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This explains much about the Ghostbusters.

I can just imagine one turning up and saying "bloody hell mate, bit eager aren't you?"

Back in the early days of my career as a paramedic, I worked for an ambulance service in a small town. It was owned by the same guy who owned the funeral home. Our ambulance bay was shared with a couple of hearses, and our crew room was behind the cooler.

Sometimes if things were busy on the other side, we would do some body transport, preparation, etc.... Definitely one of the more interesting times in my career.

Haha, right this way into this hearse sir. You'll be just fine 🙂

OMG! This might explain why in Ithaca NY the ambulance company garage is right next to a funeral home with the same name!! I've always been very perplexed by that! (Obligatory "If I have an emergency I hope they call the right one!" dad joke every time I pass it)

I have a sudden urge to rewatch EMERGENCY!

I detect a slight conflict of interest with this set up.

Yes, ma'am. I've killed Doyle Hargraves with a lawnmower blade. Yes, ma'am, I'm right sure of it. I hit him two good whacks in the head with it. That second one just plum near cut his head in two... It's a lil' ol' white house on the corner of Vine Street and some other street. There's a pick-up truck out front that says "Doyle Hargraves Construction" on it. Doyle said besides sending the police, you might wanna send an ambulance or a "hearst". I'll be sitting here, waiting on ye.

Better hope the delivery instructions are clear.

Maybe some car buffs could confirm, I remember some ambulances were modified Cadillac station wagons. White with red trim and black for a hearse.

Yeah, really! Better hope the funeral home guy isn't too greedy.

Funeral home people greedy? The very thought….

Lots of small towns it was same vehicle. Color other than black & they had a light could put up on the roof & siren under the hood. Grew up in small town Illinois & all the towns around we're that way.

We have the same thing in Montebello, California, a suburb of Los Angeles.

Risher Mortuary is next door to Risher Ambulance. I always thought it would be funny if their hearse had one of those customized license plate frames that reads "My other car is an ambulance."

My mom was a cheerleader in high school in a small town in the ‘60s. They would go to away games in the family car from the local funeral home. They were late to games once or twice because of funerals.

Hey, I'd take that over the $1000 ambulance ride I had last time I called 911...

Only true is small towns.

originally ambulance attendants were called coroner's assistants.

The wikipedia article about paramedics gives insight into this.

A key quote: "In 1966, a report called Accidental Death and Disability: The Neglected Disease of Modern Society—commonly known as The White Paper—was
published in the United States. This paper presented data showing that
soldiers who were seriously wounded on the battlefields during the Vietnam War had a better survival rate than individuals who were seriously injured in motor vehicle accidents on California's freeways."

This eventually led to equipping ambulances with life saving equipment and trained paramedics. This started in the US in the late 60s and early 70s, and has spread to the rest of the world.

I had a friend whose dad was a tradie. He bought an old hearse as a work car because of the size and well, it was cheap. Took his wife to the hospital to give birth to my friend and the nurses freaked out about a hearse being parked in the parking lot. It had signage on it for his business and he explained that it wasn't used as a hearse but they called the cops. Cops were all so what, it's a vehicle, it's registered, it's insured. Perfectly legal. Just call us if they try to go home in that because there is nowhere to put a baby capsule.

At least in the U.S. this is unlikely to be a concern. Ambulance billing on a per-mile basis can be really high!

So if they knew the guy was rich they would bonk him on the head

Things were busy on the other side you say?