1960 Pontiac combo

[Harry Evans]

http://indianapolis.craigslist.org/cto/2655103221.html

1960 Pontiac Ambulance - $5800 (Matthews)
Date: 2011-10-21, 10:33AM EDT
Reply to: sale-jvya6-2655103221@craigslist.org [Errors when replying to ads?]
1960 Pontiac Ambulance - 389 automatic; all original all the way down to lights, siren and gurney! Still has original paint but could use a new paint job; no rust on exterior; front floor boards have been patched; car originally out of Arkansas; runs and drives; great project to restore or drive as is; very cool ride!

For more information and pictures please call 765-667-5556. I am not set up to receive text messages or emails! CALLS ONLY PLEASE~ Thank you!

 

[Keith Snyder]

Nice. When was the last time you saw one of these? Worth saving.

 

[Paul Steinberg]

Nice. When was the last time you saw one of these? Worth saving.

About 3 weeks ago, Danny Ryder posted pictures of an ambulance that he traded to his body man a few years ago that was for sale for $5000. It is a V-8 with a 3 speed column shift car (3 on the tree). What is interesting about that car is that it has red directional lenses, which I have never seen before.

 

[Harry Evans]

Danny's posting for a very reasonable 1960 Pontiac was for a SWB car rather than this LWB combo. If I could get either I would, as the idea of a 389 and a 3-speed in an ambulance is unusual, but sounds like so much fun. Back in the day, when manual ambulances were driven in a hurry, how did the clutches hold up? I guess it was only a problem until automatics became commonplace.

 

[Paul Steinberg]

Clutches held up very well if the driver knew how to drive a shift, and if they were not well versed with a standard transmission, they didn't hold up well at all. By the 1960's, there was a whole new generation getting their licenses on automatic transmission cars, and they never learned how to drive a standard transmission car. I remember in college one of those people. He went to the local Rambler dealer, and bought a car. He didn't know how to shift, and he drove it in 1st gear only, until the clutch gave out a few days later. Traded that on another car, but this time bought an automatic. The biggest problem with 3 speed cars is that as the shifting mechanism wore, the shifting lever got very sloppy and became increasingly difficult to shift gears.