1956 Meteor Cadillac Ambulance

Being a lover of the 56 Cadillac, and a Pro-Car lover, I have always liked this car. Bill I remember back when you had this car as your avatar picture. Wish I could aford it.

Josh
 
This coach was also owned by PCS Member Dr. Mickey Spivey of Kingsport, TN for a period of time around the 2006 time frame.
 
Is this a combination car that was originally from Minnesota?

Altura, MN
1956 Meteor combination
Ex-? F.H.

The rear window ambulance inserts were still in place when these photos were taken (late '70s?).

(SL collection; possibly by RW)
 

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That's not the one that was in Toronto in '85 is it?

That interior looks the same. That car was a tri-tone in beige and copper.
 
No Brady, I believe the tri tone belonged to Mahlon Thompson.
Yes it did. I was talking on the phone with a fellow PCS member just last week, and he was telling me about this car. I would love to see a pic of it if anyone has one. It sounds gorgious.

Josh
 
I do not wish to cause any big discussion here, but I would like to say a few things for the record.

1 I had no knowledge of this car being a combination, whether you believe differently is up to you.

2 Upon notification from Mr Loftin, I ended the ebay auction for this car. I did not want any prooblems.

3 The new owner was advised of the situation and his response was that he did not care if it was a combo, or an ambulance. He said he liked it and wanted it.

My feelings are that if you take a station wagon and use it as an ambulance, it is an ambulance. You know the old attage, "if it looks like a duck and quacks like a duck, it is a duck" I think this is true of many things and many situations in life, don't you?

I truly hope I have not opened a can of worms here. I only wanted to get this off my chest. Thank you for indulging my rambling.
 
I just wonder..............

I just wonder...........if this could be the combination that former PCS President Mahlon Thompson, of Cranbury, NJ, used to own? The interior colors match the exterior colors of the unit Mahlon owned...........his was a tri=color combination..............? I just wonder.......................?
 
I do not wish to cause any big discussion here, but I would like to say a few things for the record.

1 I had no knowledge of this car being a combination, whether you believe differently is up to you.

2 Upon notification from Mr Loftin, I ended the ebay auction for this car. I did not want any prooblems.

3 The new owner was advised of the situation and his response was that he did not care if it was a combo, or an ambulance. He said he liked it and wanted it.

My feelings are that if you take a station wagon and use it as an ambulance, it is an ambulance. You know the old attage, "if it looks like a duck and quacks like a duck, it is a duck" I think this is true of many things and many situations in life, don't you?

I truly hope I have not opened a can of worms here. I only wanted to get this off my chest. Thank you for indulging my rambling.
Bill, don't worry, this can of worms was already opened a while ago.

There is a judging committee that is working to define exactly what kind of professional car is what. There are some characteristics that make this one apparently originally a combination, notably the lack of a cabinet or tunnel lights. But then, there were some ambulances that may have been built without cabinets and tunnel lights but were built as ambulances. (ALL- PLEASE DON'T START TO CITE SPECIFIC EXAMPLES HERE, THIS IS NOT THE FORUM FOR IT.) And people make extensive changes to their cars all the time. This is why it's a difficult task.

If you paint a duck yellow, that doesn't make it a school bus. :stars:
 
Bill, don't worry, this can of worms was already opened a while ago.

There is a judging committee that is working to define exactly what kind of professional car is what. There are some characteristics that make this one apparently originally a combination, notably the lack of a cabinet or tunnel lights. But then, there were some ambulances that may have been built without cabinets and tunnel lights but were built as ambulances. (ALL- PLEASE DON'T START TO CITE SPECIFIC EXAMPLES HERE, THIS IS NOT THE FORUM FOR IT.) And people make extensive changes to their cars all the time. This is why it's a difficult task.

If you paint a duck yellow, that doesn't make it a school bus. :stars:

Thanks Steve, I appreciate your input. I do not consider myself an expert, I know that some of you know a lot more about these cars than I do. And, I guess there are other instances where we may all know that a car did not start out it's life as a professional car. Good examples are McClain flower cars that started out as Cadillac, or Lincoln sedans, they are still flower cars. And Amblewagons that started out as regular station wagons, but became hearses, or ambulances. I don't think anyone yelled "call the station wagon that poses as an ambulance" do you? Probably cars should be judged in a class they most resemble, it would end the hair-splitting, if you know what I mean.
 
the decision of the group was that cars should be judged as they were built. there are combo out there that never were used for anything but a hearse never had a light or siren installed. there still combos. not Hearses. there are combos that have never carried a casket. don't have rollers and are painted red and white. they are still combos.

this is most likly the case of this car. for all practical purposes is it a ambulance. as that is what it was used for and because they did not use it for dual purposes it's set up and equipped as a ambulance. but the tag under the hood says it's built as a combo. there for, for judging purpose it's a combo. as that is what it was built as.

conversions cars are a different class all together. what the car started out as is different then what it left the aftermarket factory as.

after all most of the Cadillac pro cars all started out as the same commercial chassis. they were then altered into ambulances, hearses, combinations and flower cars.

so what this red and white car is, is a combanation set up as a ambulance. the same as the god fathers Buick.

we have see that you can paint a combo yellow and call it a taxie. it's still a combo though
 
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