Vintage Hearse + Ambulance

What are the things on the side of a hearse?
The decorative S-shaped metallic bars are called Landau bars. The Landau bar depicts the folding roof structure on a Landau carriage seen on vehicles from the late era of carriages and even early era of automobiles. They were originally attached to a soft top that could be folded back during nice weather. They represented fine-quality carriages and cars and were kept as part of the prestigious design.
Since the mid-1940s, landau bars have been used on hearses in the United States.