ambulance rescue(s)

I sold the 1978 downsized superior to Pete in the early 90's.Broke my heart to sell that car,but with a young family to raise i needed to let her go.I believe the mileage was in the low 50's.drove it down to Pete's yard and it performed flawlessly.

I always regretted letting that one go.I can also report that Pete was great to deal with,A true gentleman,and a man of his word! I hope he has plans to restore that car.:thumbsup:
 
Lights!!

After spending a couple days checking the coach for rodent damage and the ever so popular "lets just RIP stuff out" problems. The wiring looked good enough to go ahead and light her up! I will have to say that she is an electricians nightmare but was put together nicely to facilitate easy troubleshooting of electrical problems.

Most will wonder why I did go ahead and work on the lighting system? The answer is forward thinking. Once this coach starts its restoration process and gets all the bodywork / paint done, why take the chance of things not working and chance scratches when you have to re-remove stuff just to track a problem.

Now I am down to getting her started so that I can move her under power to start the body restoration. I really loathe the pushing of large girls in & out, in & out of the shop during this process. lol

Heres the vid, ENJOY!

http://youtu.be/6s0p8-PUlrc
 
Bruce Biancalana said:
Strobes look nice. The Astra, I think, always looks good in red. Both 73 S&S Professional coaches I own Have a red Astra
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I am going to make a new Astra since this one has faded pretty bad. The new one will be done in clear with a red spray backing so that I can knock out the letters and spray white to get 100% white letters when it lights.

I guess the sign guy in me likes to see the letters without a red glow through at night. ;)
 
The lights look great, Darryl! I was impressed with the strobes. Never thought much of those type on a hightop, figuring that they probably weren't very effective lights in the 70s. Your video changed that notion though. Are they sync'd to flash alternate corners or was that just a chance pattern while you recorded? Those tunnels on S&S's always seem to blink a bit too fast.
 
John Burchfield said:
The lights look great, Darryl! I was impressed with the strobes. Never thought much of those type on a hightop, figuring that they probably weren't very effective lights in the 70s. Your video changed that notion though. Are they sync'd to flash alternate corners or was that just a chance pattern while you recorded? Those tunnels on S&S's always seem to blink a bit too fast.
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No, not a chance encounter with the pattern. The old whelen packs are huge and were smoked. However, I have a few new whelen strobe packs and they are 4 head unlike the antiques are only 2 heads each. The output sure does make a good difference to the old light heads, plus the added flash patterns. ;)

Yes, I had to play a few minutes on an upgrade. lol Since there is a little much seriousness on getting it back up and show worthy.

----Now I have to get a consensus. ----

Now that I own the unit, I am stuck on "if I take it back 100% day of delivery" or make it "a little more generic that suits my fleet".

  • 100% day of delivery - Everyone knows this outcome.

  • Generic to my fleet - This is to make it show better with my other units.
    Coach will not be labeled "Wellsboro" instead "Sayers & Scovill - Medic 1"
    with a Black over Red paint scheme. All of the original equipment will be the same as delivered 100%. The Astra will read "MEDIC 1".

As for the history and homage of the unit, I will have plaques made describing its history to be affixed in the coach. Secondly there will be show boards that will be displayed with the unit with original service and restoration pictures.

I am kinda leaning on the generic since I am not from PA and the coach will be used more along the lines of showing homage to S&S and the build of such a massively tricked out unit.

Sound off guys! Your inputs are invaluable to what I do!
 
Hmmmmmmm, decisions! An all-red hightop makes for an arresting appearance. There aren't that many of them and it's a significantly different look than the too-common white over red. Black over red is cool-definitely the Chicago look, BUT: your car, Virginia, hot summer sun...these things are already hot to begin with, so a black roof in the hot sun at a meet or riding around would really make the interior hot. As for body lettering, to me less is more. The Medic 1 on the Astra sounds great but a nice paint job whatever color you choose with no or minimal lettering makes for a simple,elegant look. I'd forgotten the S&S term for the roof sign, but now I remember it made me think you had a Scandinavian girl stashed up there. "Hallo, vee vill now let Astra out of dee linen compartment, ya." :D
 
That is a one-of-a-kind, awesome, solid red car. If it were mine, it would remain solid red. It fits the car.

(These days, everyone is doing black over red, it's becoming a cliche.)

:my2cents:

And if I haven't said it already (which I don't think I have), I'm quite excited and pleased that this is finally seeing the "light of day" and that you have rescued it and are starting on the path of restoration. It's a great car, and it deserves to be saved. Thank you and Attila for saving it and the others. Love the video - "it's ALIVE"! :eek:
 
Since you asked.......

Since you asked, I would leave it red. But whatever you do, I want to thank you for saving it. If Pete hadn't sold it to you it would have stayed there until there was nothing left to save like that Henney flower car. You are a hero in my book no matter what color you paint it.
 
Brady D Smith said:
Since you asked, I would leave it red. But whatever you do, I want to thank you for saving it. If Pete hadn't sold it to you it would have stayed there until there was nothing left to save like that Henney flower car. You are a hero in my book no matter what color you paint it.
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I am with you all the way Brady, very well said!
 
I like the solid red, you can always paint the trim around the tunnels in a contrasting color. The tunnels come off easy and the trim is attached as a complete fiberglass shell. if you grow tiered of the trim color its not hard to change it because the tunnels come off so easy. I agree with you, as to whether you should redo the car as a Wellsboro car. If you have no connection to Wellsboro PA I feel there is no reason to stay with Wellsboro unless you want to.
to.
I have a car with a black roof all I can say is one is enough. The black is definitely warmer in the heat. Its a bear to keep clean.

I'm not sure that I agree with Steve Lichtman as far as black roofs becoming a cliché? Steve, would you be kind enough to expound on your black roof cliché statement
 
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