I have seen many stretched cars as I am often at Heathrow and they do gravitate there.
A significant number of them are pictured here.
mitglied.lycos.de/albeyer/id24_l.htm
Most of the modern UK ones I have seen but do scroll to the bottom.
Any others to add to the list?
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There used to be a stretched ford orion driving round telford
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I know of at least one stretched mini.
The Mk2 Granadas shown in the link reminded me of the funeral director in Wigton, Cumbria who still uses a 1984 CM Dorchester for funerals and, with the addition of white flowers on the parcel shelf for weddings.
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I remember on holiday we used to visit a theme park near Great Yarmouth, for the life of me I can't remember its name.
However, at the park there was a stretched mini parked up "behind the scenes" rotting away. Always felt sorry for it!
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Those stretched Australian Ford Fairlines are used by a Funeral Director's around here. I always thought they were Lincolns.
Definitely don't have a Ford badge on them.
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Love the E-Type, there is a stretched S-Type around Bristol.
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It'll be a Coleman Milne badge, Adam.
www.woodall-nicholson.co.uk/colemanmilne/do_colema...e
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Yep - It's a Coleman Milne badge David. Thanks.
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You'd think the cars on that CM site would have done a hell of a lot more miles than they have though wouldn't you?
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And they all need an italian tune up.
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You'd think ferrying dead people around all day would have taken it's toll. Obviously not.
They must have great patience though. I'd get this never ending urge to floor it with..."someone" in the back.
When I die, my will...will state that the driver of the hearse should drive enthusiastically. In fact, I think I'll make the drive to the church a race and the fastest one there gets all my dosh.
That should liven up the funeral run a bit.
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I had a friend who ran a funeral directors. We used to take one of the fleet out each week one night down to brighton and back to blow them out. They really shift. Scary handling at 100mph plus tho!
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Did you weigh the backs of them down?
On a similar note, my Dad was telling me years and years ago when Greater Manchester Police had Capris. They used to put paving slabs in the back of them to make them handle better. Paving slabs! A Police force with the money to pay for any technical solution and they use a bit of concrete!
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When I die, my will...will state that the driver of the hearse should drive enthusiastically. In fact, I think I'll make the drive to the church a race and the fastest one there gets all my dosh. That should liven up the funeral run a bit.
I doubt it.
The amount of money you are going to leave, it won't be worth bothering!
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I have a lot of stocks.
I'm something big down in the city. The poor student routine is just a facade.
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Think about it though... funeral directors tend to have very small catchment areas and keep their vehicles for a long time.
Say the average use for a hearse is 2 miles to the church, 3 miles to the crematorium and then back to base, 5 miles max, three times a day, five times a week. That's 150 miles a week. No one's going to commute 30 miles each way in one, or take it to see the relatives half way across the country every other weekend, or use it to make sales appointments...
Agree with RF that they're not going to get a thrashing very often either.
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I suppose you're right.
Depressing though...
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In the more rural counties the crem can be 20 or so miles away, so the hearse and other cars can get quite a decent run out. I had difficulty keeping up on the way to Carlisle once.
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There was someone in Bristol who did stretched VW's, Beetles mainly, but the odd MkII Jetta.
Also, i have seen a strecthed Vectra, presumably to replace the Omega.
It just doesn't look right somehow.
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There have been various stretched Range Rovers over the years. Some had 6-wheels - in some cases 6-wheel drive, in others the 3rd axle was non-driven.
Cheers, Sofa Spud
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There have been various stretched Range Rovers over the years.
Are you sure? When I watched Mark Evan's "A 4x4 is born" he did some of the filming at the Dunsfold Museum showing all manner of different contraptions Land Rover / Range Rover had concocted, one of which was a one off Stretch Range Rover.
Maybe the ones you're refering to were stretched by a third party and not endorsed by Range Rover?
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One of the main converters of ranger rovers was carmichael who produced stretched 6x4 ranger rovers for use as air field fire tenders.
www.4wdonline.com/Carmichael/RR.html
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>> There have been various stretched Range Rovers over the years.
Maybe the ones you're refering to were stretched by a third party and not endorsed by Range Rover?
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Re my original link
mitglied.lycos.de/albeyer/id24.htm
There are several stretched Range Rovers shown there but
something is a bit odd with the initial display.
It does not show the left side pictures.
If you scroll to the bottom, chose another category then
scroll bottom and select back to English Limousines the left hand shots appear. Plus lots of Rolls etc.etc
So more to view.
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Slightly off topic but since someone mentioned hearses....
This month Land Rover Monthly featured a couple who run a funaral directors. Their Main hearse is a Land Rover Defender 127 in silver! This was converted from a 127 pickup body, the 127 stationwagon is not a standard vehicle.
Some mey think this strange but it looks awsome in the picture. Everything you'd expect to find in a hearse - but it's a Land Rover!
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Hitler had a rather nice stretched Mercedes. I have always noticed in the old film clips that it needed an extra pair of wheels. Why don't modern stretched limos? Do they put all the extra weight on standard wheels and suspension?
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A recent article in a taxi trade journal highlights the risks UK users of imported US stretch limos can run. A long article but scary, nonetheless.
tinyurl.com/dqjda
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Should we start a charity to buy up stretch limos and convert them back to their original lengths?
Cheers, SS
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What do you do with all the removed middles?
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>>What do you do with all the removed middles?
Coldframes for allotments
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What do you do with all the removed middles?
split a car in half and weld all those middles up in line of course! Then we'd have ourselves a world record for the world's longest car (does one exist?) :-) !
--------------
Mike Farrow
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If I was rich enough to have a few million left over after buying a Veyron, I might consider a cut-n-shut Rolls-Royce Phantom 2 seater....just because....
Sofa Spud
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A recent article in a taxi trade journal highlights the risks UK users of imported US stretch limos can run.
>>A long article but scary, nonetheless. tinyurl.com/dqjda
>>
Stretch limos seized in crackdown. Certainly scary.
Some action is being taken.
news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/6219972.stm
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Hitler had a rather nice stretched Mercedes. I have always noticed in the old film clips that it needed an extra pair of wheels. Why don't modern stretched limos? Do they put all the extra weight on standard wheels and suspension? Limos for the funeral/wedding business don't tend to have a ton of armour plate (depending on where you live?)which Adolf's did, even though they were open-topped. Depends on the vehicle. The Daimler 420/Rolls Phantom etc are designed for the job. I guess the 'stretched Omega' set have stronger shock absorbers etc.
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Brother has a 6 x 6 Rangie done by ScotTawn & a fully approved conversion by LR. His is an estate but some were pickups. They did about 9 & I believe his is no. 6. Has the biggest webasto sunroof I've ever seen, the car is 21.5Ft long!
Like the Green one 1/2 way down on here.
www.lr-mad.co.uk/6x6.html
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Any others to add to the list?
Oh yes!
You will not believe them.
tinyurl.com/om8zp
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Oh my good God - a Testarossa. Call the Taste Police - now!!
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Luckily (?) it's based on a Ford Taurus. Still tasteless but merely an okay, rather than classic, car has been butchered.
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We're all used to stretched Land Rovers because they come as 90, 110 or 130 models, with different wheelbases.
But down here in Somerset there was something a bit different - a widened Land Rover. Basically it was a 110 or perhaps a long wheelbase series 3, but at least 6 inches wider than normal. It was a professional looking job. If I remember rightly, it had wider wheels than normal and the body overlapped them without the need for flared add-on arches. Why would anyone have gone to so much trouble to build such a vehicle? It wasn't one of Land Rover's own experimental vehicles although they did try something similar.
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y would anyone have gone to so much trouble to build such a vehicle?
Probably to ape the Hummer's fabled capability of it's width allowing it to fit into tank tracks. The narowness of the Defender's (civilian) chassis is part of the reason why it's so capable off road.
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I remember seeing a stretched Lada on a travel program about Cuba!
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I remember seeing a stretched Lada on a travel program about Cuba!
Wasn't that on Jeremy Clarkson's Motorworld programme?
On a similar theme, someone recently sent me some pictures of a stretched Skoda. When I get 5 mins, I'll post a link on here to them.
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my.net-link.net/~dcline/limonov1.htm for some amazing stretched vehicles.
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saw a stretched PT crueser last week with a horrid flame effect paintwork
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There's a black stretch Hummer in Bradford, complete with chrome everything and windows so black that I doubt they are legal. They probably intend it to be intimidating, and it is :(
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Local yokel's link provides pictures of many of these appalling things, including the famous Skoda.
Only an American would think of building a stretched E Type or Shelby Cobra.
Of course ordinary limousines are often very good looking. It's just these stretch things that look disgusting. Why on earth do people want to take a perfectly good car and turn it into a very cramped and low-ceilinged bus?
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In Congleton the Mayor has a stretch Granada, one of the funeral directors has a stretch Volvo 940.
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There is a fleet of stretched Trabants in Dresden
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I saw a stretched BMW X5 in Nottingham 2 weeks ago. It was white and being used as a wedding car. Looked very silly trying to navigate round a mini roundabout...
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There's a black stretch Hummer in Bradford, complete with chrome everything and windows so black that I doubt they are legal. They probably intend it to be intimidating, and it is :(
Either there is a white one as well or it has been painted black,saw it parked at the filling station at the Bradford end of Stanningley by-pass.
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I've seen several stretched Hummers.
Now, if a cut & shut - two half cars - welded together is so dangerous...
Why is it acceptable to take a single car, cut it in half, and weld it back together - with an extra bit in the middle (BITM) - given that the inclusion of the BITM gives rise to TWO welds?
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Maybe very slightly off topic, but my favourite is the Citroen 2CV Safari. A couple of 2CVs welded back to back so that there is an engine at each end. The theory was that if you were stuck in sand, you nipped round to the other end and drove out again.
The steering lock must have had a new significance for this vehicle.
659.
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Maybe very slightly off topic, but my favourite is the Citroen 2CV Safari. A couple of 2CVs welded back to back so that there is an engine at each end.
>>The theory was that if you were stuck in sand, you nipped round to the other end and drove out again.
Close but I always understood they were produced for use in French forestry areas for fire spotters hence the ability to get out of danger quickly especially on narrow tracks. see link for an example.
tinyurl.com/y576to
PS there is a 2CV fire engine
tinyurl.com/y576to
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