History is full of creative endeavors from custom RV builders who wanted something that they couldn’t buy from Indiana. Custom RVs have been built out of everything from retired ambulances and airport catering trucks to airplanes and transit buses. The humble hearse is another good pick, and the results from converting one can be spectacular. Check out this 1957 Superior-Cadillac Landaulet Side Servicing Coach that was converted into a camper back in 1968. This gold beauty doesn’t seem that impressive until you pop the doors open, then, it looks cooler than almost any modern camper van. Oh, and yes, it can be yours.
Hearses are deeply underrated platforms for RV conversions. Funeral cars often have curtains built right in and they have nice and flat floors for you to build from. Sure, you can’t stand in a hearse, but you can find these cars all day for little money and often with low mileage. I’ve seen people turn $500 hearses into off-road beasts and they were surprisingly comfortable with little more than an inflatable bed and some basics.
This 1957 Superior-Cadillac Landaulet Side Servicing Coach on Facebook Marketplace would represent the other end of the hearse RV conversion spectrum. It isn’t so much an old hearse with a bed in it, as someone more or less built an entire camper van into this hearse. It’s even more impressive when you realize that this conversion was done 57 years ago and it still looks so good today.
Not Just Hearses
Something that’s pretty neat about this RV conversion is that it’s not too far off from the RVs that Superior Coach itself used to make. Superior Coach is known for its hearses, but its history is far more colorful, including a line of forward-thinking buses, trucks, and even gigantic, high-payload wagons for traveling salesmen.
I’ve written a story about the history of Superior Coach, which you can read about by clicking here. Otherwise, here’s the short version of what you need to know:
Superior’s roots go back over a century to the founding of the Garford Motor Truck Company in 1909 in Elyria, Ohio. Within just a few years, the company was able to score a lucrative contract building trucks for the postal service.
According to the historical archive Coachbuilt, Garford introduced an aluminum-bodied passenger bus lineup in 1923. That year, businessmen from Lima, Ohio, saw the future in these buses and formed the Superior Motor Coach Body Company to construct the bodies for Garford. Two years later, the Henry Ford writes, Garford itself moved to Lima in 1925. There, the company changed its name to Superior Body Company and began a focus on placing its custom bodies on existing platforms.
Superior Coach’s portfolio at that time included buses and trucks, but the company noticed that the professional car industry was taking off. So, that year, the company also added its first hearse to its lineup. All of these vehicles rode on either Studebaker or Cadillac chassis and over time, Superior became one of the first names in school bus, ambulance, and hearse bodies.
What’s fascinating is that at least in two points in history, Superior was also in the RV business. One of those periods was after Superior Coach was acquired by the Sheller-Globe Corporation in 1969. The Sheller-Globe era Superior Coach motorhomes were marketed as being all-steel beasts, but they also didn’t look related to professional cars.
There was also an earlier point in Superior Coach’s history when the company took its professional cars, cut the body off behind the B-pillar, elongated the chassis, added structural reinforcement, and then planted a camper body on top. I have contacted the modern incarnation of Superior Coach and sadly, while the company was able to confirm that it built campers back in the 1950s and 1960s, it could give me no further information. What documentation that Superior might have held onto may have been lost during one of the company’s numerous ownership changes throughout history.
I suppose that’s less important here because this 1957 Superior-Cadillac Landaulet Side Servicing Coach is not an official Superior build. But wow, it looks like it could have been!
This 1957 Superior-Cadillac Landaulet Side Servicing Coach
Located in St Joseph, Michigan is something pretty special. It’s not often that you see a hearse converted to this level and it’s even rarer that you see such an old conversion presenting in such great condition over five decades later. I had to know the story, so I contacted the seller, Debby, to get the scoop on this camper.
She sent me this, via her husband, Scott:
[H]ere is the short version of the story behind the hearse. My father was an electrical engineer and loved to build all kinds of things. This was the second camper he built. The first was on a ’55 Cadillac ambulance cut behind the front doors and a custom-built Class-C type motorhome constructed. Then he purchased the ’57 and discovered the removable door jambs and came up with the idea to build this mini-camper.
As a teenager, I only “assisted” in this build. It was purchased in ’68 and on the road in ’69 as the mini-camper it appears today. Later in its life, I added a new paint job, re-chrome, and white wall tires. On a side note, my wife and I used it on our honeymoon to Florida in 1973. And yes, we are still together.
– Scott and Debby Taylor.
All of this is so awesome. Not only was this hearse the work of a dad crafting something new with his son, but the RV has remained in the family ever since. The Taylors say that the RV has always been garage-stored and wears just 51,000 miles on its odometer. I can see why it looks so good.
The car underneath is a 1957 Cadillac Series 75, which was originally powered by a 365 cubic inch V8 rated for 300 horsepower gross. The Series 75 enjoyed a long run covering most years between 1936 and 1987, serving as a long-wheelbase luxury V8 powerhouse, and a favored platform for builders designing classy limos, funeral cars, and even traveling sales offices.
Professional cars like the ones from Superior had distinct, elevated rooflines compared to the sedans and limos riding on the same donor vehicle. Superior marketed its high roofs as offering plentiful space for bombastic floral displays. Something I’ve always found fascinating is that this roofline was even present in the cab portions of Superior’s early motorhomes.
What makes this particular hearse neat is that it was built as a “Side Servicing Coach.” This setup swaps the typical rear doors for rear-hinged units that latch with the front door at the bottom of the door sill and at the roof. As you can guess, these coaches allowed for caskets to be loaded in from the side doors and advertisements from Superior show that the car would have had a platform to assist with side loading.
This door arrangement also makes for a pretty sweet way to get in and out of the camper. The outside is awesome and all, but the camper bit is what I’m most impressed by. The listing states:
Contains: sink, stove, refrigerator, toilet, sit down bathtub, full size double bed, bucket seats, stereo, air conditioning.
This camper is a triumph of packaging. The center area has the kitchen neatly contained entirely on two counters, and under the sink is a portable toilet. The bathtub, which sprouts out from under the bed, also appears to be quite clever. It has all of the features of a modern camper van but in a far more stylish package.
The price also seems pretty reasonable, or at least is a very reasonable place to start negotiations. The Taylors want $25,000 for their ’57 Caddy camper. If I had such a lump of cash in my bank account and an extra garage to put it in, I think I’d be on my way to Michigan today. Sadly, I’m not nearly that loaded.
This camper probably won’t be for everyone. I know some folks don’t like the idea of sleeping in something that was used to transport dead people. Some folks also want standing room, which is totally fair. But I do think that, at least based on the photos, there was some real creative and quality work done here. This is why custom RVs remain some of my favorites. I have no doubt that whoever buys this will have heads turning at every campground that they stop at.
Like tent camping, but worse. Instead of having to go outside in the middle of the night to take a crap, you have to send your partner outside so you can take a crap.
I like the idea but way to cramped for my tastes. Plus using the toilet so close to the sink and a shitcase style….ewww
This would be perfect for someone in the Golden Goth subculture (which I just made up)
Golddust from the WWF.
Show us the bathtub! What an odd accessory in a small camper.
Nice build, but I’ll skip riding in a corpse buggy until I can’t refuse the offer.
Someone used to sell plans to build camper bodies on VW Bugs. Queue my crazy renaissance man father….The pull-out stove so you could cook outside was his mod.
https://photos.app.goo.gl/SRJoZFQHDc66exQL7
https://photos.app.goo.gl/afDXdPHkK2rL7WhR8
The build is ingenious, and because it’s not cut up it’ll drive great.
For an example of how not to accomplish the same thing, see my avatar.
Just because you can, doesn’t mean you should. Nope, nope, and oh hell nope on every oh hell nope level. No bathroom makes it a super duper oh hell nope times infinity. Agree on the comment about the cool doors. Still Super Nope, though
There’s both a toilet and a bathtub;
“…under the sink is a portable toilet. The bathtub, which sprouts out from under the bed…”
Best doors since the Facel Vega Excellence!
I’m firmly in the I don’t sleep where dead people were hauled camp.
how do you sleep at a hotel? there’s no way to know for certain nobody died in the hotel bed. if you ask they aren’t going to tell you the truth!
People don’t die in hearses, that happens in ambulances.
Tangentially related –
The wife of one of my college professors died 15 years ago, and was buried in the cemetery on campus where she had been a student years before. My professor told me that one of last wishes was that her gravestone be the most suitable for having sex on of any in the cemetery.
Her husband said “she was always thinking of others” , and also that the gravestone company told him that was not the first time they had that request.
Don’t ever get admitted to a hospital. I guarantee that every bed was once occupied by a fresh cadaver.
Lol, why? Seems super childish tbh
I love this! Finally an RV I not only don’t hate, but really like. The inside looks really well done, too. Of course, I’ve always liked old Cadillacs and hearses and the side loaders are the coolest of them. I almost bought several over the years (always some major deal-breaker like rust or rod knock), but I never found a side loader. I imagine they were more common in crowded urban environments.
There are no words for how badly I need this thing. I mean, I don’t NEED it, but I am starting to make some pretty scary rationalizations.
Man, this would be a perfect rig to take on Power Tour
Was the conversion commissioned by Gomez Addams or Herman Munster?
Sounds like someone has a death wish.
Whole new meaning to “I slept like the dead.”
When I was a yute, a friend had a ’68 (’67?) Cadillac hearse with a 429 and a 4-bbl.
One day his dad – who had an impish sense of humor – borrowed it to go to work. He told us later that he buried the speedo needle at 120mph on the highway (wee hours of the morning) and the ride was just as smooth as glass.
’67. ’68 went to 472, but looks almost the same. I almost bought a limo style one (all windows like an ambulance version) from ’67. It looked awesome with the shark nose of those Cadillacs. Terribly rotted, though.
That sounds just like something my dad would do.
This is from my neck of the woods and I’ve never seen this on the road or at shows. You really do learn something new everyday!
I see dead people.
What a beaut! I’m guessing it’s set up to use a hose connection for water? I don’t see how they could have water tanks installed, unless they were very small. And is that a propane stove and propane-powered refrigerator? Does it use little 1-pounders, or is there a 5-gallon propane tank stashed away somewhere? Man, what an amazing vehicle.
I can’t believe how well that’s packaged. That’s an insanely good use of space.
Someone was coffin up the money to build this beaut!
I’d die to spend the night in that!
How convenient – I’d kill for it. We should meet.
I was camping in my RV late one night…
In the 80s, while in high school, my buddies and I used to do a regular circuit of the regional used car lots just window shopping. One lot always had 2-3 old hearses that we all were interested in. Mostly Cadillacs from 68-72, but there was the occasional Buick as well. We mainly wanted one because it would have been such a unique thing to park in the school lot, but we also thought it would be the perfect option for the weeks we would follow the Dead during the summers. Nice to see one used in that vein!
I graduated from high school in 1985. I got the idea that over the summer I wanted to take a month off of work before college and hike around the Pennsylvania State Parks. I was looking for a 70s wagon to camp in, but came across a 65 Cadillac hearse. It was grey and burgundy. I put a mattress in, figured out some logistics and headed off. It was primitive camping for sure. No running water or AC. The caddy was more or less a running, driving version of a tent.
While I didn’t see any dead shows, I had a decent time. Most of the parks had running water, and the hearse was a bit of a conversation piece, so rangers and park workers were pretty generous with letting me shower and use the facilities. Mom and dad’s only stipulation was to call every day and let them know where I was so they knew I was safe. I could always find a pay phone, but sometimes mom and dad would get a collect call from “Cheery Springs” or “Ricketts Glen”, which they would reject.
I wanted to keep the hearse for summers when I headed to college, but mom put the kibosh on it. She was not having it parked in front of her house. Just as well, I went to college in Philly so I sold it and bought a sportster, which I kept at a relative’s house near campus. Much better commuter vehicle.