Sedan Delivery Edition, that is. Fred Summers, the CarPort’s redoubtable St. Louis Bureau Chief, liked the issue on sedan deliveries. He believes he’s gone us one better, however, with this 1950 Pontiac sedan delivery with rear side windows. He spied it at a Kruse auction in his city some years ago, and was told it had been used by a florist who catered to the carriage trade. Indeed it may have, but its origins are in the “professional trade,” as auto enthusiasts call the hearse and ambulance brigade.
The clue is on the front fender. If one looks carefully, one can see the name “Barnette” in script above the trim strip. Guy Barnette and Company was a Memphis, Tennessee, builder of funeral cars and ambulances, one of several such outfits in that city. Gregg Merksamer, the CarPort’s Professional Car Consultant, says in his book Professional Cars (Krause Publications, 2004) that “the 1949 debut of an inexpensive Streamliner sedan delivery …insured that Pontiac would remain the industry’s most popular platform for low-cost professional cars.” The Barnette Pontiac at the St. Louis auction perhaps began life like this Pontiac ambulance used by the Forestville Volunteer Fire Department in Prince George’s County, Maryland.
Some Pontiac sedan delivery conversions were made for “combination” hearse-and-ambulance purposes, like this eight-cylinder model, carrying both the funereal landau irons and white cross window insignia. Due to its window placement and lack of Barnette script, Gregg thinks this is from another conversion company, probably Memphis neighbors Weller Brothers, although Economy Coach (later Memphis Coach Company) also did Pontiac conversions.
Barnette did long-wheelbase conversions, too, like this 1951 Pontiac combination coach that Gregg snapped at Hershey in 2004. The seller was asking $8,500, and Gregg remarked that the “illuminated Indian chief hood ornament was a nice little add-on for the price.”
I remarked in the earlier sedan delivery episode that vans from Ford, Chevy and Dodge ultimately did in the truck-based panel deliveries. In like manner, commercial versions of minivans, like this Dodge Caravan Cargo Van, took over from the sedan delivery. Minivans, too, have lapped up the small-hearse market, witness this Chrysler from Royal Coachworks. One thing we should notice about Fred’s Barnette Pontiac is that the rear windows go down. In the days before Pontiac offered air conditioning, it was important that a patient-in-transport got some fresh air.
The CarPort also thanks Ed Defort, publisher and editorial director of American Funeral Director, and Steve Lichtman for use of illustrations. Fanciers of Barnette combination and funeral coaches will gravitate to the Professional Car Society; does any PCS member have one?
