LAWRENCE, Kan. (AP) – The daytime motorcade trundling through the streets behind a shiny black hearse, all with headlights on, is a hallmark of today’s funerals.

But, of course, death predates cars and electric lights – and so do hearses, the Lawrence Journal-World reported.

A Lawrence funeral home now has a vehicle for the deceased to be sent off in style from a bygone era: a horse-drawn hearse.

Jim Larkin, owner of Warren-McElwain Mortuary and Cremation Services, purchased the antique hearse in 2006 and had it restored. The hearse made its Lawrence debut at Lawrence’s Old-Fashioned Christmas Parade.

Larkin said he has shared photos with the owner of the firm that built the hearse and is awaiting verification of its history. But according to the retired Kentucky funeral home director he bought it from, it was first built in the 1870s by the Sayers and Scovill Co. in Ohio, known as one of the finer carriage builders.

The renovation process required custom work. In addition to painting the hearse black and replacing the frail curtain fabric inside, Larkin had a blacksmithing school in California create period-correct brakes and rebuild each wheel. The wheels were soaked for months in a mixture of kerosene and linseed oil, and re-varnished when finished.

“I’ve always liked old and unique items,” said Larkin, who has been a funeral home owner since 1972. He said at Warren-McElwain, which has locations in Lawrence and Eudora, his finds on display include stained-glass windows that are more than 100 years old and a wall clock that’s more than 200 years old.

Warren-McElwain has made arrangements to use specialty vehicles from motorcycles to fire trucks for funerals, said Lisa Manley, co-manager of the funeral home along with Audrey Bell.

But unlike those, the horse-drawn hearse belongs to Warren-McElwain. Manley said it costs more than a vehicle hearse to use in a funeral, because of some extra arrangements including hiring a horse and driver, but that it’s available anytime. She said it also would require a special permit from the city to drive in the streets.

The horse-drawn hearse is an elegant vehicle, they said, noting its large spoke wheels, gold lanterns, a tassled red curtain in the window and carvings on the outside.

“We enjoy just standing there and looking at it,” Bell said.

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Information from: Lawrence (Kan.) Journal-World, http://www.ljworld.com

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AP-WF-12-31-14 1522GMT