(first posted 5/19/2017) CC reader Tim Finn in Portland sent me these pictures of this Deathmobile hearse, wondering what its true maker really was. It’s a perfect encapsulation of Portland: keeping it weird, as well as doing it in meticulous detail and great style. Speaking of, this has to be one of the finest looking hearses ever.
Tim was unsure if this was an actual Olds or what. It certainly is an actual Olds.
One might call it the bubble-top of hearses.
The round rear tail lights may have thrown Tim’s internet searches off, as they were not used on the wagons, only on the sedans and such. But then this is a coach-built hearse, so they obviously decided to incorporate the sedan’s tail lights.
As a frame of reference, here’s a factory ’61 Olds wagon rear end.
The maker’s emblem is on the front fender, and it stands for Cotner-Bevington (full history here).
Tim thought this might be a Ford. Easy to see why, from back here.
What a fine view, form inside and from outside.
Looks like this one was used a fair amount, based on the upholstery.
Deathmobile? Seriously?
Very Seriously.
“Very Seriously”
Dead serious would have been a better reply….
Wow, beautifully kept.
I must admit with the close up front shot I was expecting the rest of the car to look more like this:
What a swell looking vehicle which I assume has recently been restored and I love that this car has the original (I assume) license plates. Wonder what the current owner uses this Hearse for?
Well that looks like a mattress with leopard print. He might want to invest in full tinting.
That would be a full body-off restoration, then. Sorry, couldn’t resist.
I was going to call out Cotner-Bevington but you beat me to it. Was that the only builder of professional cars that did Oldsmobiles? It seems that whenever you see an old Olds professional car it was a C-B.
I really like the 61 Oldsmobile and have been on the hunt for one to write up for years, as one was the first car I remember my Uncle Bob owning. But with its glass jaw Roto Hydramatic transmission, these seem to have not survived in great numbers.
Always liked the ’61 Olds as well. Actually all ’61 GM’s, especially the 2 dr bubble tops. Remember well as a 10 year old the final night of the St. Clare carnival, when they drew the winning ticket for a new Olds donated by the local Olds dealer, a prominent parishioner. Our good friends and next door neighbor won. Although it was a new Olds 88 sedan, the dealer didn’t spring for much beyond. A total strippo for an Olds, the only options were Hydramatic and back up lights. No radio, black walls, dog dishes, and power nothing. Quite different than the pastors black ’61 Olds Super 88 sedan with factory A/C.
Haha, a perfect “prize” car. Uncle Bob’s was a white bubbletop hardtop (I don’t remember which model of 88) with red and white interior. I remember it as a very sharp car. I also remember he and my aunt discussing the jerky shifting transmission around 1967, shortly before it was traded on a used 64 Galaxie 500 4 door hardtop. Which was strange, because Uncle Bob worked for GM and would surely have been entitled to a discount. But then 4 kids and a wife at home put people into used cars then just like it does now.
Also always liked the ’61 Olds since I had a dinky or Corgi ’61 Olds police car. Something about the swoopy styling made it the best looking ’61 GM car IMHO.
I vividly remember the Corgi Man From Uncle version of the 61Olds that my cousin had. Pushing a button on the top would cause a pistol-wielding Solo and Ilia to alternately poke out each side window, like they were shooting at the car ahead of them.
They had such cool features in toy cars back then. A friend had the James Bond Aston with more operating features than the 1/16-ish tinplate toy one I had.
That would be the very rare series 2 Corgi DB5. New die (not the revised DB4 painted gold, this one was actually silver). Along with ejector seat, rear bullet shield and battering rams, it also had the rotating plates and wheel hub scythes. I had it but sold long ago.
I’ve kept the large Gilbert tinplate though (there was also a smaller Gilbert tinplate with friction motor). Also kept the Corgi Toyota 2000GT. Decided I was a grownup and the moonbuggy, Mustang, Space Shuttle et al went. Biggest regret is selling the bubblebath plastic Lotus. D’oh
The Kinsmen Car Award at our local fair each year used to have prize cars like that. People on the next block won a 73 Mustang Mach 1, 302, 3-speed floor shift, radio delete, power nothing.
One of the other cars that year was the most stripped T-Bird I have ever seen,
manual window, no AC, no opera windows or vinyl top (which 99% had that year, it seems). The only reason it had AM radio is that it was standard.
“Glass jaw” … had to look that one up. Thanks JPC for adding to my vocabulary of the vernacular.
Pretty sure they were the only builder using Olds chassis at that time – their predecessor, Comet, and the other company to spinoff from Comet, Pinner, did some interesting Chrysler-based ambulances at the same time, but not as well turned out as this. Brierian also did some Chrysler-based conversions.
Flixible/National and later Trinity Coach used Buick chassis, and Superior built a “junior” line of Pontiac-based ambulances and hearses in addition to Cadillacs.
None survived the downsizing of 1977, and C/B pulled the plug after ’75, as paramedics using vans took over from car-based ambulances.
I’m not sure about Oldsmobiles, but Flxible built Buick-based professional cars from possibly the 1950s to the early ’70s. A different kind of hearse, for a smaller type of purse!
I like it and wouldn’t object at all in taking my last ride in one – not that I’ll be in any position to editorialize on the matter!
That is awesome! For those of you that are unaware of how these vehicles were made, GM provided a “commercial chassis” to the coachbuilder that consisted of the drivetrain & frame, and everything from the dashboard forward, below the beltline. The coachbuilder assembled the rest, incorporating as many standard production GM parts (door handles/latches, taillights, bumper caps, etc.) as they could to keep costs down.
I’d be scared to death to have this thing parked outside at all, due to the rear quarter glass and rear door glass being made of unobtanium. My 1969 M+M (Miller-Meteor) ambulances had similar impossible-to-get slightly-curved glass on all side and rear windows.
I love the way they incorporated the ’61 sedan tail lights – easier to do with the narrower rear door on the hearse.
Scared to death, you say?
This is what I call ‘going in style’. A ride to DIE for!
It does eerily anticipate the ’70s clamshell wagons
C-B it is. I do hope this incredibly rare piece gets the care and feeding that it deserves.
+1.
Gorgeous looooooongroof
Watched a Jerry Lewis movie a while back and it strikes me there was a chase scene with an Olds and Pontiac ambulance from around that vintage and they looked remarkably similar from the back.
Found it on utube! Can’t figure out how to upload it but if you search The Disorderly Orderly car chase it will come up. Turns out it was two Pontiac ambulances!
Bill, copy and paste the url into the comment field, and either the screen or the url itself will appear. Great carspotting scene btw.
Interesting to see how many times the same vehicles appear in that chase…
-Nate
Just my own opinion with no facts to back it up, but this Olds hearse has a very European vibe to it with its full window treatment. Most American hearses have solid panels in back making the casket non visible. Old ambulances usually got the full window treatment. It would make sense to make the same car and paint one white and one black and hope noone notices.
Many of these were designed and built as ‘ Combination Rigs ‘, doing double duty as Ambulance and Hearse .
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Beautiful car, _LOVE_ the windows ! .
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At first I thought it might be a Fisher built body .
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-Nate
The very definition of “conflict of interest”.
@ 993 :
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Maybe so but it was *very* common at that time as it $aved 50 % in costs .
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Not sure but I *thought* I saw ashtrays in the back, this would indicate a combination rig when new .
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-Nate
Yes, on combination hearses. And for some this so called limousine style, vs. the landau or victoria style remained popular into the 1970s even for straight hearses.
C-B always did a good job with their conversions.
More likely this was a transport car for conveying the deceased from their deathbed to the mortuary, rather than a proper hearse used for the funeral and cemetery procession. As that initial retrieval would typically use a gurney, the vehicle configuration would be basically the same as their ambulance version.
Not with all that glass–those are now panel vans. This looks more like an enclosed flower car. A hearse would have metal ribs or rollers in the bed.
Nowadays they tend to use panel vans or full-size SUVs, but I meant back when this model was new and in service.
The apparent lack of ribs, rollers, and bier-pin fixtures here also indicated a first-call/transport car to me, as they’re not needed with gurneys that already have braked wheels.
Flower cars typically have a stainless tray suitable to be hosed out and resist rust, not sure how that would fit here unless they had a roll-out tray for that, in which case this could serve double-duty as both a first-call/transport and flower car as needed.
I’m glad my photos found an audience that appreciates them. Upon a closer look, I should have easily spotted that this was an Oldsmobile. What kind of fascinates me is the rear view mirror. Is this a case of form following function, or style?
I know cars in Japan sometimes have the rear view mirror on the fender. Most modern cars have their mirrors near the A pillar base. Since car people from all over the world visit this site, I ask. “What is the best place to mount a rear view mirror”?
Probably close to the a-pillar base. IIRC the JDM fender-mounted mirrors conformed to regulations requiring that the mirror be viewable to the driver within the windscreen frame.
I had fender mounted mirrors on a Jag 420G, and though they looked great they were a nuisance to adjust if knocked, as well as being less than useful for quick glances to ascertain what was happening behind. Great find Tim.
The US had no outside mirror requirements at that time. I believe the first year a driver’s side mirror was required was 1965, (I know our ’61 plain jane Pontiac Catalina that dad ordered, did not come with one, but he took it back the next week to have the dealer install one.)
Even the regular wagon bodies were subbed out because of their low volume.
http://www.coachbuilt.com/bui/m/mitchell_bentley/mitchell_bentley.htm
The company is defunct now but the December ’96
Collectible Automobile had a feature on ’61-’64 Olds,
and the company had at that time, the final body-in-white for a ’64 wagon.
Yes, a legacy of the Ionia Body company they acquired. They also built the full-sized Buick wagons through ’64, after which both brands dropped their full size wagons is favor of the extended wheelbase intermediate Vista Cruiser and Sport Wagon. Buick returned to the fold with a one-year only body for the Estate Wagon and Olds joined Buick in the clamshell era with the Custom Cruiser.
That ranks right up there with one of the loveliest hearses I’ve ever seen.
Out-of-body restoration?
Nice car, appears to be in fantastic space.
Now THATS going in style!
On a related note, this very afternoon I came across a Tesla hearse. Yeah, that’s right. After googling for just a few seconds, it turned out that these are built by RemetzCar from NL.
https://www.remetzcar.com/conversions-funeral-tesla-hearse.php
Wonder why Oldsmobile didn’t do the round lights on all the wagons that year? I prefer the looks of the round lights and they match the other body styles.
I have a soft spot for the 61 Olds. When I turned 16 in 1966 my parents had a 61 Dynamic 88 4 door sedan, so that was what I learned to drive on. Like the contest prize described in an earlier comment, ours was a real stripper. It was their first new car in many years, but the only options appeared to be the automatic and back-up lights. My dad installed the radio from his previous car, but it still used tubes, and did not have any push buttons. Definitely not cool for a teenager.
Nice dead sled.
What’s the rationale behind the raised roof in hearses? Surely coffins/caskets aren’t that high
For a ambulance use, yes, but even then the extra head room is only a few inches
The extra headroom is probably for flowers strapped on top of the casket. It also allows pallbearers to reach further into the vehicle without banging their heads. I can imagine years of swearing from hitting that bumper with knees and shins.
I’m a fan of the 61 Olds but don’t recall having seen the rear styling of the wagon. That pic of the white one is just beautiful to my eye…so elegant in the details. Early 60’s styling at its best.