Somebody Turned the Cheerful VW ID Buzz Into a Hearse
We're not sure this is what Volkswagen had in mind when it developed the Buzz's cavernous interior. The post Somebody Turned the Cheerful VW ID Buzz Into a Hearse appeared first on The Drive.
The retro-inspired Volkswagen ID Buzz is one of the most joyful VW models since the New Beetle made its debut in 1998. Just look at it: It’s happy, it doesn’t take itself too seriously, and it puts a smile on everyone’s face. But it’s ultimately a big van, so it was bound to end up doing big van things, even when they’re not exactly cheerful. There’s a funeral home in Texas that figures the ID Buzz makes the perfect hearse.
Operated by El Paso-based Perches Funeral Home, the electric hearse looks pretty much like a standard ID Buzz. It’s painted black, as you’d expect, and it wears decorative inserts over its rear side windows. Inside, the only significant modification appears to be a casket platform where you’d normally find the rear seats. All told, it looks like preparing the Buzz for funeral home duty looks very straightforward.
Autrey McVicker of BMP tuning kindly provided these photos of the build, and the attention to detail appears to be phenomenal.
It’s a little odd to see a Buzz-based hearse, and it made us realize you still don’t see vans doing this job too often, even though they’re well-suited for it. Many typical U.S. hearses are still some version of custom-made Cadillac station wagon-type vehicles. But EV power would be a quiet and dignified way to transport the deceased. Besides, your choices are limited if you’re in the market for an electric van in the United States. Ram sells an electric version of the Promaster, and Ford offers an electric Transit. Another option is Rivian’s fleet-only electric van, but it’s gigantic and talk about cheerful—the front end of that would look totally wrong at a funeral. And, unlike the various Tesla-based hearses, the ID Buzz doesn’t require major body modifications to carry a casket.
Perches isn’t the only company that looked at the Buzz and thought “hey, that’d make a great hearse.” German coachbuilder Kuhlmann Cars sells a Buzz-based hearse with similar modification as the one shown here. And, in a way, these conversions drive home the point that the Buzz is a tribute to the classic, rear-engined Buses. Several coachbuilders turned the vintage Bus into a hearse in the 1950s and the 1960s.
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The post Somebody Turned the Cheerful VW ID Buzz Into a Hearse appeared first on The Drive.
