ID this coach

I'll start by saying that I could be wrong, but I'm going to say it looks 1960s-vintage to me.

As for coachbuilder, I don't know, but that back door looks Superior-like to me, and the landau bars look S&S-like to me. If memory serves, I seem to remember reading somewhere that the Hollywood Forever Cemetery had Rolls Royce hearses at one time. I think that would explain the American-style landau on a foreign chassis, as well as the monuments in the background don't look like a European cemetery to me.
 
Patrick J. Martin said:
I'll start by saying that I could be wrong, but I'm going to say it looks 1960s-vintage to me.

As for coachbuilder, I don't know, but that back door looks Superior-like to me, and the landau bars look S&S-like to me. If memory serves, I seem to remember reading somewhere that the Hollywood Forever Cemetery had Rolls Royce hearses at one time. I think that would explain the American-style landau on a foreign chassis, as well as the monuments in the background don't look like a European cemetery to me.
Click to expand...

The one Hollywood Forever has is a more european style with the large side window.
Thanks for the 60s era, Im not good on Rolls Royces, but as stated earlier it does look like it was converted in the states.
 
that Rolls, no, THAT Rolls

I thought the landau Rolls was a great looking car. But the estate car is really
my kind of car. Now can one of you RR gurus tell us the origin of the term 'Shooting Brake' to describe a British wagon? Did I just answer my own question?
Mike
 
side by side

If you compare the pictures of the RR hearse and the RR station wagon it appears the same coach builder is responsible for both of these great looking cars.
 
Mike Stevens said:
Now can one of you RR gurus tell us the origin of the term 'Shooting Brake' to describe a British wagon? Did I just answer my own question?
Mike
Click to expand...

The term "shooting brake" is as steeped in British tradition as the term "station wagon" is in American automotive tradition. The "shooting" part of the terms refers to a horse-drawn carriage that would take gentlemen hunting parties and their dogs out to go shooting for game. The "brake" part began as "break". A break wagon would be harnessed to horses to break them in, another sport of the gentlemen sportsmen.

When the shooting brake became motorized, it ended up evolving into the estate car, much like the American depot hack evolved into the station wagon.
 
Traditionally "shooting break" refers to a utilitarian three door car, and an "estate" car or wagon would refer to a five door car intended as more of a people and luggage hauler, the way we now think of station wagons. Not a perfect example, but think of it as the difference between a '57 Chevy Nomad and a '57 chevy 4-door station wagon.
 
Both cars are Phantom V chassis' built by Radford, a British Coachbuilder. At least that's what a Rolls Royce book from my archives identifies them as.
 
Fun discussion. Now I'll tell you what I know and what I hypothesize about the 'two' cars. The chassis is in fact a Rolls Royce Phantom V. Based on the non-hearse coachwork lines, it appears to have originally been based on a Park Ward formal limousine body. Also, both cars shown in this post are actually the same cars, and the chassis number is 5LAS71, a 1960 Phantom V. What I've been told about the car is that it was delivered new as a limousine in the US (which explains why it's LHD) and then converted into a hearse.

Now this is what I don't know but believe may be the case. The car went through multiple conversions, but I'm not sure in what order. If Radford did build the original as an estate wagon from the limousine, it may have later been modified to funeral use, and later still, converted back to an estate wagon. Or, it may have been converted from a limousine to a hearse and then shipped to Radford in the UK to be converted to an estate car. I think the latter is more viable since I do think the rear door was pulled from a 1960's Superior coach but recent photos show the interior as an estate car.

Things to note of interest. I've attached a front 3/4 photo below, and you can see the landau panels are not molded into the body. I suspect they may have been removable. Now with the newer car photos, I do know its recent history. It was for sale in FL last year on eBay, and the interior doesn't resemble a hearse at all anymore (except the door headliner, which was also common in estate wagons and shooting breaks).
 

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