Oh come on! No skulls or coffins? Not to worry, even though I do have all that (it's a haunted house thing) I have no plans of them in my car. Maybe a skull shifter at most. Thanks
What a bitchin' car! A nice paintjob...candy, some WWW on chrome reverses and air ride and you'd be done...
At first I thought it was not a hearse and Now I stand corrected it is a funeral car! I think the rust will be a lot of work! good luck.
I'm sorry but the "I got your twit" cracks me up everytime I read it. Thanks Hitchhiker and Ratroddude! Hell, I like almost all styles, well exept the Donk Wheel thingy...
I know of one here in north Texas. I used to have a picture of it from a show a few years back. I'll see if I can find it.
Hearses may or may not be made from factory bodies. This being said, there may be a lot of differences in support structure. I'm not saying that it cannot be done, but these cars were not made for longevity, hence a LOT of rust problems due to lack of rustproofing during construction and engineering on trapping water, salt, and mud that leads to rust. Not saying this is true in all cases, or in your case, but depending how the body conversion was done, it could go sideways real quick. That is a LOT of metal to be dealing with, and cutting the roof off that car combined with the Cruciform (X) frame could get interesting if there is any structural weakness in the body, at least in my opinion, for what that's worth. The subject of rust has been brought up many times on the Professional Car Society forum, a club for the preservation of professional cars like these. Is this car a Flixible conversion? They used to do a lot of conversions, they leaned toward Buicks. http://www.coachbuilt.com/index.htm Check this out for coachbuilder information and some history.
Dont chop her, she's beautiful as she is! This may be the alcohol talkin but hearse's are in a class all ther own. They deserve the class and morbid beauty they left the factory with. clean her up and take her out, thats all. just my opinion. Lucky! good luck!
Thanks for the link. Here it is on their site. I even found those hub caps under all the crap inside!
You gotta be jokin',,,this thing is fugly! Just because you can doesn't mean you should,,,proof positive! HRP
Not true, a chop top was just 1 of the many ideas rolling around in my scrambled brains. I have been on the fence about cutting her since I first saw it in the weeds. I don't want to screw up right out of the gate, there's lots of time for that.
Good to hear you won't chop. This is a rare car and the body style needs no improving on. Good idea also on the Turbo 400 swap. I swapped a '76 Pontiac Turbo 400 into my '64 Bonneville after I had swapped engines, a '76 455 for the original 389. Bad idea. I was trying to save money by using the old Hydramatic, but it could not handle the power and shifted poorly. The '76 T400 bolted right up to my 455, then I fabricated a rear cross member, and driveshaft using the donor car U-joints. I used the donor shift linkage and it hooked up to the Bonneville column shift with minimal effort. I had to re-label the shift quadrant since the old Hydro shift pattern was different than the newer 400. I took the donor gas pedal and reworked it carefully with a torch so it would line up with the Bonneville brake pedal. Make sure the brakes are rebuilt like new, including the master cylinder and flex lines. These are big heavy cars that go fast, and the drum brakes are barely up to the job. I researched putting modern disc brakes on the front, but all the modern conversions were made for the mid-size Pontiacs, not the full size; but maybe now there is a kit or conversion setup that will work. I would keep the Buick 401, easy to rebuild or source a 425 if you want the additional power. I would put on Coker whitewall tires with the stock hubcaps if they are in good condition, otherwise the swap meets are full of '60 Buick caps. Do not paint it cliche' black, get Photoshop and test different colors until one clicks with you. Maybe I am nuts, but bright red might be cool--no black, no skulls, coffins, or cobwebs--done to death, pardon the play on words. Keep us posted on your project saving this rare car and have fun with it!
That is one cool wagon. I was going to suggest chopping it not more than an inch and a half but, seeing that it is so rare, I agree with no chop. Can't wait to see this thing all fixed up and riding low. Key ingredient is going to be wheel choice. Navy blue would be a cool color if you don't want it to be black.
Welcome hearse brother! Got a '64 Premier combination, 1 of 88! Throw me in the "no chop pile" that's too damn rare of a car to modify the body.
you got the idea, no chop'. i'd say do a ppg 'blue black' suede paint job, keep all the chromes on, maybe shave the door handles. lower it. and for friday nights get some astro supreme lookin rims w/ low pro tires and thin whitewalls,, thats what i would do' , looks really cool man, good luck to you and you boys. and yea you gotta have the skull shiter knob' hah' , or one around the rearview mirror like in the 55 from american grafitti
I'd cut it... Not like that anglecut eyesore that is posted in this Thread. But a slight shop, using a Hardtop windshield, and front of roof. And line up the rest to match that. I wouldnt paint it black either. Maybe a charcoal gray metalic or a really dark green
The other problem with chopping it is who knows what's under there. They only made 86 of them.. I know Caddys still had wood in the body into the '50s and they made a lot more of those... for all you know this one is still using wood to support the body panels like from the B-post back, which means you'd probably have to make new wood pieces to fit the chopped top. I could be wrong, I'd almost be surprised if it was that way at that late date - it's been too long since I saw that '59 Pontiac ambulance, if it was even the same coachbuilder, to compare to.
Don't chop it. That year Buick Hearse is very rare. Fix the body,give it a clean paint job,rebuild the Nailhead and trans,and drive her. I hate to see hearses chopped. Especially rare ones.
By the way, that's FLXIBLE, with no "E". Weird lookin', I know, but that's the way it's spelled. Since you're asking for opinions, I'd skip the chop. A moderate lowering would be OK, but please, please skip the mini truck/rat rod "layin' frame" bullshit...!!! Nice hearse, good luck with it!
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