Funeral Car Symbol?

Question

Does the "S" looking symbol on hearses have a name? If so what is it?

Answer 1

it's called a "landau bar".

wikipedia has a great definition, as i answered this question a few weeks ago.

but to make a long story short, it goes back to the horse and buggy days when "carriage type tops" had landau type bars which made the retracting of the canvas top be up or down.

hearses are the oldest professional vehicle around. and the landau bars have been a tradition on hearses ever since.

it's distinctive and classy.