Classic hearse raised from the ashes

The pride of the fleet at a Nelson funeral home, a classic 1950s hearse, is back in action after being almost completely destroyed by a fire that devastated the family-owned business.

The Suburban Plymouth vehicle was in a garage that caught fire at Nelson’s Marsden House funeral services last June.

Two other hearses in the garage were destroyed, along with historic affects from Marsden House from when the building was used as a school in the 19th century.

The classic hearse, manufactured in America, had been with funeral director Francis Day’s family since 1958.

It was ‘‘virtually a 90 per cent write off,’’ Marsden House chief executive Andrew Mason said.

‘‘Because the fire burnt from the roof down, the top half of the vehicle was completely burnt and unusable,’’ he said.

‘‘The bit underneath was salvageable, so what’s still original is the chassis and the engine and the bottom half.’’

The blaze that damaged the car was caused by an electrical fault.

The top half of the car had to be shipped in from America, to Auckland.

The vehicle was restored in Auckland over the last year to look exactly as it did before the fire.

Getting the right colour proved tricky, with the Nelson company, Ash Bradley Auto Refinishers, which painted the car its distinctive burgundy colour in the 1950s, unable to find a match.

It wasn’t until they were clearing out the office one day and took down a calendar, that they discovered it had been written on the wall by the person who’d originally ordered the paint, Mason said.

Director Francis Day said the trauma of the fire was still being felt, and it was wonderful to have a part of the original business back.

‘‘To have something so precious recovered out of the fire means that it in some ways compensates for what we haven’t got now, the things we lost,’’ said Day, who remembered cleaning the car as a child.

‘‘We bought it in 1958; it used to be a bluey colour originally but we changed it to the burgundy when we came to Marsden House about 42 years ago.

The other two damaged vehicles could be replaced,’’ he said

‘‘They were just normal vehicles, but this one was so special ... fortunately it wasn’t totally destroyed, so we were able to salvage it.’’

Insurance had covered most of the restoration cost.