A little while back, I was driving along a main road getting on with things. As has become a habit, I was taking the occasional glance into the side streets to see if any CC might present themselves to me. I’m usually looking for the glint of a chrome bumper, it’s the quickest way to spot an oldie.
This one time, I thought I had just seen a colonnade wagon.
Yes, I know what you’re thinking. The 73 Chevelle wagons only had four lights set in the rear bumper. But give me a break, over the last year I’ve managed to capture four different colonnades – more than any other US classic for some bizarre reason. So it seemed entirely possible that what I had barely glimpsed, clean one-piece tailgate and bumper-set rear lights, was yet another.
I took the next side street and made my way around to the car I’d just seen. Wait on…
A 1968 Chevrolet Impala wagon! One of my favourite US shapes. I was both thrilled and confused.
As any self-respecting lover of the 1968 B-body Chevrolet would know, the rear lights weren’t set into the bumper on the wagon. They took their place on the tailgate and rear edge of the fenders.
It was the four-doors and two-doors that had the bumper-set lights; four for the Biscayne and Bel Air, and six for the Impala and Caprice. So what was I looking at?
Someone had gone to a lot of effort to fabricate a wagon rear on a pillared sedan body.
This 68 had clearly been modified to accommodate hearse duties. Which is a bit weird. The 68 B-bodies were brought into Australia in small numbers including (I believe) some wagons. I think what we’re looking at here is a car that might have already been owned by funeral house for widow duties, that was subsequently morphed into a casket carrier. Just guessing, feel free to contribute your own theories.
As you can see, these variants differed from the b-pillar back. The wagon had fuller rear quarter panels aft of the rear wheel, and the c-pillar was cornered where the sedan’s was curved.
Engine callout is 327. Minor trim additions in the spooky theme. Massive fan of both longroofs and 68 CheBs here, but I really don’t know how I feel about this one.
Further Reading
67 Caprice Estate by JPCavanaugh
68 Caprice Pillarless Sedan by Ed Stembridge
In full-on hearse trim it probably looked a bit less strange than it does as a plain “estate car.”
But it sure makes that thing in front of it seem even tubbier and stubbier than it really is!
And whoever did the work, it looks like a really fine job, from here.
I wonder if a standard wagon would have had the height at the rear opening to accommodate a standard casket, especially one with some flowers sitting on top of it. this car is plainly higher at the rear of the roof than standard – which doesn’t help its looks one bit.
I agree, this is a strange duck, and I have never seen anything like it. Nice job, though.
That was my first thought when I saw this the other day. It has a longer roof and almost vertical rear, which undoubtedly adds space.
The rear side window is genuine GM though.
What an odd duck; or shall I say “platypus”?
The rear side window appears to be flat glass; it’s not the same as that pictured in the regular wagon.
Doh! I was looking at the profile shots of the real Chevy wagon and the hearse. But at second glance, there’s even differences in profile, never mind the flatness. I must not had my mid-day tea yet! 🙂
Makes sense JPC. I’ve seen a Chev clamshell that was a hearse with no revisions to the body, but I can’t remember the last time I saw a 65-70 wagon as such.
Clamshell Chevy hearse still in use in my suburd its mint
I’d love to see a structural done on it. LOL
That you have seen so many colonnades in the past year is no small accomplishment. While they were thick enough to trip over in the States, I highly doubt that was the case in Australia.
I suspect JPC is on to something with lift over height and cargo area height. Likely somebody had it on hand and did some terrific body work. It would be interesting to know if the suspension is still stock sedan or if it’s been beefed up a bit in the way wagons / estates were from the factory.
Has a bit of the “Harold and Maude” vibe going on.
I don’t care for the back of that wagon/sedan hearse ‘thing’. Funny-looking conveyance to me.
I do like that picture of the green Bel Air (or is it a Biscayne?) with the 2 taillights on each side, though. Makes me drool with automotive lust.
Before seeing the comments regarding the hearse angle, I thought it unfortunate that the customizer didn’t start with a four door hardtop. That would have been a great look.
The roofline on this is a little awkward, but the sedan bumper looks very cool on this.
The ’68 is near to my heart as my folks had an Impala sedan during my automotive formative years.
Those amber rear light lenses are some seriously bespoke pieces. There have to be what, maybe a few dozen still on the entire planet?
Now I’m reminded of the Laguna trim on the Malibu’s. Those were kinda cool. My mom was going out to buy a Nova and came home with an ugly obvious left over model ’73 Malibu. Ugly light green with a white vinyl interior (and no power steering either). I shrieked “OMG Mom, that’s ugly! What color is that?!”. “Shitbrindle green” was her response. “What’s a shitbrindle, Mom?”.
A terrible design nicely done.
Even with its awkward proportions, I have to say there’s something cool about it as a hearse. I prefer it to a vinyl-topped Caddy.
Making that conversion must’ve been quite the undertaking… Ok, now that the bad pun is out of the way, some observations…
For this generation of big Chevy, I always liked how in 65, 66, & 67, the wagon’s taillight treatment was the same as on the parent car. In 68, while the same “U” shape on both wagon and regular Impala, I didn’t really like the move to the tailgate, and by 69 & 70, there was no resemblance at all to the regualr car.
I LIKE the taillight treatment of this Custom… It’s the way Chevy should’ve done it.
Oh, and thanks for noticing the similarity between the 73 Chevelle wagon taillights and the regular 68 Chevy taillights. I thought I was the only one who noticed this when the Colonades first came out.
Like poster Dave B above, this generation, especially the ’68, is near and dear to my heart, as my Dad had a ’66 two-door fast back Impala, and then a ’68 two door Impala Custom. As I’ve said repeatedly on this site (and please don’t kick me off for repeating myself, Paul ;o), my dream Curbside Classic if I could afford one is a 1968 Impala Convertible in light blue with a white top and white interior… and this is coming from a Ford guy!
Probably to save money and tooling, the Big 3 stopped having wagons mimic the sedan’s rear styling/tail lamp shapes around ’68-’69. But kind of lost some flair to them, too.
The latest attempt to do so was the 1996 era Taurus. Reminded me of the late 50’s wagons, with fins built right in.
If you look through the windows at the rear compartment floor in the fourth photo from the last, you can see what look to me like rollers built into the floor. These made loading and unloading the casket easier. It is now or was at one time a hearse.
It’s the only one I’ve ever seen with raised white letter tires on it. Those same rollers might come in handy for loading and unloading some big old Marshall amps now.
I have to say it: this wagon needs the “hidden headlights” of the 68 Caprice to be “complete”.
Otherwise I really like it.
Locally built hearse, Ive seen one before with a liftup rear gate, its not a CKD wagon we have those over here and they mirror the north american models.
Worksmanship looks nice but the design…sorry!
As a hearse, I understand why you’d extend the roof a little bit beyond what I’d expect for a ’67-’68 B-wagon…but that tail just doesn’t work for me.
What WOULD be interesting is a regular ’68 wagon with the sedan/hardtop rear bumper. Smooth tailgate area, taillights in the bumper. Nice custom touch.
Probably a local conversion of a sedan into the hearse.
Different side glass and the entire rear door lifts up versus station wagons. Most US wagons dropped the rear door down with internal roll up/down window until the colonnade style ditched that function. Some later square Caprices still had windows that rolled up and down and went inside also but the clamshell rear door of course being the apex of the station wagon rear entry from Chevy.
I’ve never cared much for the ’68s. The ’69 Caprice and Impala Custom Coupe have a bit of charm, if you like that sort of thing, and I like the ’67 Impala hardtop even if it was becoming a tad Marlin-ish by then. I feel like 1968 was the year where the Bill Mitchell era of GM styling really started to go south and a lot of previously attractive cars started looking bulky and contrived.
Like the Australian and Canadian versions of some American cars, this suggests to me what a ’68 Impala wagon would look like in some parallel universe!
Happy Motoring, Mark
Egad, is that thing HIDEOUS! How could someone do that to such an otherwise beautiful car???
Interesting. I think it looks like a funeral coach. A hearse with rear quarter side glass? “68 was the last year of the Impala &; Caprice that I personally could live with. I think the design of those particular care “tanked” in 69. It’s kinda like the GM design team used up all of their good ideas on the Chevelle & the; Camaro. At which point; they were all tired. The lead designer said,”Okay were pretty much done here,so lets just hurry and crank out another quick,stodgy “Geezer” car,and get this years projects wrapped up?