A professional car in modern times is an automobile

Automobile

An automobile, autocar, motor car or car is a wheeled motor vehicle used for transporting passengers, which also carries its own engine or motor...

 that has been modified with extensive coach

Coach (vehicle)

A coach is a large motor vehicle, a type of bus, used for conveying passengers on excursions and on longer distance express coach scheduled transport between cities - or even between countries...

work for service in livery

Livery

A livery is a uniform, insignia or symbol adorning, in a non-military context, a person, an object or a vehicle that denotes a relationship between the wearer of the livery and an individual or corporate body. Often, elements of the heraldry relating to the individual or corporate body feature in...

 transportation (i.e., as a limousine

Limousine

A limousine is a luxury sedan or saloon car, especially one with a lengthened wheelbase or driven by a chauffeur. The chassis of a limousine may have been extended by the manufacturer or by an independent coachbuilder. These are called "stretch" limousines and are traditionally black or white....

) or in funeral home

Funeral home

A funeral home, funeral parlor or mortuary, is a business that provides burial and funeral services for the deceased and their families. These services may include aprepared wake and funeral, and the provision of a chapel for the funeral....

 operations (hearse

Hearse

A hearse is a funerary vehicle used to carry a coffin from a church or funeral home to a cemetery. In the funeral trade, hearses are often called funeral coaches.-History:...

s or flower car

Flower car

A flower car is a type of vehicle used in the funeral industry, used to carry flowers for the burial service, or sometimes to carry the coffin under a bed of flowers. Built on the same commercial chassis as a hearse, the flower car has half-height rear bodywork on the rear similar to a pickup truck...

s). Professional cars often have longer wheelbase

Wheelbase

In both road and rail vehicles, the wheelbase is the distance between the centers of the front and rear wheels.- Road :In automobiles, the wheelbase is the horizontal distance between the center of the front wheel and the center of the rear wheel...

s, and longer coachwork

Coachwork

Coachwork is the body of a horse-drawn coach or carriage, a motor vehicle , a railroad car or railway carriage. Usually reserved for bodies built on a separate chassis, rather than being of unitary or monocoque construction...

 than their civilian counterparts.

Up until 1980 ambulance

Ambulance

An ambulance is a vehicle for transportation of sick or injured people to, from or between places of treatment for an illness or injury, and in some instances will also provide out of hospital medical care to the patient...

s were also available on professional car chassis, such as those built by Cadillac

Cadillac

Cadillac is an American luxury vehicle marque owned by General Motors . Cadillac vehicles are sold in over 50 countries and territories, but mostly in North America. Cadillac is currently the second oldest American automobile manufacturer behind fellow GM marque Buick and is among the oldest...

 or Packard. Combination car

Combination car

For the railroad vehicle, see Combine car.A combination car was a vehicle built upon a "professional car" chassis which could be employed either as a hearse or as an ambulance, and had the capability of being swapped between those roles without much difficulty...

s, which could be utilized either as an ambulance, a first call vehicle

First Call vehicle

The First Call vehicle is a vehicle used in the funeral service industry. This type of vehicle is used to pick up the remains of a recently deceased person, and transport that person to the funeral home for preparation. This initial pickup is called the "first call", hence the name of these...

, or as a hearse, were also used. Since that time, legal and professional requirements concerning ambulance construction have generally made car-based ambulances impractical. See History of the ambulance#Move to life saving.2C not just transporting for details.

External links

• www.Professionalcarsociety.org The Official Website of the premier professional car club, the Professional Car Society. The Professional Car Society was found in 1977, and has over 1100 members world wide. For general or technical information, you can't find a better source than the members of the Professional Car Society.
• www.Professionalcar.org An enthusiast community and message forum specializing in hearses, flower cars, car-based ambulances, limousines. Free and open to all enthusiasts. Website includes historical information, free technical resources and assistance, videos, and information about these vehicles.
• Professional Oldsmobiles