Sure, driving around, they get looks. The what-are-you-doing-driving-a-hearse-to-Wal-Mart? sort of looks.
That attention is part of the appeal. The car also fits their lifestyle, their business, their look.

Dan White insists it’s not a bad ride – when it’s not your last.

He and wife Gina bought their 1990 Chevrolet Caprice hearse two years ago on eBay. The Whites shopped for a year before finding the perfect fit: mint condition; 58,000 miles. During its 16 years in service at Day Funeral Home in Vermont, the hearse shuttled roughly 15,000 people to their final resting places. Since then, MORBID1 has ferried groceries and family, teen goths to the prom, celebrating divorcees and birthday party guests.

To accommodate the living, the Springvale couple ripped out part of the back where coffins used to go and installed a mini-van seat, DVD player and kicking stereo system. The plush, blood-red upholstery is all original.

“We took the grandchildren apple-picking in it; it was like a clown car,” with kids piling out the back, Dan White said. “When they see a hearse, they say, ‘There’s Grampy and Granny’s car.'”

Shortened versions of “Dead Sled” and “Last Ride” were considered for the license plate. MORBID1 allows for expansion, White said. (MORBID2, MORBID3.) And it fits with their business. Under the name Morbid Productions, they make pet caskets – one for Daisy, their not-yet-dead dog, is the floor model – and run a haunted attraction, Dragoken’s Dungeon, in the basement of a mill in Somersworth, N.H., around Halloween.

Both husband and wife wear eye-popping contacts all fall to stay in character. (Hers are blue and yellow; his are cat’s eyes.) He’ll dress in creepy coats and tails; she in a gothic bustiere. Both are members of the International Haunted House Association.

“He’s the keeper, and I’m the mistress of the keeper. I usually just handle the ticket booth,” said Gina, smiling. She answers questions, helps set the scene.

“We tell them to close the door behind them – we don’t want anything getting out.”

They get a lot of double looks driving around in the hearse, she said. Some bystanders laugh. Some draw the sign of the cross on their chest.

Jim Parks of Sanford hired the Whites two years ago to drive him and his wife, Judy, around on her 60th birthday.

“She was thrilled to have me think of doing something unusual,” Parks said. “She would only suggest it, though, for someone with a good sense of humor.”

She has one.

“They come and pick us up and they’re dressed like undertakers,” he said.

The Parks sipped champagne in the back and enjoyed the ride to an upscale eatery in Wells.

“Here a hearse drives up, Beach Boys music blaring.You should have seen the looks on the patrons’ faces. We had a ball,” he said.

Gina or Dan always has to pop out of the front seat to let any passengers out of the back, whether they be grandkids or revelers. Not surprisingly, there aren’t any door handles on the inside of the back of a hearse.