A classic hearse from the 1940s, which is believed to be one of only two in existence, is being lovingly restored in Shropshire.

The Daimler DE36, which was first introduced in 1946, was the sister car to the DE36 built for King George VI for his royal tour in the late 1940s. Only about 60 DE36 hearses were built by Hooper & Co (Coachbuilders) Ltd of London and now funeral director Aubrey Kirkham is restoring one.

Mr Kirkham, of Aubrey Kirkham Funeral Directors in Frankwell, Shrewsbury, bought the vehicle, which has been off the road since 1973, in the Weymouth area and hopes to complete its restoration this year.

He says that the vehicle is powered by an eight cylinder 5.5 litre petrol engine, through a “pre-selector” gearbox, and when running correctly the engine itself is almost silent.

Mr Kirkham, said: “We are well under way with the restoration, with the engine being with a very fine engineer Harry Fabian, at Welshpool Engineering, who will have it running very, very soon.

“The car was taken off the road with less than 60,000 miles recorded back in 1973, and has sat in a shed since then until rescued by us this spring.”

He added: “It worked all its life in Hertfordshire.”

Mr Kirkham said the old registration number had also been recovered and he hopes to have it restored this year.

He said it would be available for people to use for funerals and for publicity for the funeral directors at shows.

“We’re going to restore it back to its former glory,” he added.

The DE36 entered production in 1946 and a variety of different bodies were produced and used for its chassis including saloon, limousine and drop head coupe styles.

Production of the DE36 finally ended in 1953. More than 200 were made overall, but only about 60 of these were hearses.

The Daimler Motor Company, which created the vehicle, was founded in 1896 and has a rich history.

Two years later the firm became the official transportation of royalty after the Prince of Wales, later Edward VII, was given a ride on a Daimler by John Scott-Montagu, Lord Montagu of Beaulieu.