Hearse version

Hi

There was a guy who was supposed to take part in making a video with somebody and he said: I was driving a Humber Super Snipe at the time, which was a big old bus of a thing, and I'd bought a hearse version for spare parts, so before we carved it up, I thought I'd take it for a spin in the video.

--- OK, I understand that he bought HSS car and it was pretty big (like a bus) and it was a hearse version (like cars that we see during funerals) and that he bought it for spare parts (it's strange to me. Is he saying that he bought this car to dismantle it later, but before he would do it, he wanted to drive it during the video film he was supposed to make?) Is my reasoning correct???