Can anyone identify the coach builder of this 1959 Ford Fairlane ambulance for sale?

Sold · 1956 Ford fairlane Ambulance​

Bill Leverett said:

Was this vehicle on an episode of the Barn Find Hunter in the last year?

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Ever Seen One? 1956 Ford Fairlane Ambulance

Most vintage ambulances and hearses that pop up here on Barn Finds are usually customized Cadillacs and other high-end vehicles. This 1956 example is the first time I’ve seen one as a Ford Fairlane (or more appropriately a Country Sedan as Ford had different names for wagons in those days)...

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Most vintage ambulances and hearses that pop up here on Barn Finds are usually customized Cadillacs and other high-end vehicles. This 1956 example is the first time I’ve seen one as a Ford Fairlane (or more appropriately a Country Sedan as Ford had different names for wagons in those days). Other than the lights on the roof, it looks like an ordinary 4-door station wagon. It has a Y-block V8 (that replaced the flathead) that might run with a little work. Stored indoors, this dusty Ford is in Paso Robles, California, and is available here on Facebook Marketplace (or it was four weeks ago) for $6,500.

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After a major refresh in 1955, the Ford lineup was mostly unchanged in 1956 (it takes a sharp eye to tell them apart aside from turn signals). The portfolio had three basic trim levels, Mainline, Customline, and Fairlane. And within the Fairlane, the station wagons were Country Sedans and Country Squires, with the latter being “woodies” with imitation wood paneling on the sides (the real woodies ended in 1951). So as best we can tell, the seller’s wagon is a 4-door Country Sedan that’s been converted in some fashion to carry the sick and/or wounded.

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This dusty and dirty project is said to have a Y-block V8, but they came in three displacements in 1956: 272, 292, and 312 cubic inches (so take your pick as to which one is in the seller’s wagon, original or not). It’s paired with an automatic transmission (Cruise-O-Matic?), There were a lot of these running around when new as Ford built more than 87,000 Country Sedans that year with a variety of door and seating configurations.

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We’re told the exterior and interior are brown in color, but white for the outside sounds more logical. And some cosmetic work is needed in the rear (no taillights, for example). If this really was an ambulance and not just a station wagon with extra lights, this could be a cool conversation piece at Cars & Coffee. Hail to “Zappenduster” for another cool tip!

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