Fleet shots

[Todd Merrifield]

I always thought the '62 Chevy wagons were unfortunate choices to stretch, because of the downward sloping body line that ran the length of the car. There was no way to make it look right without major sheetmetal surgery, which was undoubtedly not cost effective to do, so you end up with a line that slopes for a while, then runs level, then slopes again.

 

[John ED Renstrom]

now that's something to see. you notice they added 3 doors to the GM wagon not just 2. but why they stuck in the fixed vent in only the center doors is mystery.

Pinner did a similar set off the suburbans for the Pine Ridge school up here.
using the 3/4 ton chassis made a lot more since. my first experience with the spontanes tire failure was on the rear wheel of a segway pontiac airport limo on a school trip. it was up on the rack in 66 and I was reaching up to take the valve core out of the tire when it blew off the rim. got to thank the GM engineers who designed the safety rim so it would blow to the inside. here are the Pinner pictures that Jack and Tom shared with us at Albany. I'll get around to cleaning them up some time.

 

[Robert Davidson]

Ambulances at Cook County Morgue, Chicago 1961

Ambulances at Cook County Morgue, Chicago
http://www.flickr.com/photos/69559277@N04/6855557119/

An ambulance and two hearses? removal cars?

 

[Dwayne Brooks]

Nice photo Robert!

In case anyone forgets the ultra slick lines of the Plymouth wagons (like the one in above photo) here's one I snatched a couple pix of at Goodguys Columbus 2011

Praise the FINS!

 

[Steve Lichtman]

Ambulances at Cook County Morgue, Chicago
http://www.flickr.com/photos/69559277@N04/6855557119/

An ambulance and two hearses? removal cars?

The one in the middle is a combination, based on the red parking light lenses, and the guy getting in is wearing a shirt with a name on the back.

There's an empty stretcher on the loading dock.

I wonder who the photographers and reporters are waiting for?

 

[Adam Borkat]

Fanwood Volunteer Fire Department:
1971 S&S Cadillac ambulance
1977 Dodge ambulance

Washington Township Ambulance and Rescue:
1964 Pontiac (National?) ambulance
Some Ford I don't particularly care for

 

[Steve Loftin]

Washington Township Ambulance and Rescue:
1964 Pontiac (National?) ambulance
Some Ford I don't particularly care for

The Pontiac is a National, while the Type II is a Star-Line SuperStar with 66" headroom. The regular StarLiner had 61" headroom, which was the KKK standard for the time.

The SuperStar featured full width sequential flashers front and rear, just above the windshield and rear doors, that wrapped around to the side:

 

[Scott A. Anderson]

North Ambulance- Minneapolis circa 1973-1977

In the early '70's, North went from an all Cadillac M&M fleet, to 1973 Chevrolet Road Rescue Type I's, to these Superior Chevrolet wide bodies. These wide bodies were real rattle traps, and a real step down in quality after working in the Cadillacs. I never worked in the Type I's, they were long gone by the time I started at North. After the wide bodies, they tried several different brands of Type III's before settling on Braun Type III's that they used from about 1981 until around 2000. Today, their fleet numbers over 100 vehicles, hard to keep them all straight.

 

[Scott A. Anderson]

North Ambulance

Sorry, I put those Superior wide bodies up previously. Here's a few more of their other ambulances.

 

[Fred Goerlitz]

Fanwood Volunteer Fire Department:
1971 S&S Cadillac ambulance
1977 Dodge ambulance

Washington Township Ambulance and Rescue:
1964 Pontiac (National?) ambulance
Some Ford I don't particularly care for

The 1964 Pontiac is still owned by Washington Township Ambulance

 

[John ED Renstrom]

notice that 73 3/4 ton with the box is a single rear wheel.

 

[Bill Leverett]

Nanaimo BC

Here's a fleet shot of the ambulance service in Nanaimo BC...not sure of the year but prior to 1974.

 

[Skip Goulet - Deceased 1945 - 2018]

I couldn't find a thread dedicated to fleet photos, so let's start one here. It will be for fleet (and group) shots, which often feature multi-make vehicles that would be difficult to place in a marque-specific thread.

Here's the Farber & Otteman F.H. (Sac City, IA) ambulance fleet in a shot likely taken in the late 1960s. The first three cars aren't too unusual, but that last one is - and I would love to find a shot of it by itself! I would also like to know what company did the stretch/conversion.

1966 Consort combination
1964 Vista Cruiser ambulance
1963 Embassy with sedan ambulance option
1958 Biscayne sedan ambulance (perhaps doubled as a family car, like the Pontiac?)

Just when we think we've seen 'em all...!

This firm is still in business:

http://www.farberotteman.com/index.php

Do you know much about the history of the Consort, Steve. It looks a lot like the one a PCS member in PA had at Lancaster, except that it had a jr. beacon on top.

 

[Skip Goulet - Deceased 1945 - 2018]

I won this photo on eBay a few weeks ago and have been drooling over these cars - especially the '62 - ever since!

Chaulk A.S. (Natick, MA)
1962 M-M
1956 Meteor

(SL collection)

I've seen pix of Chaulk ambulances before and always wondered where they were. Now I know. Thanks, Steve.

 

[Skip Goulet - Deceased 1945 - 2018]

Here's the Chapel Hill Mortuary capture again with '60 Superior Pontiac ambulance in front of '57 Superior Cadillac combination.

Gotta hate traffic - even in a small town. Too much for me to Photoshop out.

Other fun fleet shots saved:

Love this shot which was saved from this forum. Search didn't turn originating thread up, so please claim if yours.

I predict that Terry & Kerry Lange will have awesome submissions in this thread!

Atty: There is a nice story about Gordon K. Allen posted on the National EMS Museum website.

 

[Skip Goulet - Deceased 1945 - 2018]

Here's a couple from my old employer, North Ambulance in Minneapolis. In the '70's, their fleet consisted of four ambulances. On the day of the photo session for the Cadillacs, they could never get them all together due to calls. The four wide body Superiors are parked on the original heliport at the hospital on the day of delivery. In the '70's, North covered north Minneapolis and the northwest suburbs. There were 24 EMT's, later paramedics covering the shifts.

Today, it’s over a hundred vehicles in Minnesota and northern Wisconsin. Several hundred employees.

North Ambulance later became North Medical Transportation Services and is a division of North Memorial Medical Center. They also co-own the Maple Grove Hospital. http://www.northmemorial.com

I love those wide-bodied Superior Chevy vans. Our service in Lubbock had a '73 that had come from a small town in the mountains of Nevada and had standard shift. It had plenty of room to say the least.

 

[Skip Goulet - Deceased 1945 - 2018]

Here are some fleet photos from the department I started with, Wheaton Volunteer Rescue Squad in Wheaton, MD. They frequently shot fleet photos - I was the photographer for a fleet photo in the late '80s. All photos are from the WVRS website and are copyrighted to them.

1963:

1966:

1968:

1970:

1975:

The vans in the last photo were all home-built, bought from a local dealer and outfitted with plywood and plexiglas cabinets. And the Lifeliner was the first ambulance I, and Dad, ever rode in - Dad fell while ice skating with my Cub Scout den and needed to be transported to the local hospital for stitches, probably in 1974.

I've seen some of these Wheaton cars before, but thought they were from the old Wheaton, Ill. fleet.

 

[Richard Vyse]

The word of the day is BOGUS

Here are a few. We need help informing us where the EVE Ambulance service was. The really old fleet is from the Allen-Summerhill Funeral Home Deland, FL. Baggett-McIntosh in Daytona Beach became the Baggett-Summers Funeral Home which is now owned by the Lohman bunch. And finally the Baggett-McIntosh Funeral Home Southside Chapel is now the Shannon Funeral Home. Kind of looks like snow in that last shot.

 

[Wayne Krakowski]

Richard,years ago when I was in daytona visited a service there called EVAC and just curious if still in business they had orange/white rigs,with blue lettering and silver and blue convalescent rigs,remember large complex with mechanics on duty drive through bays,

 

[Richard Vyse]

Richard,years ago when I was in daytona visited a service there called EVAC and just curious if still in business they had orange/white rigs,with blue lettering and silver and blue convalescent rigs,remember large complex with mechanics on duty drive through bays,

Still there and going strong. They were recently taken over by the fire department combining services.