Flower car
A flower car is a type of
tonneau cover
across the bed at the top, upon which the flowers sit; the center portion sometimes is designed to raise and lower, hydraulically or by hand. If the flower car is designed to carry a casket, it will be stored under the tonneau cover in the space beneath, behind the opening rear gate.
In the early years of the
automobile, open-topped luxury cars were used for this purpose, but as enclosed vehicles became the norm, specially built vehicles began to be used for this purpose from approximately the 1930s onward. Not every funeral provider owned a flower car; they were a luxury item offered as an extra-cost option for extravagant funerals. The quantities built were low; it is estimated that fewer than a dozen were built each year by each coachbuilder
in the funeral market.
Flower cars are still manufactured, but in ever decreasing numbers. Old flower cars are considered collectible due to their rarity, especially by collectors of hearses and other "professional cars".
See also
References
External links
Look up flower car in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Flower cars.