© Volvotidningen Ratten

P 445

Unfortunaly the number of the registration plate is not visible on any of the pictures, so deeper information about this hearse is not known. The plate shown on the head picture is a "car dealers plate" not connected to any specific car. The picture is fetched from the Volvo paper Ratten issue #7 1951, so regarding this, the car could be a B-seriel chassis. Volvo dealer AB Gylner in Sunne, Sweden, delivered the car to care taker Wiolas begravningsbyrå in Åmotsfors. Note the sidelist beginning at the front of the hood going along the side, 'round the back corner and probarly continues to the other side. Per Gylner, son of the founder of AB Gylner, tells us how the ordering of a cabin on a commercial chassis was carried through.

"The customer could either order, for example a pickup, and let us decide who to build the cabin. Or he could want a specific company to build the car. Some firms were well known and had cars with known design that appealed to the customer.
As a dealer we wanted the car to be built as fast as possible, 'cause we didn't get payed from the customer until the work was done. When we were allowed to decide who was to build the cabin, we chose the one that could do the work fastest. This way we got payed faster."

Per Gylner thinks that AB Gylner ordered the cars from the city of Värmlandsbro, but he doesn't recall the company name. In Värmlandsbro there was a company named Höglunds Flak. One of the pictures shows the car in front of the factory building. They built mostly for heavier vehicles. Höglunds Flak was founded by a brother to Helge Höglund who ran the company Höglunds Vagnfabrik in Säffle.

Published 2005-03-15