Heritage Hearse
Harley-powered hearses have become a minor growth industry in recent years, with several outfits now operating around Australia. But when John unveiled his unique three-wheeler at the recent Heavy Duty Custom Bike Show in Melbourne, Jaws dropped and eyes popped. No one had seen anything like it before and it much stole the show on the day.
As far as getting noticed goes, John says his big rig is in a class of its own, although its effect on passing traffic could help generate extra candidates for the 'rear seat'.
"Yeah, its pretty amazing, the effect it has on people. It's almost dangerous. When I ride people nearly run over me, they're gawking so hard. I've had people pull up alongside me going over the Westgate Bridge in Melbourne with video cameras filming the thing."
"I wanted to build something that was really different; that no
one else had ever built before," he explained. "A mate had a plastic model of a
show car from the US that was built to look like an old stagecoach hearse and I got some
ideas from that. Then I thought that I'd better build this thing soon or someone else
would beat me to it."
That was back in '93 and the whole exercise took another five years to hit the road. Along the way, John did practically all the design, drafting and fabrication work himself, drafting mates and family into the team when his own skill couldn't get the job done.