Vintage PR Photo: 1957 Miller-Meteor Crestwood Limousine Combination – A Di-Noc Hearse To Die For
– Posted on March 27, 2022
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When I was a child a few businessmen, my father among them, banded together to start our fledgling town hospital’s official ambulance association. Their first car was a 57 Cadillac ambulance, though not exactly a twin to this car as it wore the more usual red with white color combo. A second Cadillac ambulance would be quickly added as our hospital was small and transporting critical patients to the next/larger hospital could tune-up 1 ambulance for an hour or two.
I also remember that at least 1 or 2 of the local funeral homes had 57 or 58 Cadillac hearses. The one that transported each of my mother’s parents would use one of these fifties models well into the 1960s.
But I can’t imagine anyone, or any business back then wanting to use one of these cars for ” double duty “. Maybe a Chrysler could have pulled something like this off, but a Cadillac?
Wow! That’s some classy looking beast.
As in the Benny Hill skit, Cuttin’ out the middleman!
I want one!
Double Duty?
First as an ambulance, and if that doesn’t work, second as the poor guy’s hearse?
First as a hearse, and after-hours bangin’ the receptionist at the drive-in theater?
Triple duty: Ambulance, then hearse, then bangin’ the widow?
Yeah, I’d drive that car. Or anything similar, as a ’58 or especially a ’59.
Some combination of ambulance, hearse, and personal/family car.
-SO- lovely ! .
-Nate
Apparently it was common practice for small town funeral homes to also provide the local ambulance service. This was before trained emergency medical technicians (EMTs), and the primary purpose of this service was to simply load the sick or injured onto a stretcher, and get them to the hospital as quickly as possible.
It must’ve been a bit creepy being transported to the hospital by a funeral home operator. In the back of my mind I would’ve wondered if, in a serious situation where seconds count, the speed of transport could’ve been motivated by a need to sell a funeral package. 😂
Double duty as in double income. Get them coming and going.
I’m sure there’s a market for hearses in a color other than black. In fact, IIRC, white was the color used when the departed was a young child.
But I can’t imagine there being enough of a need to justify the expense of a funeral home maintaining a non-black hearse, even one that could double as an ambulance when needed.
In the late 1950s through the late 60s there was a push by the funeral industry to essentially glamorize death a bit and whisk away the bleak and dark nature of funerals. This effort resulted in some pretty glamorous hearse designs as well as a surge in professional cars being purchased in a wide range of lighter colors including pastels.
I seriously doubt that it mattered to the deceased.