There are certain vehicles that just kind of have the ability to be anything and pull it off. This 1948 Packard hearse is one of those vehicles in our estimation. Right off the bat we can think of how gnarly it would look in pro street trim with a blown hemi in the nose. We can think of how slick it would be on air with the whole thing laid out on the ground at a show or even cruising the beach. We can actually see this thing sitting on a Dodge Ram chassis with a cummins and a five or six speed motoring down the road as a fun travel rig and hauler, right? The inside of the thing is the size of a concert hall so seats, beds, or whatever you wanted to add could be had back there.
Right now the car is basically bone stock with is Packard straight flathead eight engine and drivetrain. It does not look to be in awful shape but it does need work, which is kind of the best way to start project in our eyes. We have no idea what this monster weighs but it has to be 5,000lbs or close to it. A “normal” Packard of this era is tipping the scales over 4,000lbs typically so that means the ol’ straight eight is not going to blow your toupee off when you floor it.
So check this thing out and tell us how you would build it! How would you paint it, power it, chassis it, and roll it? Hell, someone may actually vote to restore the sucker which is not a bad idea either because this Packard was probably very cool and demure when it was black and had gleaming chrome, right?
There’s no wrong answers. How would you build it?
eBay: This 1948 Packard hearse is unique, cool, and could become anything you want
The rarity of the Packard demands that it be restored, not rodded.
Family Hauler…Pro Touring … just call Morrison
Eco Boost and a 8 speed
A/C front and rear
3 rows of captains chairs
entertainment system
Power Tour Here We Come !!!!
I had a 1949 Packard Henny (Henny was a premier coach builder of professional hearses, flower cars and ambulances for many a year. Mine was a combination of both a hearse and an ambulance. It was ordered and built for my uncle\’s Funeral Home in Middle River, MN. Like this one, it was both an end loader and a side loader in Dark Navy Blue, with purple interior and side curtains. It had a large red Emergency red roof lamp and an extremely large polished siren on the right front fender; if you came to a four-way stop intersection, with the sun shining brightly, you had to assume there was another vehicle 90° to your right, as you couldn\’t see it for the glare emitted from the siren.
My uncle sold it to me with 39,000 miles on it, in 1973 for $50. This was my primary transportation while in college. I never hauled a body in it, but the motorized table (place the casket was on) could easily haul 6 full kegs of beer for fraternity field parties. I also learned that no loving father would ever allow his daughter to go on a date with a guy who drove one. RESTORE IT! I\’d donate the steel plated side Funeral Coach interior sign and the purple velvet curtains and purple braided rope curtain ties! Lastly, you would get a period correct, polished oak casket. RESTORE!
Henny out of Freeport IL made professional cars based on Packards. The local antique engine club has a Henny hearse and flower car. Don’t know enough about them to know if they were the coach builder.
Gloss black paint, interior converted to a one bed RV and a V8 version of a Packard Merlin aero engine under the hood!
If a car is a shell go ahead and rod them. If it\’s a complete rebuildable car, it seems such a crime to go that route. If it were mine, it would go back stock. Seeing less and less stock cars. Preserve a piece of history. Well just my opinion…
Why does EVERYTHING have to have a gas-sucking race motor in it? A 300 horse motor would scoot that right along. Not everybody is Bill Jenkins or Don Garlits.
…fully agree with the notion that this historic Packard should either be restored to its original configuration…but that the idea of converting this 5000+ pound beheamorh to a hot rod is bald-assed stupid…pure and simple.
Brian needs to get off the pipe and have a cup of regular \”joe\”…he\’s not living on this planet…