Its in the wind

Jean-Marc Dugas said:
Looks like all of the hard work has been done on that car!
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Well over 30k invested in a frame up restoration, everything that has been done so far has been done correctly. All body work and paint complete, drive train new never started. Under carriage looks new. Sadly the project was stalled when the guy working on it died suddenly.
 
That one will be quite a jigsaw puzzle to put together. The missing pieces are yet to be discovered as well as after the time it has set will it run. Is the parts car still waiting?
 
The is/was what is generally considered a concept car and all the parts are hand-manufactured and assembled. It could be completed by someone who has the experience to do such work, however, those people who did that work on behalf of the automobile manufacturers are long retired and for the most part, there is no one to take their place. It would take a lot of hours of work and that work would be a labor of love. There is no way to even estimate how many hours it would take because there is no starting point. You would have to just pick an individual part of the car to work on and stay with it till that task was completed, and then move on to the next task.
 
As i recall the one Tim has is a superior high top that they took apart did the body work and have painted it. Install a rebuilt motor and transmission. And were starting reassembly when the owner died. He was doing the reassmbly.
 
John ED Renstrom said:
As i recall the one Tim has is a superior high top that they took apart did the body work and have painted it. Install a rebuilt motor and transmission. And were starting reassembly when the owner died. He was doing the reassmbly.
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Yes, the car was being rebuilt as a frame up restoration. The body was restored and repainted. All high-quality work. The front seat and jump seats were redone, new windshield, new motor and transmission installed but not hooked up. Engine bay highly detailed . The bumpers were sent out to be redone but due to the death some of the parts were lost. Its a puzzle for sure. You'd almost need a mid 70s superior ambulance parts car to complete the restoration or the knowledge of a ambulance of this vintage. Its above my knowledge. I bought it a number of years ago because I was afraid it would end up as a parts car for its front clip and or drive train. Its just been sitting in the corner of the pole barn taking up room. I'd love to see it restored one day because so much work has been put into the project. Its fate might just be a parts car after all.
 
It's amazing how many stories you hear about replating shops "losing" parts. One has to wonder if they are all that shoddy in their operations. I have a couple of barely noticeable indents in the rear bumper of my '63 Cadillac, but hesitate to send that section into one of these places lest it never come back to me.
 
Terry Lange said:
It's amazing how many stories you hear about replating shops "losing" parts. One has to wonder if they are all that shoddy in their operations. I have a couple of barely noticeable indents in the rear bumper of my '63 Cadillac, but hesitate to send that section into one of these places lest it never come back to me.
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Agreed, the sad part being this ambulance was in really good condition before the restoration began. It was above driver quality. It didn't need restoration in my opinion. It had some paint issues but they could of been easily corrected. In the quest to make it better tens of thousands were spent and this ended up being the result.
 
Terry Lange said:
It's amazing how many stories you hear about replating shops "losing" parts. One has to wonder if they are all that shoddy in their operations. I have a couple of barely noticeable indents in the rear bumper of my '63 Cadillac, but hesitate to send that section into one of these places lest it never come back to me.
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There are many very reliable chrome shops that do good work. The reliable ones photograph the parts when they come in and tag all the parts, and follow the part meticulously through the plating process. The ones that lose parts don't actually lose them, they get them mixed up with other orders and shipping just packs the parts and sends them on their way. The person on the receiving end isn't honest enough to say, "hey, I got a part back that doesn't belong to me." The better shops match the pictures to the parts that they are shipping so there are no mistakes. All this extra labor needs to be paid for, so the cost of plating is higher than the shops that do shoddy inventory control. I use Qual Krom in Eire PA, and they have never lost a part of mine. They do quality work and they guarantee the work for as long as you own the car.
 
Tim A. Fantin said:
Agreed, the sad part being this ambulance was in really good condition before the restoration began. It was above driver quality. It didn't need restoration in my opinion. It had some paint issues but they could of been easily corrected. In the quest to make it better tens of thousands were spent and this ended up being the result.
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Which/whose car was this? Any idea of its service lineage?
 
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