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Roughly 20% of the DS420 production was delivered in chassis-only form to coach building companies, to be converted to hearses. The pictures below (press photos 279041, unknown and 279042) show such a chassis ready for delivery. The DS420 hearse has dominated the English funeral trade (as well as many Commonwealth territories) for decades as "the" typical English funeral car. |
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The most important hearse coach builders for the DS420 were:
Hearses are not sold with abundant promotion, and overall production figures are very small: only 903 DS420 hearses have been built in total. Documentation from hearse manufacturers is scarce.
Two specific design details are remarkable, especially for viewers from outside the UK. First the position of the coffin: it is displayed in clear view as in a show-window: high up, and not hidden behind curtains. Second is the typical "double-deck" design of many hearses (clearly visible on several pictures on this page). To save an extra trip to the morgue when two funerals are booked on a single day, a holding space below the upper deck is available for a second coffin.
The various Co-op Funeral companies were by far the biggest customers for DS420 hearses and limousines. See this photo on my "contemporary photos" web page.
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The very first hearse chassis, 1M1003H, was bodied by Woodall Nicholson. A photo of that hearse is shown via my "contemporary photos" web page. Until 1979, all Woodall Nicholson hearses were sold exclusively via the showrooms of Stratstone in London. After 1979, WN set up its own sales network. Below is an advert that appeared in the The Funeral Director magazine from November 1970.
The Woodall Nicholson leaflet to the left specifies the General Motors gearbox, which dates it after July 1980. The car has the chrome wheel embellishers: before 1984. This leaflet describes three different bearer seats configurations: none, two and four. | ||
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The picture to the left is from a Coleman Milne brochure around 1987,
although the chrome wheel embellishers show that this particular car
was photographed before 1984.
The entire brochure, covering various Coleman Milne limousines
and Woodall Nicholson hearses can
be seen here.
No other vehicle in the brochure is DS420 based.
An interesting remark is on the last page of the brochure: "All vehicles are protected against corrosion, and guaranteed for six years from the date of delivery (Footnote: Excludes the Daimler DS420)". This footnote was probably not because the DS420 deserved an extended warranty. More information on Coleman Milne - Woodall Nicholson can be found on "the AROnline" web site. A reference is on my web links page. |
The B&W brochure leaflet shown below
contains the remarkable statement that "all panels are hand beaten",
thus illustrating the very small production volume.
This design dates from early 1969.
The poster publication (below right) was kindly made available by the Startin Group.
It cherishes the hearse building craft that the company once practised.
Click on the illustrations to enlarge:
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The following pictures were made at Jaguar's Browns Lane site, in front of the management office building (demolished in 2008). The buildings in the background of the 3rd photo were later replaced by the Browns Lane JDHT museum and archive building. The last photo shows a rare 4-door lowliner model. The first and fourth photos were used for the "Designed and built" advertisement shown here-above. The third photo was already published in "The Driving Member", magazine of the Daimler and Lanchester Owners' Club, in April 1971.
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That Startin lowliner is my absolute favourite.
Bob Boston from Atlanta, Georgia USA sent a series of pictures
of two of these lowliners, that he sold to Christchurch, New Zealand.
If you click on the image the entire series will appear:
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Thomas Startin finished its first DS420 based hearse on April 17th, 1969. Almost exactly 25 years later, on the 9th of February 1994, they delivered the last one, registration No. ROV2Y, to a customer. Produced around June 1992 at Jaguar's this car was one of the very last DS420 chassis (the last three went to Wilcox, the five before that were for Startins). Tony Bagley reported about this "hand-over" event in the May 1994 issue of "The Driving Member", magazine of the Daimler and Lanchester Owners' Club (vol. 30, No. 12). The photo at the far right probably is a pose for some special occasion. My collection of Thomas Startin photos is much larger than can be shown on this page. Therefore I have added a photo gallery with a few dozen additional photos. The majority of the cars shown have the chrome bumper overriders, so they date from 1968-1976. |
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The photographs below, and the corresponding specification texts,
show a very early hearse by Wilcox Limousines.
The specification texts don't have a year,
but the leftmost one dates from around 1970
and the rightmost one is slightly younger.
Their content is almost identical,
but the one on the left is much better legible.
These specifications mention "extended front doors".
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The Eagle/Wilcox hearses in the brochure leaflet below and to the right are much younger than the one shown above. These cars have the bumpers with full rubber strip, which Daimler introduced in 1987. Note that this Eagle design uses its own tail lights, with integral reversing lamps.
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Quite exceptionally, a DS420 chassis (No. 1M3112BW) was sold to the Irish Republic
and converted to a hearse by Mangan & Sons in Edenderry Cº Offaly.
The chassis was ordered in February 1975, and was ready for delivery in May.
But a strike at the Irish BL concessionary postponed the final delivery to
October. The coach builder finished the vehicle in June 1976.
It remained in service in Sligo, Irish Republic, until 2005,
It currently (2019) is still in storage with the original owner.
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These pictures (right) are from the web site of Carmaking Manabu's from Japan. They show a one-off conversion done by that company. |
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A very visible event for a DS420 hearse was the funeral of Diana, Princess of Wales, on Sept. 6th, 1997, with a 1985 Daimler (B626MRK), owned by the Funeral Directors Leverton&Sons. At the time of the funeral, this hearse was already 12 years old. The BBC have an extensive documentary film, in which the police officer responsible for a smooth trip through the London traffic, tells how frightened he got when he saw the hearse approaching: "it was old and dented, and I worried that it might stop unexpectedly". More pictures here. When Leverton wanted to sell the hearse in 2003 (asking £ 100,000.- for it), public reactions appeared as if this were a sort of desecration. Incidentally, this hearse was the last one built by Wilcox Limousines under its own name, before Wilcox transferred the hearse production to its sister company Eagle Specialist Vehicles. The photo here below is shown by courtesy of the Getty Images embed mechanism. It is Getty Images No. 52102933, from the Tim Graham Photo Library. The photo was taken shortly after the plane with the coffin arrived from France at RAF Northolt airfield. This hearse, B626MRK, was also used in the following days. |
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For the funeral (in 2002) of the Queen Mother, who was a fan of the DS420 herself, a more modern Daimler hearse was used. Most probably, the Royal Family wanted an immaculate vehicle, and a DS420 hearse in immaculate condition was already very hard to find in those days. Here is another photo.
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Some funeral directors, such as the owner of the hearse shown above,
re-invest in extensive (and expensive) restorations.
Beacham Jaguars from Havelock North in New Zealand
was one of the parties to offer such restorations,
including a transplant of engine and gearbox to very modern standards.
Their brochure at the left shows the details, for hearses ánd limos.
A 1999 magazine article tells more.
For the sake of completeness: the hearse above was not done by Beacham's.
Even a hearse must finally be laid to rest. Most DS420 limos have left the streets as vehicles for commercial use in the taxi and rental car business. Their use has shrunk to either wedding services, or classic car hobby vehicles. Hearses seem to last longer than limos, so DS420 hearses can occasionally be seen on the British streets. But many have departed already, and they are offered for sale at rather low prices. Very few "ordinary" classic car lovers will buy a hearse with other intentions than cannibalising it as a parts car. |
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After having cared for many customers' "last mile in style", the hearses themselves often get their last miles under conditions that their original owners (and former passengers) never have dreamed of. This can vary from an extravagant admiration (e.g. www.dailymail.co.uk and Digital Mechanic's audio hearse) to a last performance on the banger track. |
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This cartoon was designed for the (now deceased) Classic Hearse Register UK. club. |
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