55 Pontiac Superior Hearse/Ambulance combo body

Hello everyone, I just joined this board.

The reason is that I recently purchased the above mentioned 55 Pontiac Superior hearse/ambulance combo. Mine is configured as an ambulance with the two nurses seats in the back.

Where do I start? First I need some help/direction/guidance!
I need to replace most of the glass. I know from the rear doors back is all the superior body, so nothing is the same as a standard 55 Pontiac. In looking at the only info I can find on the web, it would appear the base car/chassis is a 55 pontiac convertible chassis, that gets extended by Superior, and than has their body added.
Key questions to get the restoration started:
1. Are there any web sites with detailed information on Superior vehicles
2. Is the windshield on a 55 Pontiac Hearse/Ambulance a convertible, sedan, hardtop or wagon windshield?
3. Are the front doors standard pontiac, or are they superior.

Those questions will help quite a bit with glass and weatherstripping info, along with door hardware into.

Lastly, are there any parts sites for Superior Ambulances?

Any help or guidance would be greatly appreciated.
 
Hi Steve, welcome aboard! BTW, you and I are practically neighbors! Congratulations on your purchase, a 55 Pontiac anything is a beautiful car and a combo, wow! There are folks here that know much more than I do, but I might know something, as I own a 68 Superior Pontiac ambulance. Some things are shared with 55 Pontiac passenger cars, the windshield being one of those things. I believe that the side windows are all flat glass, meaning any glazier can cut them for you. The rear door glass you will need to hunt for, but certainly a 55, 56 and I also think 57 and 58 Superior Pontiac rear loading door glass will fit. I think your car, as my car, started as a 4 door sedan, however yours may have been a wagon, I doubt it was a convertible, but I could be wrong. As for parts you need, list them in the Wanted section below, you will find some items from other members, as I did for mine. Also, search ebay as I did, I got lots of things there, too.

Good luck with your project! I would love to come see it, meet you and maybe offer a few suggestions, or help you in some way.

If you are not a PCS member, join, you will be glad you did. In addition, the Northeast Chapter is an active chapter that is local to you, you might like to join it too.
 
it was pointed out to me that superior used the wagon body for there Pon versions. there were other smaller players that built on sedans. the convertible was the least selling chassis for GM. if they were building ambulances and hearses on from them the numbers would be a lot higher. there is not a source for superior parts, there is for the GM side. as it's a standard chassis most of the components will be off the shelf heavy duty GM.
the only hard piece of glass will be the rear door if it is missing. I recently had the side glass for a 58 combo cut. it ran me 550 bucks for 6 pieces of clear glass. even if your glass is broken up it can be used for a pattern if all the edges are there. right and left is the same so either side can be used for both. molding for the superior body will be the same profile as the gm but one will have to do a cut and splice weld and buff to replace them. they were not a large number of them built so used parts are were you can find them.
 
Thanks to all. The convertible chassis info came from a Superior Brochure from 1955, sighting the additional strength of the reinforced convertible chassis's. It does also show that it was cut and extended to accommodate the body. My biggest question at the moment is which windshield is correct, as Pontiac had different windshield sizes in 1955 for Hardtops/Sedans/wagons, convertibles, and the Safari.

Bill, I attend the car shows in Pearl River NY on Friday nights, they should be getting started in the next week or so. On a good night, they'll be several hundred cars. nice setting surrounded by restaurants, bars, etc. I agree with you on anything 55, I have a 1,000+HP 55 Chevy Gasser that you'll see up at the Pearl River show from time to time......it's an unmolested original east coast gasser that was built in '67 in Gasoline Alley in Patterson. Only a very small handful of the left that are unmolested!

Appreciate the help on the Ambulance, looking forward to having fun with it. The biggest surprise for me, was that it has no door locks at all. I guess it was never intended for the NYC market.....lol
 
the glass is the 4 door sedan glass they would use the tallest one to get the flow of the body right. if you can scan that flier and post it. one can't have enough information. I will worn you don't crawl under that car. superior never did the extensions in a pretty manner.
 
the glass is the 4 door sedan glass they would use the tallest one to get the flow of the body right. if you can scan that flier and post it. one can't have enough information. I will worn you don't crawl under that car. superior never did the extensions in a pretty manner.

LOL, that is for sure. I did have it up on the rack, and we're going to clean up the extensions and reinforce them one more time, they look strong but you hit it right on the head, it was not done for show!
 
the glass is the 4 door sedan glass they would use the tallest one to get the flow of the body right. if you can scan that flier and post it. one can't have enough information. I will worn you don't crawl under that car. superior never did the extensions in a pretty manner.

Here you go, happy to share whatever I find. Here is the link that I printed the brochure from. Just under the brochure is a 55 Superior Ambulance in a beige color. That is my actual car about 25 years ago, before it's first restoration. It is now red/white.

http://http://www.pontiacsonline.com/Pontiac%20Professional%20Cars.htm
 
lot of stuff on there site .picture of mine on there also in the members area. you have to love the hip on the dealers flyers. that chassis is the same across all the gm lines and not the only one Superior built on.

but they say convertible and list the modal so now you have that information. as they are the same body one would believe 55 and 56 would be the same. this will let you know what to ask for when looking for parts. the picture shows the incomplete car as shipped. superiors numbers are known due to a right place, right time accident. the pro car chassis number of caddies people seam to be able to come up with. but I have never heard the numbers of other modals shipped incomplete.

the last sets people were telling me about were 53's so both could be right. the main thing one finds with these cars is nothing is consent.
 
OK, thanks for the response. I think I have found a place that sources all the 55 pontiac windshields. It's close by in NJ so I can actually run the car out there and have them fit it to make sure its right.

I'm definitely learning these are pretty darn unique. I also got a note from the gentlemen that posted the pics on the Pontiac site, the car that I thought was mine is actually the other ambulance/hearse that the town had. He pointed to one subtle difference that tells them apart.
 
Thanks John.

This car definitely has some mystery to how it was built. The standard 55 chevy/pontiac windshield did fit with no problem. However the standard 4 door sedan glass for the front doors did not fit. Going to have to have them cut custom. That is what they must have done, as there are no standard 55 pontiac door glass dimensions that fit what is in the car.

It's an interesting challenge!
 
The car is only gm from the cowl forward. Superior built everything else. The door is maybe a hybrid with the front inside shell bring a piece of the gm so it fits the cowl. They did that on some. The vent glass is standard gm but the door will be longer and possibly higher. I take it you are with out the original for a pattern? As they are flat right and left are the same.Then do you have the rubber groment for the quarter glass and the back glass? These are superior also not gm. The doors will run you about 200 buck each if you have to cut glass and replace all the run Chanel and seals. The weatherstripping is found in bulk at around 4 bucks a foot. Cut a small! Slice out of a place where it is not pushed out of shape and match it up from rubber the tight way, metro,. USA parts, steel rubber these are popular sites. Get into the habit off not telling parts men that it is a hearse they really get confused. Pon wagon will get you most chassis parts. As it did not start with the commercial chassis. Heavy duty wagon pieces are your best bet. There is not a lot of ready made stuff out there so never toss a piece no matter how bad it is till you are done with the car. Keep everything you will be surprised just how often you go Back and dig threw that pile for something or at least information on how did they do that.
 
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