1962 Dodge Modular Ambulance

Nicholas Studer

PCS Elected Director 2022-2025
http://ocala.craigslist.org/cto/4854883067.html

No idea on the coachbuilder. Owner claims in the listing that it's a 1962. If that's actually true - then it would predate the 1963 Swab Wagon modular ambulance built for Baltimore. Both Swab and Dr. Bell in "The Ambulance" state that one to be the first Type 1 Modular ever built.

I'm no expert in Dodge trucks by any means. Brief Internet research seems to show the 1962-1965 looks pretty similar in terms of the front that is all I can judge on. Even if that late, this would still be a very early example of the Type I modular, and very cool. Too bad it looks as trashed as it does - $1500 it is not.

Anyone got better ideas?
 

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To me it,looks more like a rail road ,gas co etc type of field support vehicle.

Maybe - interesting idea I hadn't thought of. It's hard to tell much about the inside with no interior photos, but you can see a bench seat and so forth from the side photos. The double windows seem consistent too. Exterior compartments are similar to most ambulances (vintage and today) that I've seen. http://www.emsmuseum.org/virtual-museum/amad/articles/398220-1971-Ambulance-SWAB-Modular and http://www.coachbuilt.com/bui/s/swab/swab.htm

I also note red lenses on the front, and certainly anyone could've added them at any point - but it'd be rather unusual for a non-emergency vehicle.
 
A couple of things. First, with the multiple compartments, I suspect this is a rescue truck (tools and equipment) more so than an ambulance. Now some rescues did also have capability to transport a patient on a stretcher, so it's a gray area.

Second, we do know for a fact that the 1963/64 Swab box ambulances built for Baltimore FD were far from the first box ambulances built. Swab likes to claim that (and I'm a Swab fan and a Baltimore FD fan), but it's just not true. Franklin built box ambulances for New York City and other departments back in the early '50s, and there were domestic civilian box ambulances during WWII. Photo below of a '52 Franklin International for NYC. Similar units were built in CA.
 

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Steve - Very cool indeed. I actually found photos of a Franklin ambulance the other day. Apparently it was for sale on eBay in 2013 from New Jersey. I wonder where it went - certainly unique.
 

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A couple of things. First, with the multiple compartments, I suspect this is a rescue truck (tools and equipment) more so than an ambulance. Now some rescues did also have capability to transport a patient on a stretcher, so it's a gray area.

Second, we do know for a fact that the 1963/64 Swab box ambulances built for Baltimore FD were far from the first box ambulances built. Swab likes to claim that (and I'm a Swab fan and a Baltimore FD fan), but it's just not true. Franklin built box ambulances for New York City and other departments back in the early '50s, and there were domestic civilian box ambulances during WWII. Photo below of a '52 Franklin International for NYC. Similar units were built in CA.
From the looks of the rear fenders, this rig must have had quite a rough life squeezing in between dumpsters in narrow alleys?
 
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