I need help with a Henney 3-way table

B

Bill Carlin

PCS Life Member
Does anyone have any information, drawings, manuals, etc for the hydrolic table that Henney put into their hearses? I am working on a 1938 table that is the Heise Patent. I have parts, but I am not sure of the wiring. Any help would be appreciated.
 
William Heise

Bill: Nothing to do with your question.... but just a little Henney-Heise trivia.... William Heise was also a large Henney Dealer-Distributor in Los Angeles (Southwest Area) and Seattle (for the Pacific Northwestern States). He apparently was quite wealthy and philantropist to San Diego County having a Large (and beautiful) County Park in the Julian Area named after him. When I was growing up in San Diego County in the early 50's the predominate make of Funeral Cars and Ambulances were Henney-Packards for any first class funeral home or fire department..... with Superior Bodied Cadillacs and Pontiacs coming in at a distant 2nd. On family cars, the exception seemed to be Cadillac 75's that may have been far cheaper or more readily available? MM
 
Although there's relatively little on him on the web, there's a lot of information on Heise, his inventions, relationship with Henney and his dealership in the recent Henney book. From what I've read, he was a real dynamo - funeral director, inventor, car dealer and much more.
A 1948 Cadillac Series 75 nine-passenger business sedan listed for $4679 (McPherson & McCall's new Series 75 Cadillac book) while a comparable Packard sold for $3450 - $4700 depending on which Series (Super Eight or Custom Eight) one selected ( Dammann's Packard book). According to these sources, a 1953 Cadilac Series 75 went for $5604 while the Packard limo cost $6900. In '53 there were only 100 Packard limos built as against 2200 Cadillacs.
 
Series 75's vs H-P Family Cars

Jim: That answers my question on funeral homes choosing Cadillac 75's versus H-P's. The small town of Fallbrook in Northern San Diego County (next to MCR-Camp Pendleton) where I was born and raised... still only has (1) well respected and busy funeral home. In the early 50's they had several H-P's (a '42, '49, '51, and a (1) 1953 Superior-Pontiac Service Car. In 1954 they bought two H-P's to retire the two older units (the '42 and '49) and in 1956 they bought a new Series 75 family car that were all used up until the early 60's, then going to all Superior-Cadillacs that they have bought to this day.

The same Fallbrook Fire Department had 1937, 1942, and 1951 H-P Ambulances that were mostly "hand me downs" from the City of San Diego and Camp Pendleton + a brand new 1954 H-P that we are restoring now.... so Mr. Heise must of had a good sales crew out and about. MM
 
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