Roughly 20% of the DS420 production was delivered in chassis-only form to coach building companies, to be converted to hearses. The pictures (to the right is press photo 279042 and below is 279041) 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.

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 was probably not because the DS420 had an extended warranty.

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.

Much more information on the company can be found on "the Unofficial Austin Rover Web Resource" web site. A reference is on my web links page.

Thomas Startin published the brochure to the left. It contains the remarkable statement that "all panels are hand beaten", thus illustrating the very small production volume. Brian Long's book Daimler and Lanchester suggests (pg. 294) that this design dates from mid 1969.

The picture below is an advert that appeared in the The Funeral Director magazine from April 1975. The lowline model as shown is an especially handsome estate car:

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".
Wilcox used two of these photographs in an advertisement in the "The Funeral Director" magazine of April 1975, with the remark: "New Daimler Hearse as supplied to Rowland Bros. of Croydon".

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.

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.

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.

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.

For the funeral of the Queen Mother (2002), 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 is very hard to find nowadays. According to Brian Smith's "Daimler Days" book (pg. 876) a DS420 hearse was used for the funeral of the Duke of Windsor, formerly King Edward VIII, in 1972.

These pictures (left) are from the web site of Carmaking Manabu's from Japan. They show a one-off conversion done by that company.

But even a hearse must eventually 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.