The hearse that carried the casket of President John F. Kennedy from the hospital to Air Force One in Dallas after his assassination has sold for $160,000 at auction. The Cadillac hearse was sold at Barrett-Jackson company’s annual Scottsdale collector car auction.
(Reuters/Photo Courtesy of the Special Olympics/Handout)Eunice Kennedy Shriver (R) is greeted by her brother, the late U.S. President John F. Kennedy, during a bill signing at the White House, in this handout photograph released on August 11, 2009.The hearse was built in 1964 by the Miller-Meteor Company. It was on display at the National Funeral Home Director’s Convention in Dallas and later sold to the O’Neal Funeral Home.
Just a few weeks after the purchase, the O’Neal Funeral Home carried out the historical task of carrying President Kennedy’s casket in the Cadillac hearse from Parkland Memorial Hospital to Air Force One.
The authenticity of the hearse has not been doubted during the run up to the auction. The hearse was kept by the O’Neal Family Home until the 1960’s before they sold it to hearse collector Arrdeen Vaughan.
The buyer is said to have restored the hearse and tried to sell it for $ 1 million in 2007. Although bidding reached up to $900,000 it was not sold because it was below the asking price.
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