1940 LaSalle hearse

[nixiebunny]

Hi. I'm new here. I have owned a 1940 LaSalle hearse since 1989, but finally am getting around to making it run. It's a Miller Duplex coach with jump seats and burgundy velour upholstery. It has a 1942 Cadillac 346 flathead motor.

My twin brother Jim is very good with old GM cars, and he was nice enough to store it for the last 30 years in his barn. Unfortunately, the packrats got into the cab, but it's not too bad.
Our immediate goal is to get it fully functional, then drive it in the Route Sucky-Suck Lemons Rally in October. This will take us from Arizona to Chicago to the rally start, then to LA via Route 66 (with a side trip to Vegas for Halloween), then back home.

The car was last registered in 1976. It had a seized motor when I got it. I pulled a head, saw a rusted cylinder, and left it like that. The original failure appears to be because whoever rebuilt the motor failed to seal the copper head gaskets, and it leaked water into #4. Fortunately, we were able to dismantle the engine with only a couple broken rings. Everything is so fresh that it doesn't need any internal parts! We are replacing rubber and grease and gaskets and freeze plugs and the 5 broken head bolts etc.

I am currently working on the little units such as the wipers, gauges, water pump, and so forth. The only parts that were missing were the fuel pump (it had an electric installed) and the air cleaner. I was clever enough to get the radiator rebuilt back then.

[Steve Passmore]

Wow, that will be one helluva trip.

[harry s]

Welcome aboard. That is such a cool vehicle and certainly worthy of the
"love". Sounds like a great trip coming up.      Harry

[Tom Boehm]

Hello David, Welcome to the very small group of 1940 Lasalle commercial chassis owners. I am restoring a 1940 Lasalle woodie built on a series 50 commercial chassis. Cadillac sold 1,030 1940 Lasalle series 50 commercial chassis. Of those, A.J. Miller Co. purchased 235 of them. Of the 1,030, my guess is that there are less than ten in running condition. I have come to have a great appreciation for prewar professional cars like yours.
There are some differences between a commercial chassis and a regular Lasalle. Generally, everything from the dashboard forward is the same as a regular 50 series Lasalle including the engine. The big difference is the chassis. The chassis is basically a 1940 series 72 Cadillac under Lasalle sheet metal. If you have do replace anything on the chassis, I recommend getting a reprint of Cadillac Master Parts book. This will tell other regular cars that used the same parts. It will go much smoother if you ask a vendor for a king pin kit for a '40 72 series Cadillac. They will not have a listing for a commercial chassis. Contact me if you have questions.    Tom

[DaveZ]

Welcome aboard. Very cool! Can't wait to see her on the road.

[metalblessing]

Awesome. Hearses are alot of fun, but sometimes sometimes the coach section of the car can be a bit tricky to find parts for.

[Bob Hoffmann CLC#96]

I sent the OP a PM regarding an air cleaner.  He never responded???

[nixiebunny]

Thanks for all the great information. I am not planning to do a restoration to like-new condition, because that's not what I am into. I also am not in the driving-dead-people-across-town business. But I really enjoy driving old cars. My other cars are a bit newer: a 1958 Chevy Brookwood wagon and a 1963 Corvair Monza. I've had the Brookwood for 25 years, and the Corvair for one year. I don't have a 'modern' car as a backup.

If there is demand for such a hearse in good running condition to be restored, I am open to offers. If not, then I hope to at least enjoy driving it around, and maybe use it as a camper for weekends in the mountains. Or maybe there's a psychobilly band that needs a suitable band car.

[metalblessing]

If all else fails someone over at the Professional Car Society might be interested. Not a bad looking car at all. If you ever find yourself needing to do some work on the coach area or with questions about a part of the car that was non-standard you might ask over at the PCS. I dont know where I would be with my 68 Cadillac MM Hearse otherwise.

[nixiebunny]

Well, we got the LaSalle hearse running and driving around the yard. It still needs a lot of work to be roadworthy. Fortunately, parts seem to be very easy to find, if you don't have high standards of authenticity. As far as I'm concerned, if a mechanic would have used the part to repair the car at some point in its 78 year lifetime, then it's correct.

Here's a video of the first engine start. No fan belts yet, or wiring...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1v2c7sADUAI

[metalblessing]

Well, we got the LaSalle hearse running and driving around the yard. It still needs a lot of work to be roadworthy. Fortunately, parts seem to be very easy to find, if you don't have high standards of authenticity. As far as I'm concerned, if a mechanic would have used the part to repair the car at some point in its 78 year lifetime, then it's correct.

Here's a video of the first engine start. No fan belts yet, or wiring...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1v2c7sADUAI

Is that a combination? looks like the floor panels are reversible and I see it has jump seats. If your interested in the history, combination hearses were meant to be interchanged between funeral and ambulance duty on the fly. Mainly used by smaller communities that didnt have a dedicated emergency service from what I understand. The idea was that one side of the floor panels would be flat, and the other side would have rollers for caskets. Also some combos had a light on top, others had a spot on the top with a little circle where you could remove that part of the roof and add hardware for a light. There may be a zippered headliner with wiring above. If so thats the groundwork for a emergency light.

Jump seats were there as the name implies so emergency workers could "jump out" and assist in an emergency. If it was exposed to rain you may have alot of rust under those panels. I know mine did, when water leaks into the coach area the water will pool up under those panels and rust. Heres an example from my 68, but it looks like your floor may be wood? so maybe its wood under those panels?

[nixiebunny]

It's definitely a combination, then. Jump seats, reversible roller panel, storage for medical supplies. I'll check out the roof.

Thanks for the explanation.

The rear upper floor is wood, but the pan under the flip panel is steel. The spare tire resides under there. The doors are steel wrapped over wooden frames. The rear door needs some work - it's rotted in places. That sort of work is beyond my pay grade, and one reason that I left it sitting so long. But my brother has a way of not letting things like that get in the way of a good time.

[metalblessing]

It's definitely a combination, then. Jump seats, reversible roller panel, storage for medical supplies. I'll check out the roof.

Thanks for the explanation.

The rear upper floor is wood, but the pan under the flip panel is steel. The spare tire resides under there. The doors are steel wrapped over wooden frames. The rear door needs some work - it's rotted in places. That sort of work is beyond my pay grade, and one reason that I left it sitting so long. But my brother has a way of not letting things like that get in the way of a good time.

Absolutely, driving my hearse is a blast. I cruise the town every weekend with my 4 year old son. The looks and reactions you get from people is pretty fun

[metalblessing]

You might find these of interest, although for 41. Original brochure:

http://www.phantomcoaches.org/literature/41miller13.jpg
http://www.phantomcoaches.org/literature/41miller11.jpg
http://www.phantomcoaches.org/literature/41miller20.jpg
http://www.phantomcoaches.org/literature/41miller23.jpg

[nixiebunny]

Thanks for the link to the brochures! The 1942 Miller on pp22-23 shows exactly what my car looks like on the inside.

The rear portion of the floor had been replaced with a piece of plywood with the roller slots cut rather sloppily, presumably by a later owner after the original piece rotted. The coach body is all steel, except for a layer of wood over the steel subfloor. Also, the doors all have wood frames.

We have gotten it to run and almost to drive. we did the fuel system and electrical wiring today. Need to finish up the brakes with a new Chinese master cylinder tomorrow.

Here are some photos. The goal for the Lemons Rally later this year is to repair it, not restore it, so it will probably look like this for a while. I may turn the inside of the coach into a camper, since it's pretty well sized for that.

[squirrel]

we got the new master cylinder installed, the brakes work! so I went for a little drive, made about a mile and a quarter, and the car quit running. We think it had a vapor lock situation. Working on ideas to fix it...first we'll try re installing the 1985 vintage electric pump that was on the car, next we might try a return line to the tank, then if it's still iffy, well get serious about it.

Old car are so much fun!

[nixiebunny]

It's time for a long-overdue update on this car. We had a problem with overheating in the hot Tucson summer. I tried various things to solve it, with some success finally. I installed an electric water pump to ensure good circulation of water while idling, which stopped the overheating while sitting at a red light. Also, I ran some Cascade dishwashing soap in the motor for a day to clean out the accumulated rusty greasy gunk in the block, at the recommendation some old Ford flathead guys on their Ford forum (I'm not too particular). The first time the water came out quite brown, so I did another wash cycle, which resulted in nearly clear water.

We also had problems with the mechanical fuel pump, so Jim installed an old Holley electric pump on the frame rail. It's had zero fuel problems since then.

I have put about 500 miles on the car, a combination of city and rural driving. The water temperature as measured on a nice S-W mechanical gauge hovers around 190 on a 70 degree morning driving at 45 MPH, but jumps up to 205 when I speed up over 50. So I decided that the 50 MPH redline on the speedometer is to be respected, if only to keep the motor cool.

As far as the driving experience, it reminds me mostly of driving an old truck, except that this car has more power in its 1942 Cadillac motor. Gas mileage is 10 MPG on the highway, worse in town.

We're getting ready for the Route Sucky-Suck rally from Chicago to LA in late October. This entails fixing the dome lights, windshield wipers, horn, sun visors, and all those other things that make driving tolerable. Still not spending any money on such luxuries as new rubber seals for the windows. But I did just buy a pair of vintage funeral home signs for the side windows.

[nixiebunny]

We're driving the hearse to the start of the Route Sucky-Suck Lemons Rally this week. It's raining a lot.
We finally found the overheating problem and its solution. The motor had been inhabited by mice, and they lived in the water jackets of the block. Their nesting material got loose into the cooling system and clogged the radiator. We had to get it rodded, and then we installed screen filters in each radiator inlet tube. These filled up with all sorts of crud, like leaves, rust flakes, seeds, mud, etc.
The car is driving rather well on the freeways at about 60 MPH. The handling is smooth, but it wanders a lot, being old and on bias ply tires.
We've added some decor, as well as a sleeping and storage platform in the rear.

[metalblessing]

Looks like your having fun. Hearses are alot of fun to drive. Its always fun going to a parts store when they ask what kind of car when you need a part. I just tell them and wait for the reaction.

[nixiebunny]

The car finished the Route Sucky-Suck rally, which was about 4000 miles of driving, mostly on US highways, but a fair amount of freeway driving as well. My brother Jim is driving it from San Diego to Tucson now. It's slow going, getting up the mountains east of San Diego.

The water pump was our prime nemesis, requiring frequent greasing of the seals to keep it from leaking much. We had one day of little leakage, and several days of lots of leakage. Still learning how to get it to behave. Otherwise, the car ran pretty well. Some carburetor issues (float valve crud) and ignition gremlins. We drove at 60 on level roads, but had to slow down a good bit to get up long hills, to prevent overheating. Our huge S-W mechanical temperature gauge mounted on the dash really helped keep tabs on the heating, telling us when to slow down.

We drove many miles of the old concrete 66 roads in Illinois and Missouri. The car really likes the older roads. Something about the bias-ply tires and the concrete meshes well.

We ended up  taking second place in the rally, and winning the Organizer's Choice award, the first double trophy win for a Lemons Rally entry.