Over a year ago I saw and considered the 1971 Stoner GMC Suburban in this thread but ended up taking no action:
http://www.professionalcarsociety.org/forums/showthread.php?t=15074&highlight=1971
Well, the truck never really left my mind so on a whim in late July I contacted the seller through eBay to find out if it ever sold. The seller got back to me with the news that it indeed sold and was paid for but the buyer, a Toronto PCS member, never got transportation arranged so it was still sitting on his property. He agreed to give me the buyers contact info and after some discussion the buyer decided to sell it to me.
By last week I was finally able to arrange my own transport so yesterday a friend with a very nice tow rig and I undertook the 800 mile journey to retrieve my dream ambulance.
See more photos here:
http://public.fotki.com/Classicchp/1971-gmc-ambulance/
What I like about this rig is that is was always fire department owned while in-service, first by Okanogan County FPD in Washington from new-1979 then Etna FD in California from 1979-2000 and is built on the less common GMC 3/4 ton Suburban. It is equipped nicely on the Super Custom model and includes lots of heavy-duty component options plus factory A/C and the 402 cid big block under the hood. The owner started to undertake a conversion to a race car hauler but stopped midway and the vehicle just sat untitled or registered for nearly 15 years. Thankfully he kept some of the ambulance parts but guess I will be scrounging for or recreating the missing stuff.
Just started to inspect everything today but from what I've seen so far I'm very happy with the purchase...honestly feel like a kid on Christmas morning! Will definitely be picking some brains (esp. anyone else with a Stoner) and posting updates here as I proceed with this long awaited project.
http://www.professionalcarsociety.org/forums/showthread.php?t=15074&highlight=1971
Well, the truck never really left my mind so on a whim in late July I contacted the seller through eBay to find out if it ever sold. The seller got back to me with the news that it indeed sold and was paid for but the buyer, a Toronto PCS member, never got transportation arranged so it was still sitting on his property. He agreed to give me the buyers contact info and after some discussion the buyer decided to sell it to me.
By last week I was finally able to arrange my own transport so yesterday a friend with a very nice tow rig and I undertook the 800 mile journey to retrieve my dream ambulance.
See more photos here:
http://public.fotki.com/Classicchp/1971-gmc-ambulance/
What I like about this rig is that is was always fire department owned while in-service, first by Okanogan County FPD in Washington from new-1979 then Etna FD in California from 1979-2000 and is built on the less common GMC 3/4 ton Suburban. It is equipped nicely on the Super Custom model and includes lots of heavy-duty component options plus factory A/C and the 402 cid big block under the hood. The owner started to undertake a conversion to a race car hauler but stopped midway and the vehicle just sat untitled or registered for nearly 15 years. Thankfully he kept some of the ambulance parts but guess I will be scrounging for or recreating the missing stuff.
Just started to inspect everything today but from what I've seen so far I'm very happy with the purchase...honestly feel like a kid on Christmas morning! Will definitely be picking some brains (esp. anyone else with a Stoner) and posting updates here as I proceed with this long awaited project.