'tryout' on the afore-mentioned polis'
    Lotus... which incidentally is marked up in police livery and has the
    flashing lights bit across the roof.
    
    Reargards,
    
    Stephen

A 'friend' in California has a 1960 Cadillac hearse and has created a homepage
(with pictures) on the WWW for it:

http://www.nas.nasa.gov/~border/pages/hearse/hearse.html

Hopefully soon I will get a picture of our '26 on his page as well.

Dave

The latest Professional Car Society newsletter has some pictures and an article
about British/European hearses and limos.  Someone in the US imported a 1965
Volvo 210 hearse coachbuilt by Heinel.  It's a nice little hearse by US
standards, but well proportioned.

There are also pictures of an older RR hearse, but it looks a little short,maybe
a child's hearse?  There are also some more modern hearses that look like Fords,
maybe Granadas.  Some have 4 doors and some have just two with the long side
window in the back.

All the hearses also seem to have a small roof rack, I presume to carry flowers.
That's something not typical for US hearses.

Dave

    >> All the hearses also seem to have a small roof rack, I presume to carry
    >> flowers.  That's something not typical for US hearses.
    
    ...Perhaps it's to allow for the luggage of those who want to "take it
    with them"... :-)
    
    Brian
    
    

Any more details on the 100mph chase involving some hearses I read about in 
VNS today??

Dave

    I read the full story. They were "late for the funeral", and flashed
    past a police car on the M1!. Yes, one of them was "loaded"!
    
    You can read the full stories from the VNS headlines in the Electronic
    Telegraph.
    
    Cheers, Laurie.

http://www.best.com/~border/grimrides/burden/burden.html

Two b&w pictures of the hearse....

Dave