The Life and Times of a Very Special 200D Hearse

by Bob Gunthorp
edited by Cassy Leone

This one-of-a-kind 1966 Mercedes-Benz W110 Hearse started out as a bare chassis shipped to Rappold Karosseriewerk, one of Germany’s largest coachbuilders, on November 12th 1965. Two months later, on January 28th 1966, construction of the custom bodywork was completed. It featured a raised roof, similar to that of an ambulance conversion, and had been stretched four inches wider at the rear axle to accommodate a casket. Unlike what the title may suggest, there were no diesel variants of this ambulance, as it originally came with a 200 gasoline engine (the diesel that currently resides within it was installed in 1974).

It was delivered to the Kahle Bestattungs Unernehmen funeral home after construction was complete. On December 15, 1980 Horst Freickmann imported it through the Los Angeles Port of entry. He and his girlfriend then toured the US and parts of Canada using the hearse as a motor home. When they returned to Los Angeles, they planned to sell it and fly back to Germany. This plan included a side trip to visit a friend in San Diego, and there they stopped at a Jack in the Box for breakfast. One of my employees, Jack Hill, happened to be there at the same time. He knew I would like to see the hearse, so he had them follow him to work. They felt that it was worth quite a bit of money. However, as I knew they were leaving the next day, we made a deal on my terms and I purchased it on January 15th, 1981.

The restoration of this rare classic Mercedes was relatively straightforward. Even though the vehicle had been used in all weather and road conditions, it was still in excellent overall condition. There was very little rust in the chassis. Remember this is a commercial vehicle —if the mortuary got a call to go out they couldn’t say, “Sorry, there is snow and salt on the road and we are not coming.” They just went out.

The only other major problem with the Fintail Hearse was that the OM621 diesel engine needed to be overhauled —it had low compression. When a diesel engine is low on compression it simply will not start in cold weather. At the time, the sellers maintained that the engine was in great condition. However, they had left a piece of the towrope that they had been using to pull start it on the frame, so I knew better. Parts for vintage Mercedes were much easier to come by in the early 1980s, and with the hearse in such good shape overall, the restoration was a fairly straightforward process. Sometimes I’m asked, “Why would anyone want a diesel-powered hearse?” I tell these people to remember three things about the person in back:
1. They can’t hear it.
2. They can’t smell it.
3. Lastly... they aren’t in a hurry!

Over the years I have learned many interesting facts about my hearse and the company that built it. In 1966, Rappold built a total of 17 Mercedes-Benz hearses. This number included just seven 200’s, three 190c’s, four 220b’s and three 220Sb’s. In 1948 Eugene Rappold founded the company after leaving another coachbuilder to start his own company. He continued to design and build convertibles and station wagons as he had in the past. One day a client asked to have a hearse built. He figured correctly that his company could build a very good hearse. Now, hearses are a big part of their business. This 200D Mercedes was the 171st hearse built since the company was founded. In 1966, all of the independent coachbuilders in Germany combined built approximately 200 hearses altogether. 

Since I purchased the hearse in 1981, it has attended a large number of ‘Over the Hill’ parties, many Halloween parties and dances, and has been displayed at many car shows. One year it was even on display in the San Diego Automotive Museum. There was a bachelor party in Coronado, and it has even been to a wedding at “The Abbey” on 5th Avenue in San Diego. I have lost track of all the various parties it has seen in 40 years.

Christy Wright and I in costume as a Zombie Bride and Groom

It’s impossible to own a car like this and not have a few stories worth telling, and one is how I came across the casket I keep in the back. One can be asked if their hearse is really a hearse only so many times before they want to buy something that puts that argument six feet under, once and for all. Of course, now I’m asked if there’s a body in the back...

This story starts in 1986, when the hearse was invited to yet another ‘Over The Hill’ party. The victim of the party’s husband decided it would be fun to have his bride ride in a casket in the back of the hearse, so he went to a place in Chula Vista that manufactured caskets and asked if they would rent him one for a day. Their reply was, “Sure, we rent them out all the time.” He then asked the price to rent it. The price was $65. So, his next question was “How much will you sell it for?” That price was $150. He knew I had been thinking about buying one, so he knew that I would buy it from him, and he showed up at my place with it. He sold it to me for $85.

I knew his wife, Allison, from high school and I was not sure she would see the humor in riding in the hearse, let alone in the casket. I asked him if he had run the idea past her and he had not. When he approached her about riding in the casket the answer was not only no, but resounding HELL NO. They had not been married very long and Jim didn’t seem to know her as well as he thought he did. When he presented the plan to Allison, I was sure she was going to kill him on the spot and put his body in the casket. I don’t remember if she even rode to the party in the hearse that night!

Another story that comes to mind involves a gorilla. No really, read on!

My Ken Allen

One year while showing the hearse at the Fashion Island Car Show, I took off to view the other participants. When I returned my wife, Terry told me I needed to go into the store just in front of the hearse. When I asked why, all she would tell me was there was something in the store I would want. I asked her again what it was, and she replied, “You will know it when you see it”. The first thing that I saw in the store was a BIG stuffed gorilla and I knew that was what she had in mind. I took the gorilla to the clerk and asked if I could borrow him to see how he would look in my car. She was apprehensive about my taking him out of the store but agreed on the condition that she went with me. So I took him to the hearse (the clerk didn’t like the car at all) and I put him in the driver’s seat. I looked at him and said, “he’s perfect” and purchased him. From then on we took him to many of the car shows that we took part in. However, after all that time, he still needed a name. We thought about it and came up with the name of the infamous orangutan, Ken Allan.

The real Ken Allen

For those of you old enough to remember, Ken was always escaping from the Orangutan enclosure in the San Diego Zoo. The zookeepers spent a lot of time trying to keep him in the exhibit area. He had escaped so many times in the 1980’s that he obtained national fame for his crafty escapes and his uncanny ability to outwit the zookeepers. A newspaper headline even called him Hairy Houdini. The Zoo went so far as to hire professional mountain climbers to try and climb out of the enclosure. Within two days of the climbers declaring the walls impossible to summit, Ken was out again.

Through the windshield of this rare Mercedes, fifty-five years have come and gone. Its seats have carried forward the lives of funeral home workers in Germany, to an eccentric couple who made it their home away from home in the 1980s, to myself from that time onward. Once upon a time, the sight of this Hearse would’ve brought sadness, and a reminder that we only get so many trips around the sun before it's all over. Nothing is permanent. Not the lives of the people involved in this car’s story, nor the car itself, and that I find is a thing of beauty. What once was seen as a symbol of foreboding has been given a new lease on life as a vehicle that brings joy into the lives of those that make it’s acquaintance.

Shop W110 Fintail Parts Here

In March to August 2001 the Hearse was on display in the San Diego Automobile Museum

AACA (Antique Autombile Club of Amarica) mini show in Balboa Park San Diego CA

This date and the location of this show are unknown. If you look closely you can see “Ken Allan” hanging out the drivers window.

This is the staff of my bank, Seacoast Commerce Bank. They always dress up for Halloween