Tim goes for a sedate ride in an old Austin Hearse, once used on British television shows Last Of The Summer Wine and The Bill, now earning its keep in Wanganui

Last year when I was researching an article on an upright Humber Super Snipe I went with the owner to view one of his other projects at a Wanganui garage. As I got inside, I spied high up on a hoist what appeared to be a grand old English hearse being serviced. Before I could speak, a voice within the garage answered the questions in my head and informed me that this was a local Wanganui hearse, an old Austin, and that it had appeared several times on the popular British television show, Last of the Summer Wine.

Later, I tracked down the grand old hearse at Dempsey & Forrest Ltd, a funeral parlour on Guyton Street, only metres from Wanganui’s famed Cemetery Circuit motorcycle track. Founded as Dempsey & Sons way back in the 1930s, probably near the time that this old Austin rolled off the production line, the company became Dempsey & Forrest in 1974.

Over the years this notable Wanganui firm has operated numerous hearses in its fleet — including American Mercury and Fairlane cars from the Ford stable and, closer to home, hearses from the Holden and Australian Ford range. James Forrest and his father Jim, at the forefront of this family business, sat down one day and started talking about having something a little different to offer in the hearse line. To provide a difference or choice for the customer at the end of their mortal days, several New Zealand funeral parlours were opting for something extremely modern and up to date or something rare and unique.

Hearses over the Internet

James decided to do a bit of research to see what might be on offer around the globe, closing the polished lids on the caskets for the day and tapping away on his computer keyboard to find out more about the international world of hearses via the internet.

A UK company seemed to show some promise of being able to find Dempsey & Forrest something rare. Shortly afterwards a private seller came on line and emailed James about an old 1935 Austin hearse named ‘Agna’ for sale in Lancashire, England. The fact that Agna had starred on popular British television shows added to its charm, and James knew this was the right old charmer for the streets of Wanganui.

The old Austin was duly imported by James. Although it arrived in New Zealand in fine fettle, back in the UK it had spent some years languishing before being brought back from death’s door for television work, with a six year restoration period by TR Petherick Ltd, which had rescued the old dame from an ignominious fate. For a while it was thought that the hearse would be remodelled into an Austin limousine, but the British Austin Ten Drivers Club intervened, requesting that it be kept as close to original as possible for history’s sake.

Agna’s early days were spent working for funeral directors in Gloucester and Newquay before it disappeared around 1977 into the depths of a body shop at Horrabridge for the aforementioned Petherick restoration.

TV star

All the finely crafted hearse woodwork and the original coachbuilders steel plates were saved and polished up, the only thing suffering heavily from the ravages of neglect being the original Austin six-cylinder engine.

Because the original powerplant was worn and seized, and the hearse was going to go into television work, the Austin was repowered with something that will make some purists cringe, but which kept the hearse going in a practical sense — a Land Rover engine, allied to an automatic gearbox. When James first told me this my eyebrows went skyward with surprise, but once I finally got to head out onto the busy streets of Wanganui in the hearse I understood why practicality and ease of acquiring parts had to reign over authenticity.

In every other respect, old Agna is complete and charming!

Not long after the Austin arrived in the country, it was checked over and certified by Grant Rivers at his vehicle tuning business, which just happens to be right next door to the funeral parlour. Grant will be familiar to readers as the owner and driver of a potent Targa and classic racing black Mustang.

TV One News

Upon arrival Agna also made her first Kiwi television appearance, featuring on TV One news as she arrived at her new funeral home.

I looked forward to a jaunt around Wanganui in this TV star, with James at the wheel wearing his dapper funeral director’s suit. Some days, if requested, James will turn out in top hat and tails for a mourning family, but for an ordinary outing with a classic car scribe, any old suit would suit as long as I got my ride in an upright position!

Opening the large front passenger door, I stepped over a shiny silver coachwork plate, that of original coachbuilder, Alpe & Saunders of London W1, and made myself comfortable in leather seat. My son opted to ride at the very back, where seats are positioned at each of the two rear corners for family members to partake in a loved one’s last ride.

Fold-down seats, chromed flower holders on the window ledges and pull-down blinds are all part of Agna’s bespoke interior charm.

Looking ahead through a vertical front window, you are treated to a long expanse of black British steel, with a glass temperature gauge on display atop the chromed radiator shell.
James deftly manoeuvred the big old Austin around Wanganui like the captain of an oil tanker out for a Sunday sail! The engine rumbled away unobtrusively, and the shiny black vehicle cruised along beside the Wanganui river reflected all around, mirror-like in its gleaming bodywork, impish beams of light dancing along its hand crafted chrome roof rack. Thin gold pinstriping along the bodywork and on the wheels set the handsome hearse off nicely.  After seeing my own reflection in Agna’s gleaming panels and bright-work, I reflected on life itself and the serious business of finality and funeral undertaking. Easier perhaps on a sunny Wanganui day to simply admire grand old Agna, and chat with James as he sat back behind the huge steering wheel. One point that James Forrest did want to make was that of the absolute success of Agna. “When we got Agna”, said James eloquently, “we hoped she would attract enough people to, say, account for maybe 20 per cent of funerals, but we have been staggered by the response. Today Agna caters to around 75 to 80 per cent of our business!”

Agna the old 1935 Austin hearse has been first choice these last two years for mourners in Wanganui wanting to send their dearly departed away in a classic fashion. Thanks to Dempsey & Forrest, the last of the summer wine is now sipped in style by those at the sunset of their lives.

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