Help me get this hearse "back to life"

Hello everyone,
I have a 1987 chevy caprice that has been made into a (beautiful) hearse. Ive had it for a few years now and its supposed to be a project but it seems like there is an endless source of distractions trying to keep me from fixing her up to par. Any way- all ive put in it so far is a new head unit and some speakers, but i was just given an amp and subs to round out the sound system.
Im currently trying to gather up some info on how to put a rear bench seat in the car. Id like to get the original seat, or at least something close to it, since they were able to fold down-giving me back all that extra cargo space.
any suggestions? ill take a million pictures of anything youll need to help me out, just reply so i know you guys are alive out there

 

, Yeah we are alive out here, so lets see some pics so we know "yours" is alive also!

Enjoy the nut house, you'l get help...but faster if we see the beast.....we live better with pictures, we'd like to view the last wagon we will ride in!

 

This is all i have on the computer right now

 

Welcome CDW! If it's got the rollers, I'd keep them. Easier to roll plywood sheets in and out. Sheesh, if its been stretched, you might even get 10 foot sheets in there.

 

Welcome!
Yes, it's been stretched, and the roof raised it appears. All of the 'stretching' is behind the rear wheels (still has stock wheelbase)
I don't see why you couldn't put a factory 2nd seat into it, since any floorpan alterations would have been done behind the seat.
-- Start taking out the added flooring in the '2nd seat' area, and you should find mounting points for the stock seat. You should be able to find a seat at your local Pick-A-Part. Any seat from a GM B-body wagon, '77 - '90 should fit.

 

to the wagon train, cdw.
Well....I'd like to see some interior pix of that rear area. And maybe some underneath shots. Hard to say how they did that conversion without observation. I would PRESUME that they took the short way and left most everything alone in the floors, etc. But, you never know. Never know how that rear floor was installed over the factory floor either.

 

CDW, that looks in beautiful shape. How many miles are on it?
Welcome to the forum.

 

The car has under 50,000 mi. on it, assuming that it hasnt cycled past the missing 100,000 mark.
Krash, your spot on , the rear seat area is still in tact and was just covered by a plywood platform and some carpeting. i managed to find one seat anchor without removing anything so im sure they are all there..
I took the whole floor out when i first got it just to see what was under there(the answer was a whole vacuum full of flower petals; free potpourri?)
and the floor is for the most part right under the wooden one but dips down a few inches right after the rear wheel well.
Oh and hey stormin' it has all the rollers and casket stoppers. i actually got an offer on the car from a carpenter who thought it would make a great work van!

 

I think it would be cool to put the back seat in, cut the roller floor so that it is the slider that goes behind the seat when up and becomes the floor when down. That could be done and then you would have a roller floor wagon.

 

Oooow, nice

CDW. 'Course a rear facing bench would be ah great place for Jeff Dunham's "Abdul the Terrorist" to hang out too Got a car-Bud friend 'round here that has ah Caddy like yours only mid 70's. She had a 6' long pine box built and found ah plastic skeleton somewhere to fill the box. My kinda Gal, Shes ah hit at all the car shows:2_thumbs_up_-_anima

 

Welcome. Back in 85 I had a 73 Cuda. I saw some blue lights behind me and it was a wagon similar to yours. It was the county coroner was also a sheriff's deputy. He let me go with a good talking to. When you get the stereo system complete you'll have to ride around town like this:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GEe_2g0Bjuc

 

Ok so i tore out the back of the car. unfortunately i didnt have a camera when i was doing it so these are photos of the aftermath:
^ the wooden floor has all the crap i ripped out on it but this is about where it came to.
^this is with the floor pulled back, again the area under it was a cargo space for the spare and jack..or bag full of Halloween props.
^taken from the front seat looking back. there are 2 bolts on either side and what looks like a bracket that was cut off ( one on either side )
^drivers side rear area
^close up of what im guessing was a bracket the front of the seats went in.


Does any of this help?
i cant find any information on how to install or remove a folding rear seat in this car or one like it, not even a picture on what one looks like.

 

If you've got brackets that were removed, then you may have to get some out of a wreck. Find one at your local Pick-A-Part, take some placement measurements, unless the mounting position is obvious with a depression or something. If they're spot-welded on, a cold chisel and a big hammer should make fairly easy work of them. Maybe a drill to drill out the wlds a bit......

 

CDW
that gonna be killer when your done

 

Should be going up to the junk yard tomorrow or wednesday to find a seat. ill see if they have some brackets laying around, if not it doesnt seem like it would be hard to fab something up..



Nice crack running along the back bumper thats rusting away



The back window that some kind people pelted with a BB gun



trim piece coming off, not sure how to reattach.. and busted tail light that i got in the woodbury commons parking lot, home of the worlds best drivers.



My dirty 305.. anyone wanna throw a 350 my way ?



pulling the head unit back out to hook up the amp

I got a lot of work ahead of me..