1970 Chev Suburban Wayne Sentinel Ambulance

[Michael Catalano]

I'm making an educated guess on the manufacturer and model here:

https://sfbay.craigslist.org/eby/cto/5388203716.html

1970 Chevy Suburban Fire Rescue
Engine: High Nickel 350 4-bolt main original motors. All numbers match.
Transmission: Turbo 400
103,000 original miles
All paperwork available for verification
Working Lights & Sirens
Straight Body
Runs Good

$8500 or Best Offer!!!

 

[Michael Catalano]

I've been waiting 15 years for this rig to resurface after spotting it in 2001 parked along Hwy. 17 in the Santa Cruz Mountains with a for sale sign on it. I was thrilled to maybe have found a great ambulance resto project and stopped to have a look and take some photos.

After close inspection I was impressed with the low miles (65k) but really let down by the rusty rockers and lack of just about anything ambulance left in the rear save the curtains. Maybe Mike McDonald knows something about the entity marked on this truck.

It now looks more worse for wear and the seller seems to be shooting for the moon on that price! I still like my GMC better but might be tempted by this one too if the asking was more right.

 

[Mike McDonald]

I've been waiting 15 years for this rig to resurface after spotting it in 2001 parked along Hwy. 17 in the Santa Cruz Mountains with a for sale sign on it. I was thrilled to maybe have found a great ambulance resto project and stopped to have a look and take some photos.

After close inspection I was impressed with the low miles (65k) but really let down by the rusty rockers and lack of just about anything ambulance left in the rear save the curtains. Maybe Mike McDonald knows something about the entity marked on this truck.

It now looks more worse for wear and the seller seems to be shooting for the moon on that price! I still like my GMC better but might be tempted by this one too if the asking was more right.

Never heard of them...and we've been doing it for over 52 years!@ MM

 

[John ED Renstrom]

the rounded roof says National. the 70 Ron now has was in a little worse condition. but this one will take about as many panels. that were the traped the mud thats were they rusted out. you can buy every GM part for it still today.

 

[John ED Renstrom]

but then I paid less the 1/8 of that for it

 

[Michael Catalano]

Never heard of them...and we've been doing it for over 52 years!@ MM

Weird. Maybe it was some kind of movie or other prop.

 

[Steve Loftin]

I've been waiting 15 years for this rig to resurface after spotting it in 2001 parked along Hwy. 17 in the Santa Cruz Mountains with a for sale sign on it. I was thrilled to maybe have found a great ambulance resto project and stopped to have a look and take some photos.

Please post any interior photos you took.

It's definitely a Wayne Sentinel.

 

[John ED Renstrom]

thanks Steve I thought myself out of it.

but really guys look at it. it's a made up agency like Bill Wrights Beacon ambulance service.

no for profit company puts aftermarket wheels and boat air vents on a truck they are making money on.

 

[Steve Lichtman]

no for profit company puts aftermarket wheels and boat air vents on a truck they are making money on.

Actually, the private ambulance service I worked for in the '80s did just that. All our trucks had American Racing chrome wheels and 3-tone paint. And our competitors did the same. They made money, they just spent it on what they felt like spending it on (certainly not employee paychecks). This was my rig, it had a louvered hood instead of the boat vents, but others did have the chrome vents. The souped-up rig in "Mother, Jugs, and Speed" was quite the reality in many places.

 

[Michael Catalano]

Please post any interior photos you took.

It's definitely a Wayne Sentinel.

Here's the photo I based my ID on:

Can't find any interior photos from 2001 so I probably didn't take any. I do recall it looked quite sparse in the back but that's it. I just contacted the current seller and asked for photos and/or an interior description.

 

[Joe Rackov]

Actually, the private ambulance service I worked for in the '80s did just that. All our trucks had American Racing chrome wheels and 3-tone paint. And our competitors did the same. They made money, they just spent it on what they felt like spending it on (certainly not employee paychecks). This was my rig, it had a louvered hood instead of the boat vents, but others did have the chrome vents. The souped-up rig in "Mother, Jugs, and Speed" was quite the reality in many places.

I was with a municipal department that had a 79 E350. From firsthand experience the louvers or boat vents were not for decoration. The 460 Fords had a propensity to vapor lock especially at high altitudes and or a long hard run at high outside temperatures. A lot of "tricks" were tried, dual exhausts, electric booster fuel pump, venting underhood air, clandestine defeating emission controls and to no avail.

Albuquerque Ambulance louvered all of their hoods for that reason.

Best time from memory to drive our unit was at night after the sun went down. Cools off in the desert real fast. That thing would run strong on those nights.......

 

[Peter Grave - Deceased - 1938 - 2022]

Our local township Tinicum (bucks County Pa.) had two 78 Ford Galaxies with 460s and yes both sported four rows of louvers in the hoods. Looked real sporty and the local hot rod boys were impressed. The Chief told me the louvers were the only way the could keep them from crapping out on a long idle period. That being said the NJSP had many with 460s and no issues that I know of.

 

[John ED Renstrom]

Michael, you will have to be a site supporter to post pictures. it's the only way we as site members fund the site. I will give every one that necessity is the mother of invention and that businesses in competition will do anything to make there's a rolling bulletin board. the sign says cdf contract. cdf would California division of forestry. the department that my father retired from as a fire captain. they are pretending to be under contract for them. were CDF personal would respond to motor accidents in the outer spaces of the state I have never seen a ambulance on the stations I have been on

 

[Steve Lichtman]

...That being said the NJSP had many with 460s and no issues that I know of.

The problem was with the E-350 vans, and it ultimately had to do with the routing of the gas lines near the hot exhaust manifold, everything being crammed together. Likely not a problem on a sedan! And a non-issue with diesels, which is why Ford stopped selling gas vans for ambulance conversion.

Of course, we've digressed from this Suburban....