GM is providing the rear-wheel-drive Lyriq platform in a professional grade for coachbuilt hearses.Not only does an EV make a lot of sense for a hearse application, but it has a long tradition for the Cadillac brand.Obviously, our first thought was that someone needs to turn one of these into a new Ecto-1.
Many enthusiasts think about the last car they’d like to drive before hanging up the keys—maybe a twin-turbo RX-7?—but for most, the last ride is in a Cadillac. You’d think a brand might not want to be associated with the solemnity and grief of the funeral business, but actually, there’s some reflected respectability to be found here. A black Cadillac hearse is dignified, it is discreet, and it is traditional. Now, that tradition is making its way into the battery-electric era.
Wolf Coach Builders
Wolf Coach Builders, a Florida-based business with more than three decades of experience, is now offering the Cadillac Lyriq in two hearse formats. One, the Flagship Legacy model, is exactly as you’d expect, with a raised black roof and rollers for coffins in the rear. The other, the Panorama, has wraparound glass in the rear for a more public display.
GM offers the rear-wheel-drive BQ9 Lyriq direct to coachbuilders as part of its professional series vehicles, which nicely continues a long tradition that produced one of the most iconic movie cars of all time. Starting in the 1950s, the Cadillac Commercial Chassis was a common rolling base ordered by coachbuilders like Superior, Eureka, and Miller-Meteor. It came with running gear, the basic backbone, and a front clip, a little like how Airstream might receive a stripped-out Sprinter today.
Wolf Coach Builders
Wolf Coach Builders
These cars were used as both hearses and ambulances before emergency medical service vehicles were standardized in the late 1970s. In rare cases, as might be useful in a small town, you could even get dual-purpose Cadillacs that could take you to the hospital and then to the graveyard if you didn’t pull through.
And suppose you came back as a restless spirit after that? Well, a Duplex Cadillac could give you a ride then too. Specifically, a white 1959 Miller-Meteor Duplex that we all came to love as Ecto-1 from Ghostbusters. How’s it looking, Dan Aykroyd? “Needs some suspension work and shocks. Brakes, brake pads, lining, steering box, transmission, rear-end . . .” Oof.
Wolf Coach Builders
For the 2020s, an EV hearse makes a ton of sense because these cars don’t do big mileage; they do long years of service. With little to maintain on the regular, and silent operation when in service, a Lyriq hearse could be a real asset to a funeral parlor.
There are, of course, other machines for your final ride. In Japan, hearses are basically miniature rolling temples, all ornate wood carving and gold leaf. On the Isle of Man, home to the most daring motorcycle racing on the planet, you can pay to have your mortal coil ferried around the course in a motorcycle with a coffin sidecar. They probably don’t even make you wear a helmet.
But for most people, even automotive enthusiasts, the last car ride will be in something that just has a job to do. An electric Cadillac Lyriq is ideally suited to the task. Muted professionalism. Silently part of the background. And perhaps, at some point in the future, capable of taking out a Godzilla-sized Stay Puft marshmallow man.
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Brendan McAleer is a freelance writer and photographer based in North Vancouver, B.C., Canada. He grew up splitting his knuckles on British automobiles, came of age in the golden era of Japanese sport-compact performance, and began writing about cars and people in 2008. His particular interest is the intersection between humanity and machinery, whether it is the racing career of Walter Cronkite or Japanese animator Hayao Miyazaki’s half-century obsession with the Citroën 2CV. He has taught both of his young daughters how to shift a manual transmission and is grateful for the excuse they provide to be perpetually buying Hot Wheels.