JFK hearse to be up for auction in Seabrook

If your classic car collection is missing that certain something, may we suggest that you head down to Seabrook this weekend for the Worldwide Group Houston Classic Auction? A bunch of classic autos will be on the auction block, including a sweet '53 Corvette roadster, an elegant '52 Jaguar, a '70 American Motors AMX Fastback — oh, and what will undoubtedly be one of the stars of the show: the hearse that carried JFK's body from Parkland Hospital to Air Force One after Kennedy was shot in Dallas on Nov. 22, 1963.

The hearse, built on a 1964 Cadillac Series 75 commercial chassis, has a 429 cubic inch, 340hp overhead valve V-8, a four-speed HydraMatic transmission and coachwork by the Miller-Meteor Co. The vehicle was built for show at the National Funeral Home Directors Association Convention in Dallas in October 1963, and the Oneal Funeral Home took delivery of it after the show closed. The hearse had its 15 minutes of fame transporting Kennedy's body (and Jackie Kennedy) to Air Force one after the assassination, but it remained in service in Dallas for several years after that. Around 1970, the hearse was sold to a funeral home in San Benito, and around 1975 it was traded to a company in Duncanville. The current owner bought the vehicle in the early 1980s. It's been re-painted in the original color, Aspen White, but the interior and its fixtures are all original — and in case you're wondering, the hearse has 48,803 original miles on the odometer.

An interesting thing about the hearse: It's the last of the cars involved in the Kennedy assassination that survives unchanged. The 1963 Lincoln Continental convertible JFK was riding in when he was shot has been completely overhauled at least once, and Bobby Kennedy ordered the Pontiac ambulance that was used to transport JFK's body in Washington destroyed.

The estimated price for the hearse isn't listed on Worldwide's website, though there is information about it — and the other cars that'll be up for sale tomorrow and Sunday — on the Houston Classic Auction page.