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Side Loaders: Henney Nu-3-Way

Last updated on Tuesday, June 10th, 2014

Side loading hearses, as the name implies, allows for the loading and unloading of the casket through the side doors, making for a more dignified service. Rather than standing in the gutter behind the car, the bearers could be on the lawn. With the addition of the optional LevelDraulic, it could be kept perfectly level even when the roadway was not. Henney called their system, which was available as a powered or a manual model, the Nu-3-Way. On the manual models, the table could also be pulled through the rear door while power tables moved out the sides only.

The side loading funeral car was not a new thing, having been available on hearses since sometime in the '20s or possibly even earlier. There were various methods of doing it but Henney used the Eureka system, which Henney made popular. This system was comprised of a mound, or structure added to the rear floor, in which metal or wood guides and a sliding mechanism were built, with a table on top which contained the casket rollers and bier pins. This table is what extended out of the coach. Models with the side loading feature generally had the higher casket because of the necessary mechanism added to the floor.

One of the earliest Henney Nu-3-Way models, this 1928 coach was built on Henney's own chassis. The side loading tables were built by Eureka and sold to manufacturers such as Henney.

As of the exclusive arrangement between Packard and Henney the previous year, this Nu-3-Way for 1938 is on the Packard commercial chassis and was one of the first to include the optional Electraulic which automated the table's movements using a hydraulic system. Before that, the table needed to be pulled out by hand.

Due to America's involvement and commitment to WWII, most auto production came to a stop early into the 1942 production when all factories turned their services over to war-time manufacturing. Because of that, any 1942 automobile is rare today and it is especially so of the professional cars such as this.

A feature that was available on the Nu-3-Way models was Henney's Leveldraulic which kept the car level side to side when loading or unloading at the curb. This 1948 shows the feature in use from a very dramatic angle.

From the Webmaster's collection, this 1952 Henney Nu-3-Way limousine style coach in a sight that is not often seen - at a car show. This particular car won a number of awards through the years, including the long distance award at a Professional Car Society meet in Freeport, Illinois. In all original low mileage condition, it drove there and back from San José, California without any problems and is shown here at a show at the Sunol Country Club just north of San José where it was on display only. After spending several years in New Mexico with another owner, it is now located in Australia.

This gorgeous 1952 Landau shows off the feature in full style and elegance. The landau feature, which blanked off the rear wrap around windows and gave the coach a very formal look, was an option that was available at extra cost for most Henney professional cars including ambulances although ordering it on an ambulance was not common.

The table could be extended out either door. On the power models such as this 1952, unlocking the table on one side or the other caused the bench seat to move forward automatically (a little farther than it would have on a conventional passenger car with a power seat) while earlier models had individual "bucket" type seats that needed to be moved forward individually by hand to give clearance for the table. Once the seat was out of the way, moving another lever started the table in motion, which could be stopped at any position desired. The table could be actuated from the controls on either side ragardless of which side was unlocked.