Model T Hearse

[Richard Bartrop]

I saw this on another model site.  If you're wondering what to do with ICM's Model T kit, this has possibilities

More at http://www.oocities.org/funeralhistory/index.html

[espo]

Maybe combine a Model T kit with one of the old Munster show cars for the rear portion.

[Mike999]

Thanks.  A couple of ideas come to my alleged mind. 

The AMT Surf Woody has some small, ribbed pillars in it for the "surfin' hearse" version.  They might be just a little too small, since the ICM kit is 1/24 and the AMT is 1/25.  You can also find plastic ribbed pillars in Hobby Lobby/Michaels, for decorating wedding cakes.  They come in different sizes, but I'm not sure if any are small enough.  I'm using a big one right now for a 1/16 scale figure in a "Berlin 1945" scene.

The best starting point might be the body of the 1/24 scale Monogram Boot Hill Express.  The driver's seat of the hearse in the photo even looks like an old horse-drawn coach seat. 

[Warren D]

Doesn't really look long enough to hold a casket without it hanging out the back.

[misterNNL]

You should remember that folks are a lot taller now than when this hearse was in use. In Kentucky at a large horse farm museum there is a display of horse drawn hearses and the older they are the shorter the are in length.

[carrucha]

Thanks for the picture.  I was thinking of converting AMT's 1923 Model T delivery van into a hearse.

[Mike999]

On ‎3‎/‎1‎/‎2018 at 11:41 AM, Warren D said:

Doesn't really look long enough to hold a casket without it hanging out the back.

Since the Model T above is painted white and looks like it is not stretched, it may have been a child's hearse.  Some bigger funeral homes used dedicated smaller vehicles for kid's funerals.  Advances in science and medicine eventually made the idea of a child's hearse unprofitable, and let's hope it stays that way.

Here's a long thread about Model T hearses from the MTFCA web site.  Lots of interesting history and photos:

http://www.mtfca.com/discus/messages/29/47640.html?1204204441

[Art Anderson]

On 3/1/2018 at 11:41 AM, Warren D said:

Doesn't really look long enough to hold a casket without it hanging out the back.

Given what appears to have once been a white paintjob,  I suspect that is a "child's hearse".  A century or more ago,  child mortality was way more than it is today, and many funeral homes had a smaller, often white, for transporting a child's coffin.

Art

[Art Anderson]

On 3/1/2018 at 6:56 PM, misterNNL said:

You should remember that folks are a lot taller now than when this hearse was in use. In Kentucky at a large horse farm museum there is a display of horse drawn hearses and the older they are the shorter the are in length.

Not to mention that burial caskets were nothing like they are today--smaller and lighter a century or more ago.

Art