| Hornthal & Co. at 327 E. 53d St was a New York City funeral supply house
and hearse and limousine livery that supplied large numbers of funeral vehicles to metropolitan funeral directors
who couldn't afford to own the sometimes large number of vehicles needed for the funerals of the rich an famous.
Other directors found that the excellent service offered by the numerous rental firms enabled them to operate
without owning any vehicles at all.
Prior to 1915, Horthal's relied on Peter Keif for their funeral coach supply, however starting in 1915 Hornthal
started mounting their own bodies on extended Ford Model T chassis. For 1916 Hornthals started using the much
stronger and longer White 140" professional car chassis.
With the sudden popularity of motorized funeral vehicles, large metropolitan liveries like Hornthal sold their
old horse-drawn hearses to South American and Carribbean-based brokers who were eager to purchase the now-obsolete
coaches. A fine Cunningham hearse, almost worhless in NYC, might bring as much as $1000 in Havanna during the mid to
late teens.
By the mid-twenties, Hornthals had turned to other manufacturers for their coaches, and placed a large order with
Rochester, New York's Cunningham in 1925.
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