Henny motors flower car/hearse...?

[1936JDB]

Originally Posted by Jack Innes

The car used was a 1936 Oldsmobile

If correct, that would settle a few local arguments.

[Jack Innes]

To be exact it is a 1936 model L36 Oldsmobile with the 240 cid, 100 hp, 8 cylinder engine. The smaller 6 cylinder Olds did not have the lights on top of the fenders. Henny built hearse bodies on both the 6 & 8 Oldsmobile chassis in 1936. Their more expensive hearses were mainly built on Packard chassis.

[OTTO-Sawyer]

Jack beat me to it, but Yes, Definitely a 36 HENNEY OLDS.

I dug out my 36 H-O brochure and snapped a couple quick pix of it.

Printed early enough to still be showing the 35 model in the artists rendering on the cover, but it shows it as having a 257 cubic inch straight 8 and a 'special designed' rear axle for Hearse and Ambulance work with a 4.777:1 gearing in it.

And again, even though it was built as a Hearse, It Did Include Removeable Flower Trays (and for an extra $25.00 you could get an auxiliary tray to hang between them for carrying more flowers) The first Dedicated "Flower Car" was built in 37 on a Packard Chassis.

It appears it was 1938 that they signed the Exclusive Contract with Packard which ultimately Spelled The End for Henney when Packard went out of business. Prior to that they built them on a variety of different chassis including Velie, Buick, Auburn, Pontiac, Pierce Arrow, REO, Caddilac, LaSalle, Cord, and others, one Rolls Royce and there was rumored to have been one built of a Stephens Chassis which was the other Freeport IL Car Manufacturer in the early/mid 20s.

Henney also built Airport Limo's, and other Specialty Bodied cars including a Radio-Car for doing Live Broadcasts with a roof mounted platform to stand on, and (as per what I found on line to verify the Presidential connection)

"in 1950, Henney was awarded a special contract to build a fleet of nine custom-built, long-wheelbase Lincoln Cosmopolitans for the Truman White House. The contract stipulated that the coaches be armored by Henney’s competitor, the Hess & Eisenhardt Company of Rossmoyne, Ohio, as they were the only armoring firm “approved” by the federal government.
(kind of double-whammy for Henney using Lincolns instead of their contracted Packards, and having to have another company work with them on it)

Entering government service with the convertible that became the “bubbletop,” these armored Lincolns were primarily used during the Truman and Eisenhower years, and at least one survives. It is on display in the Harry S. Truman Library and Museum in Mr. Truman’s home town, Independence, Missouri."

[Monsonmotors]

Not to hihack your post, but about 10 years ago a friend called me about “an old Ford sticking out of the grapevines” on his farm property near Kingsburg, CA.
I had to go see! It turned out to be this military version of a Packard Ambulance. No doubt bought surplus from local Camp San Luis Obispo where the California National Guard was headquartered.
I was able to buy it and take it home where it got even more interesting. This particular ambulance was once owned by the Cholame Ambulance Service. The same folks that carted actor James Dean to a Paso Robles hospital after his famous car crash “along came a Spyder” in 1955.
I sold it on EBay as “James Dean’s Last Ride”.
It’s amazing to me that taxpayer dollars were being used to buy Cadillac and Packard ambulances for Army and Navy installations in the 1930s and 1940s.

[1936JDB]

My friend and his dad had a talk, and they decided that they would sell it, and for how much. If anyone wants to know pm me and I can get you some info..