Propello Rays

Hello. I'm currently restoring my 59 Mercury Memphian ambulance, and I need 2 propello rays and 2 spotlights with the Ford type of mounting brackets. Any help would be appreciated.
 
Do you need free standing Propello Ray lights, or do you need just the light mechanism to install into a housing that is built into the car? The mounting brackets for the spotlights are cut into the tops of the fenders. They are Unity part number 131 & 131RH. Depending on the type of spotlight that you desire, I might be able to help you, since I have a large inventory of NOS (New Old Stock) obsolete spotlights.
 
Do you need free standing Propello Ray lights, or do you need just the light mechanism to install into a housing that is built into the car? The mounting brackets for the spotlights are cut into the tops of the fenders. They are Unity part number 131 & 131RH. Depending on the type of spotlight that you desire, I might be able to help you, since I have a large inventory of NOS (New Old Stock) obsolete spotlights.
I need the free standing lights that mount on the front of the roof. The fenders already have the holes for the spotlight brackets, but the spotlights got stolen in storage. It used to have a rectangular light with a mirror on the back.
 
I bought it 2 years ago and it's been sitting in storage while I finished some other projects. My plan is to restore it mechanically by the summer and enjoy it like that for a while before I paint it. I haven't decided whether to go back to the original two tone blue, or repaint it orange.
 
Hopefully Paul will have something for you, but unfortunately the rectangular spots with mirrors are much harder to find than the common round unity lights, and almost unobtainable with good chrome. The mechanics are roughly the same though, so maybe a nice round set can serve in their place until you find the right ones. Nice, new looking standard Unity spots can still be found regularly for under $100 a piece if you know where to look, I see them in antique malls all the time. The important dimension is the shaft length. The right brackets are still out there NOS as well, Paul might have those. Not to be discouraging, but I would expect you would have to pay 4x as much for the correct rectangular spots with the mirrors, maybe even for just the heads. Even the round ones with a mirror bolted to the back are harder to find.
 
I bought it 2 years ago and it's been sitting in storage while I finished some other projects. My plan is to restore it mechanically by the summer and enjoy it like that for a while before I paint it. I haven't decided whether to go back to the original two tone blue, or repaint it orange.

PLEASE keep it the original color combination! Orange wouldn't be appropriate for any ambulance in 1959.
 
Well, the Anadarko Fire Department obviously felt the color orange was appropriate for the car or they wouldn't have painted it that color.
 
Many, many old ambulances were re-painted Omaha Orange in the '70s, however it would have been extremely rare to find any ambulance painted Omaha Orange in 1959.
 
Orange wouldn't be appropriate for any ambulance in 1959.


Really? Why? Was there a shortage of orange paint in 1959?

It seemed appropriate in 1957:

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That would be red, white, and gold. Omaha Orange would have been a very rare color on any ambulance in 1957 and 1959!
 
Personally, I'm leaning towards painting it blue again. I think the car looks strange orange with a blue interior. A lot of people love the way it looks now, however, with the weathered paint and original lettering on the sides.
 
for some reason people think ratty when they think old. the nice part about unity spots as they will all interchange one you have the mounts and proper shafts exchanging heads is easy. i don't think I have see a set of square heads that adjusted for in side . all I have see had a handle cast in the rear and you moved them by hand
 
The FOMOCO spotlights had square heads, and fixed mirrors. I am not certain if they were made by Unity, or by a contract provider to Ford Motor Company. I have seen them at swap meets, and they usually sell for a lot of money, unless they are extremely pitted. Unity also made spotlights that had a similar look as the OEM units, with small differences, that only a Ford person might detect. Both were made out of pot metal, and were very susceptible to pitting. Unless you know first hand that they were the rectangular units, they very well might have been Unity round units. I doubt that anyone is ever going to know the difference, unless you have a picture of the car with rectangular spotlights in an album with the car.
Also, at some point in time, Unity did make some changes to the physical spotlight parts, and not all of the old parts will fit the newer spotlights.
 
There are some old pictures of the car floating around that show the spotlight. As soon as I figure out how to post pictures on here, I will. I am more concerned with the propello rays right now since the spotlights are easier to find.
 
It's definitely a darker orange, but it still has that paint job and it's orange. Old pictures aren't necessarily true to the exact colors.
 
It's definitely a darker orange, but it still has that paint job and it's orange. Old pictures aren't necessarily true to the exact colors.

I suppose I could've been wrong about the original owner, warning lights, and colors of the car.

Thanks for the information. I don't have much experience with Oklahoma procars or photography in general...but I'm learning!
 
Hello. I'm currently restoring my 59 Mercury Memphian ambulance, and I need 2 propello rays and 2 spotlights with the Ford type of mounting brackets. Any help would be appreciated.

Did the original siren come with the car, or are you going to use something else?
 
I'm not disagreeing with you on anything about the car except for the color. Any information I have about it's history comes from your earlier posts about the car. I am using your info and pictures as a guideline in my restoration. I only say it's orange because I own it and it's definitely orange. All the emergency equipment was missing. I have a federal 17 beacon already, and Kevin O'Connell said he had a Sterling 20 for me. I see the spotlights on ebay a lot, so I am mostly looking for the propello rays.
 
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