Hearses

Beautiful cars, I think, except for that wonky angle on the lower edge of the side windows.Seeing that really bugs me.

Cheers Bruce.

That was quite a find.
See reply 28 for the notes which I found in a link which didn't have a photo.
Now two of the three Valiant-based children's hearses have been covered.
I have two more photos to put up later in the day (exhausting my current stock), and hope that there will be one or more at Sandown on Sunday.

Roderick B Smith
Rail News Victoria Editor

These two are also in Forney Museum of Transport, Denver, Colorado, USA. I took them on Sat.27.10.12.
The white one was a children's hearse. Notice that one of the Valiant hearses also was white, and was intended as a children's hearse.

Roderick B Smith
Rail News Victoria Editor

These three are freeze-frames from the funeral of Daniel Morcombe, the 13 yo Queensland boy who was abducted and murdered. It was a very high-profile funeral, and was televised nationally. Heavily involved were police and SES, who had spent so long searching for the body.

I missed getting a frame which showed the name of the hearse operator, and a yellow-pages search didn't reveal anything to give me a hint of memory.
The mourning car was a twin-cab 4wd, a deep red, and advertising Morcombe Foundation, which aims to help other Australians avoid a repetition.

There are more photos of the hearse, along with other aspects of the funeral, at:
www.brisbanetimes.com.au/photogallery/qu...-20121207-2az6m.html
Attendees were asked to wear red, and to send donations to the foundation in lieu of flowers.

NNN049, and seems to be a Ford. Others in the forum may well be able to identify it and the operator.

Roderick B Smith
Rail News Victoria Editor

Roderick, the number plate appears to be either Vic or Nsw. The colour & placing of letters & numerals are not correct for Queensland.Unless it's an older retained Qld plate. Colour would'nt be correct for current Vic plates either I guess. cya Tim

Probably a Qld plate there are so many available try ppg.com.au to see what is available.

Hey Tim, John is on the money, Queensland has those sort of plates.

It was unarguably Queensland; my memory is that it was from a Brisbane suburb, but I haven't been able to track the operator.
In the process, I came to this interesting site and book offer:
www.alexgowfunerals.com.au/bookorder.html

I am highly likely to buy the book.

Roderick B Smith
Rail News Victoria Editor

Love this. Wish I could hear what the pallbearers comments are.

This hearse was at MSTEC for the Labour Day long- weekend rally. It is a 1938 Chevrolet, with no roofracks for flowers, and is operated by Horny Heather's Hearse Hire. Perhaps it is for people who die on the job?

130311M Scoresby Vic. MSTEC 1938 Chevrolet hearse R Smith

Roderick B Smith
Rail News Victoria Editor