Old-timey funeral limousine: approximate vintage (pic inside!)?

[Earl Snake-Hips Tucker]

Here it is!

[Fear Itself]

1948 Cadillac Fleetwood limousine

[Nunzio Tavulari]

It's not a "run-of-the-mill" 1948 Fleetwood Series 60 Cadillac. A Fleetwood 75 or commercial chassis would be an entirely different animal though. I think the "custom" Fleetwoods maintained the pre-war front fenders until 1949. The taillights are wrong but that's likely be because of the custom bodywork required at the rear of the car. The front should be bone-stock.

I don't have time to research this now, but I'm not 100% convinced it's a '48 Caddy. It's almost definitely a Cadillac, and in the 1941-1949 range. The bumpers and hubcaps don't agree with the limited information I can gather for a 1948. I'm thinking 1942 Series 70 chassis with a 1940 bumper. If the car had sustained damage, it probably wouldn't be possible to obtain new sheetmetal during the war.

[Kenm]

It's a Ford (or Mercury), likely a '48, though maybe a '47.

I found a cite by running a search for 1948 Ford Limousine. Scroll down to 1948 Seibert-Bodied Ford Limousine.

Compare the front fenders and Volkswagen-Beetle-on-steroids rear end. The tail light in the OP's post also screams Ford. A search for '48 Ford or '48 Mercury will show sedans with the same pre-war body style that Ford finally could update in '49. Wikipedia has lots of pix, including Biff Tannen's Back to the Future 1946.

[svd678]

It looks like my '41 Ford; can't see the grill, so it could be '46.

[tbook]

1946 Ford Siebert Hearse Ambulance http://primemovers00.tripod.com/hearse_gallery.htm

[Kenm]

Originally Posted by svd678

It looks like my '41 Ford; can't see the grill, so it could be '46.

Does a '46 have the same horizontal tail lights, or vertical?

Edit: Had '46 as '41, because I want one.

[tbook]

'41 had veritcal taillights and the '46 had horizonal tailights. On this message board there is a photo of the 1941 Ford Seibert.

http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/s...1339&showall=1

[Nunzio Tavulari]

I kept thinking that the back fender looked like a Ford, But I was certain that the front fender had the characteristic scoop shape on the trailing edge. The back of service vehicles is often changed extensively. Cadillac didn't have a station wagon style, so all of that would have been custom. Plus, you didn't usually have Ford hearses. A mid-priced car like a Pontiac maybe, but usually not as low budget as Ford.

The bumper and hubcaps look like the Fords you've cited (though tbook's picture was so scrunched that it could have been an old Volvo). I feel much more comfortable with that identification than the 41-49 Cadillac I offered earlier.

Now watch someone come up with something that looks even better.

[Kenm]

Originally Posted by Nunzio Tavulari

Plus, you didn't usually have Ford hearses. A mid-priced car like a Pontiac maybe, but usually not as low budget as Ford.

Yeah. The first time I saw the OP's pic I thought, "They stretched a '48 Ford?" Then I laughed.