1969 Stoner Ambulance

[John ED Renstrom]

I'll start this right now the rig is in it's as found state. sone rust on this one in strange places and normal spots. a quick repaint is pealing but that is not a problem as it will need striped any way. it didn't lose any parts coming up. so that's a good thing. I did discover that it was just riding on the trailer when I got to my sister's house at 1 AM. that ride through the destruction Texas calls repairs really tossed it around. it was all on there the last gas stop. not that impressed with the straps vers chains. left my camera some were in Texas. most likely the storage unit that was the last time I remember touching it. in our hast to get out of there unload one car and put stuff in the stoner who knows were I set it down. but lucky I have a spair here at home.

 

[John ED Renstrom]

here are the rest. right side is the worse. the rig has the deluxe trim package. bucket seats trim around the glass and below the windows and lower body. so in it's day it was a top suburban.

 

[John ED Renstrom]

so, we once again did the great American car scuffle. I moved everything in I could before we took off just in case the least amount with hail damage the better. moved a 1960 ,64, 69, 86 92 and a 2022. left a 28,53, 67, 63 ,74 and the 96 where they were. the other 72 is still in the hospital but progress was made on it while I was gone. my threat to bring it home and finish it myself must have stirred the pot. it was 103 today so flopped the workday and did Vido games 3 to 6 and then moved the cars. getting those covers off and on is not a lot of fun. remember the secrete is to do at least one positive thing a day. yesterday we got it off the Trailor today we got it into the garage. forward movement

 

[John ED Renstrom]

played around with the rear pillars today. they are the only mystery. thought about removing the iron that holds the top in place but of course there are rusted solid. it was a try, broke a bit playing with them. took the needle scaler and cleaned up the mess back there. as best as we could . don't understand were the water got into the panel between the fiber glass top and the steel body. looks like we will need to pull the headlined down on the corners to avoid damage to it. whomever painted the last coat did a quicken clean up paint. it is coming off everywhere in sheets pulled off a lot getting the numbers off. we'll get started pulling things apart. getting ready to start striping. and a inventory of patch panels we will need. looks like we will need to pull the windshield the is flaking rust at the body joint there on both sides. every bit of seam sealer is falling off. all the weather seals are half gone as will as the glass rubber. lucky for this one everything is still being repoped

 

[John ED Renstrom]

we began the take apart stage. the take apart stage is still the discovery stage as you find thing as you go and develop the planning stage of how to fix things. start on one corner and work your way around the rig. I decided to start on the front because that was where I was standing. but first we change the plugs in the short box truck. we did have one that was not firing. then it's brave the heat and get some of the front end apart. the lower part of the right fender had come threw but it's on the inside. with the amount of rust on this rig you would think it came out of New York not Calf. but desert is hard on them to. the seals go first and water gets in. don't forget to lable things and keep you panels in a different jars. the side light on the 69 were just reflectors

 

[Paul Steinberg]

Starting in 1968, the Federal Safety Standard required both front and rear side illuminated marking lights when the parking lights or headlights were illuminated. Possibly someone cut the bulb holder off the wiring harness.
Make sure to use a good-quality line wrench on the air conditioning fittings, and plug them when they are removed. Dirt is the biggest enemy of the air conditioning system. I would suggest that you have the compressor, receiver drier, and expansion valve sent to Classic Air for restoration, and when it comes time to refill the system with refrigerant, use R12 for optimal system performance. Depending on the condition of the hoses, it might be wise to have them fitted with new hose.

 

[John ED Renstrom]

So this one is an early 69. You will notice there is no hole in the reflector for the bulb. About all we are going to do on the heater ac unit on this one is change the heater core. Not sure if the ac is working or not. Nick didn't say. But some things are best left to people that do that for a living. Or people with experience in that field. My task is to get the body sound.

 

[John ED Renstrom]

moved around to the left got the cowl vent off going to need a hood to cowl seal for sure on this one. don't make the mistake of tossing stuff in the trash at this point. save everything no matter what condition it is in. when the job is done then get rid of the junk. discover hitch hikers under the vent. glad they had already jumped ship. we are putting all we can in the tub, but the bigger moldings will need a different safe place. it is looking more like I will have to pull the head liner to fix the top so inside the rig is out found were the water was getting threw the cowl into the inside. as the sealer dried up water got under it and has places pinhole. they used a lot of pop on clips on the rig most of them are will sealed as it got hot it melted the foam on to the body. we broke most of them in two at the canter. here is hoping we can find enough of them to put the wide trim back on. notice the front top missed the spot welds in the front corner on the left wonder if the warrantee is still in force. one wiper transmision was lose too. Nick wanted to be sure to save the Macdonald tags on the door. they were put on with stainless securety rivets so we had to chisel them off.

 

[John ED Renstrom]

I couldn't figure out why all the rust in the door jam till I took that trim pad off. it trickled down on the ride up. proof I got the tags off in one piece. ran the needle scaler across the cowl notice the difference. the holes on the front side drain out the back one drain in. looks like the whole front is a set of holes were the glass top sits on the steel. but I don't see any marks on the headliner. but they are all over a brace.

 

[Paul Steinberg]

The decorated heads of those rivets are difficult and expensive to find. We used to cut off the back of the rivet to save the head, and then put them back with clear fiberglass bonding compound. Glue the tags on that way also, and no one was the wiser.

 

[John ED Renstrom]

The HP here has them in case you need to remove a tag off the dash for a repair. they come down check the tag on the car then give you two to put it back on with. I was amused that the company used them on this one.

 

[Philip Scanio]

Is that Texas inspection sticker from 1997?

 

[John ED Renstrom]

I think it's a base sticker, but I'll look tomorrow. I have not seen a rig rust from the top down. all the damage o this one is from that direction. started getting thing off the roof and decided to bite the Bulit and pull the head liner in the cab. it has to come out so we can see what we are looking at know there are holes threw on the driver's side at least. got a good start the ten thousand stables in the nail one wasn't bad but the bunch in the plywood are not fun. I don't ford up as well as I use to. don't let me forget to put a dot in the center so we can get it lined up going back in. got to get the pinner cleaned up, the chevy meet is in Rapid next week. might as will show it off as I joined that club at the Auto Mall. they have it scheduled for 100+ Sunday threw Thursday. might be fun on the show field Tuesday. that shot of the lighter in the truck it works never been used, how about that

 

[Philip Scanio]

I took a closer look, it is Oklahoma. Was that the unit that was at NASA?

 

[John ED Renstrom]

it was based at McDonald Duglas plant on OK. so got the head liner down. used the old speaker magnet to collect all the stapes. saves a lot of clean up. damage is on the right side; the right cowl vent is full of leaves also. looks like this one was sitting in the trees for a long time. I did get one of the door stickers of with only a little damage so hung it on the big door.

 

[John ED Renstrom]

106 today according to my pickup. official was was101 we needed to make the big city grub run. we waited till it got down to 90 to do somethings. so, in the spirit of do something every day we got the cab top cleaned off. I don't know why people use those butt splices / like no one will ever need to take thing off again.

 

[John ED Renstrom]

the old antigen is if it's on one side better check the other. got the right door apart, found another hole in the top. nothing but a pinpoint but it's still threw. discovered the shaft cover for the spotlight was split. checked out the other and sure enough it's split also. one pin hold bu the factory joint above the glass and a lot of rust inside the A pillar . one that hole got threw on the left water poured into the trough and depending on the list which way it went to the bottom. I id better getting the lower molding off though only broke off one. Miss Ketty only comes around for the smacks she has me trained

 

[John ED Renstrom]

just to prove I did some. not I did not say a I did much. this unit you have got to take apart to get it off. thing today. here is the 184 all over the roof.

 

[Paul Steinberg]

With the right tools and a little ingenuity, I believe that you can get it off without disassembling the entire unit. If the original installation didn't lock the vertical studs to the roof, that can make it harder to get it off, but not impossible without disassembly. I have a NOS unit in the original box, and I will check whether the original installation instructions are still with it. If they are, I will post them to the "Technical Forum".

 

[John ED Renstrom]

one could have remover the nuts from underneath and cut the wire to leave it intact but why? got it boxed up and hid away. started getting things off the center door. I thought the trim pad looked good, but it was an illusion. pretty dried out. I found the front ones but not one for the center door. so we will try for a little restoration with some vinyl conditioner. the rust on the trim panel is all from condensation. the inside of the door it clean. of course, the lower trim has a nut right behind the hinge. bet they got put it on with the door off the rig. this hot spell is to last through next week and we still have august to go. so Broke down and put the ac in the window. it wasn't doing any good sitting in the small garage. that walking in and have your glasses slide off your face was getting to me. overnight lows are still in the mid 60s so slip out in the morning and turn it on.