New hearse is Harley powered

Alum Bank, Pa. -- Tombstone Hearse Co., of Alum Bank, Pa., has developed a specialty hearse made from a modified Harley-Davidson motorcycle that tows a glass-encased box.

Jack Feather, founder of the hearse company, said pictures of the funeral of gunslinger Billy Clanton in 1881 gave him the idea for the motorcycle hearse, the New York Daily News reported Friday.

"I thought, bikers are kind of like cowboys," Feather said.

Feather said the chopper-powered hearses have been bought by 18 U.S. funeral homes, two in England and one in the West Indies.

"We wanted to create a unique experience for people who do different things," Michael Moloney, who co-owns the Moloney Funeral Home in New York that recently purchased one of the Harley hearses, told the Daily News.

Moloney said the glass cases make the vehicles popular for the funerals of veterans because it allows onlookers to see the flag draped over the coffin.

"It gives people a moment of pause -- when they see a flag-draped casket -- whether they know the person or not," Moloney said in the Daily News report.

Copyright 2007 by United Press International.