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Here is the conclusion of our three-part series of the various styles and appearance that hearses and funeral cars have had over the last 100 years or so.

The Eureka-Cadillac Three-Way Landau Hearse
If you like the automobile style that was so popular in the 1950s, you would like this type of hearse. It had the rounded edges and unique taillight styles.

Superior-Cadillac Royale Coupe de Fleur
This unique flower car made an appearance during the late 1950s and was a very popular addition for many funeral homes and mortuaries. You could put flowers in the back and there was a latch that allowed you to lift up the back cover so to load the casket. It was easy and classy all in one!

Superior-Cadillac Crown Royale
This is the style many people think of when they think of older hearses. It has the fins on the back with the curtains in the side windows and a sleek black appearance that only a hearse can have.

We hope you learned something or at least enjoyed these last three posts. You can learn more about these classic hearses by visiting this website.

Here are several more examples of how hearses have changed through the decades.

Buick Limousine Hearses
These funeral cars typically had carved windows and ornate decorations that resembled the horse-drawn carriages of decades past. These models generally had white-walled tires for extra class and a touch of sophistication, too.

The Model A Hearses
Model A funeral cars had elaborate carvings that you simply do not see on today’s hearses. The sides of these cars had carvings that looked like rippled curtains and decorative scrolls to give them a truly unique appearance.

Gothic Hearses
During the 1940s, gothic hearses and funeral cars were becoming fairly popular. The sides of the back of these cars looked like stained glass windows from an elaborate Catholic church. They had a reverent appearance that is hard to find these days.

Carved Flower Cars
Although they are called flower cars, these funeral cars were rare and they were designed to carry caskets rather than flowers. They did not have the typical appearance of a hearse, but they still had ornate panels and the sleek style of funeral cars.

Henny-Packard Flower Car
These flower cars were popular toward the end of the 1940s and included a platform in the back designed to carry flower arrangements. Underneath that platform was also a place where the casket could slide in and out.

On Friday, we will have a few more brief descriptions of styles for you. Be sure to come back for more!

Just like anything that has changed over the years, funeral cars have evolved in the last hundred years or so. They have come a long way since the days when pallbearers would carry the casket from the church to the burial grounds. Here are a few of the different styles that funeral cars and hearses have experienced through the years.

Auto Hearses
Once the idea of the automated vehicle caught on, funeral cars began becoming more and more automated, too. However, for many years they still looked like their horse-drawn counterparts complete with lanterns and woodwork on the sides.

More Sophistication
As funeral cars evolved, they became more sophisticated. One style had a tray that came out of the side of the hearse because there was not a back door. It was called a side-servicing casket table and it swiveled out of either side and then swiveled back in for more ease of loading and unloading the casket.

The Town Car
Some hearses and funeral cars became long and sleek to display even more class. On some, the driver’s area was open and the back part of the vehicle was closed in and covered with curtains to give the casket some privacy. The tires typically had white walls to give it an extra touch of class.

Those are just a few styles that funeral cars have evolved through over the years. Come back on Wednesday for a brief description of more!

On Monday, we told you some courtesy rules for approaching or being in the vicinity of a procession of funeral cars. But do you know what you are supposed to do if you are actually involved in the procession? If you are driving one of the funeral cars following the hearses to the cemetery, here are some things to keep in mind.

• Turn your headlights on. This is so other cars can see you clearly and they are alerted that you are part of the procession.

• Stay in your position. It is extremely rude to even try to pass the car in front of you while driving in the procession.

• Keep up with the procession. If you fall too far behind, you may lose the other cars and all the cars behind you will be lost, too.

• Use caution at intersections. Although funeral cars are allowed to go through stop lights and intersections, drivers these days simply do not pay attention and they could plow into you. Just take a quick look both ways to see if it looks like any cars are going to pose a problem before proceeding through the intersection.

We have written several times on here about drivers either disrespecting processions of funeral cars either out of ignorance or simple rudeness. However, the rules for dealing with processions of funeral cars may not be as clear to some people as it is to others. Following are some things you should do when you approach these funeral cars or if you are in the same general area as a procession.

• Turn your radio down. Nobody in a funeral processions wants to hear the latest rap by Eminem or the political views of Rush Limbaugh at this time.

• Allow the procession to pass you. If you need to, pull over for a minute. You will get where you are going. You will just be a minute later.

• If you are on a two-lane road in a rural area and the procession is coming towards you from the opposite direction, pull off to the shoulder and allow the cars to pass. It doesn’t hurt to take off your hat out of respect either.

• Do not try to pass a procession if you get stuck behind one on a two-lane road. Chances are they aren’t going much further and you will be able to retain normal speed shortly.

• Put yourself in their situation. How would you like to be mourning in a procession and have someone be totally disrespectful towards you?

On Friday, we will tell you the rules of etiquette for being in a procession of funeral cars.

In one of the most despicable stories I’ve heard in a long time, a number of funeral cars parked at cemeteries while people mourn their deceased loved ones have been robbed. The current wave of hits took place in California’s Riverside County.

The latest reports came from mourners at the Rose Hills Memorial Park in the Los Angeles suburb of Whittier. Thugs have snuck up to the unlocked funeral cars, opened the doors and stolen whatever they can find inside. They have gone away with items like purses, laptop computers, cell phones and much more.

The LA County Sheriff’s Department and officials at the cemetery are asking mourners to lock up their cars when they are attending a graveside funeral or simply visiting loved ones. They are also asking visitors to leave valuables at home so thieves are not tempted to break into the cars. Police deputies are also patrolling the grounds to help cut down on the crime.

“Whatever happens outside, happens inside a cemetery,” said Richard Hardy, the visitor services manager at Rose Hills.

Do you remember when people used to have respect? There were some things that were sacred and cemeteries used to be one of those places. It’s a shame that some people would stoop so low.

The scene happens all over the country when a fallen soldier comes back home. This time it was in Murrieta, a town in Riverside, California.

Pfc. Nicolas H.J. Gideon died last week in Afghanistan from injuries he sustained while in combat. Insurgents attacked Gideon’s unit with small rocket-propelled grenades. Upon returning home last week to Camp Pendleton, a line of hearses and funeral cars paid tribute to him as they drove through his hometown among crowded streets full of people who wanted to say goodbye.

Gideon attended Chaparral High School in Temecula. He did some plumbing and electrical work before he joined the Army in 2008. His sister described him as a fun and lovable “goofball” who wanted to become a member of the Los Angeles Police Department after serving in the military for a few years.

Gideon’s stepfather – Mike Tyndale – tried talking him into one of the many desk jobs available in the military. According to Tyndale, however, Gideon did not even give a second though to a desk job. He wanted to be in the action.

Gideon’s family just saw him while he was on a two-week leave in June. During his leave, he proposed to his girlfriend. His burial will take place this Saturday at the Riverside National Cemetery.

Now that the Michael Jackson funeral and public memorial service have passed, the dispute over who should pay for the city’s services has begun. Who should pay for the security for the event? Who should pay for the motorcade that led the funeral cars from the private service to the public memorial? Should it be the city? Should it be the family? Or who should it be?

That’s the dispute occurring in Los Angeles right now. The city’s mayor – Antonio Villaraigosa – was livid to find out that his staff set up a website that asked people for donations to help the city foot the bill. Villaraigosa was out of town at the time and had no part in it. He did, however, have a hand in shutting the website down.

“This is a world-class city, and we provide fire and police protection, period,” he said when asked about the city paying for the costs of the funeral at a recent press conference. “The idea that we would charge the family for a funeral is nonsensical.”

The story gets even more interesting when you factor in other variables, such as the promotion group AEG putting on the event and selling tickets to it.

Who do you think should pay for the public memorial? The taxpayers, the family, the promotional group or private donations? Let us know your thoughts in the comments section below.

It was a tragic scene in Wootton Bassett in the United Kingdom this week. Five hearses lined up in the small Wiltshire town to carry fallen British soldiers who gave their lives overseas.

As the five hearses drove through the town from St. Bartholomew’s Church, thousands of mourners lined the streets to pay their respects. This was the second time in recent years when five hearses were needed to accommodate the number of soldiers coming back to their homeland in a body bag.

Private Robbie Laws was one of the soldiers getting carried in these funeral cars. He died during Operation Panther’s Claw when the armored vehicle in which he was riding got hit by a rocket grenade. Twenty of his old classmates were in attendance to pay their respects. Nine other soldiers who served with him were also there. All 29 people from these two groups had two things in common – they knew Robbie Laws and they were all 18 years old.

“He’d always make you laugh,” said Phil Warren, one of Robbie’s friends. Another friend – Adrian Smith – said Robbie was “One of the funniest guys you could know.”

Stories like this really put things into perspective. When you see five hearses at one time carrying soldiers who gave the ultimate sacrifice, it makes you wonder if we are still doing the right thing. What do you think?

Michael Jackson’s hearse was filmed en route to the Staples Center in Los Angeles yesterday as mourners and fans awaited the public memorial service that followed the private funeral ceremony with friends and family.

Cameras and funeral cars followed the pop star’s hearse as it left Forest Lawn Cemetery as Los Angeles braced for one of the biggest memorial services in the history of the city. Stars flooded the Staples Center in their funeral cars, but the real attention goes to Jackson’s kids. Paris Jackson, his 11-year-old daughter, had this to say about the death of her father: “Ever since I was born, daddy had been the best father you could ever imagine.” She is the second of Jackson’s three children. She went on to say the following: “And I just want to say that I love him so much,” as she broke down in tears in the arms of Janet Jackson, Michael’s sister. That was the first time the world heard from Jackson’s children.

People at home also attended the memorial in cyberspace. Reports say that Web traffic all over the globe was up by more than 30 percent and millions of television sets were set to the memorial service as well.