The Phantom hearse is the creation of Italian custom coachbuilders, Biemme Special Cars. Biemme officially unveiled the imposing B12 Phantom hearse at 'TANEXPO', a funeral industry trade show, which concluded today in Bologna, Italy.
Biemme have created Mercedes-Benz based hearses in the past, but the Phantom hearse takes it to a whole new - and very expensive - level. While Biemme didn't reveal a price, reports indicate the B12 hearse would cost $500,000. With even second-hand Phantoms going for AU$500,000 and above, a B12 wouldn't give an Aussie buyer much - if any - change out of a million.
Mechanically, the Biemme creation is unaltered, so that mean's the Phantom's 453hp 6.75 litre V12 and self-levelling air suspension is retained. The four-door body is also retained, which is in line with some of Biemme's other Mercedes-based hearses.
The hearse body extension is reported to be done entirely in aluminium, using 650+ feet of welds and 600 individually-assembled parts, including a casket compartment illuminated with LED lighting. All up, the Biemme B12 Phantom hearse comes out at 7 metres (23 feet) long, almost a metre longer than the production long wheelbase Phantom.
In addition to the B12 Phantom hearse, Biemme Special Cars also produce a range of hearses in four-door and the more conventional two-door style, generally on Mercedes-Benz platforms, but have also created a hearse based on Chrysler's PT Cruiser!
