JFK Pontiac ambulance up for auction

Super Hi-Res pics

I came across these pictures today while looking for something else. About 30 hi-res pictures of the Bonneville Ambulance in it's current resting spot.

http://imageevent.com/mmm_mag/1963pontiackennedyambulance

Sometimes the page will ask you for a guest password, which appears to be the word "guest".

Alas, no hi-res shot of the dash plaque, but there is a hi-res pic of the cowl tag, and the door lettering. Also some nice detailed shots of the front and rear interior.
 
Considering what was paid for the vehicle, I would have expected a higher level of correct replacement service items, such as the hose clamps. I also don't believe that it has the correct alternator. I have never seen a spotlight with a knob on the back. That appears to be a rear loading light spotlight head. The correct spotlight wouldn't have the knob on the back. I believe that you should leave the car as original as possible, however, if you need to replace a part, at least make sure that the replacement is correct for the vintage of the car.
 
Turns out there was a little mini-documentary made about Tammy Allen's quest to own the "JFK Ambulance":


[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bSFY-M38PN4[/ame]


[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9jpH_DukXcw[/ame]


[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PwvjhrOT5Vg[/ame]


[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P0mChANL8Tc[/ame]
 
they did a very careful job of skirting the truth on that one. got to keep that hope alive. but I have heard from people that have been there that she has a first class set up and display. I ever get that way I'll drop in.
 
Update

Here's an update on the status of the ambulance from the Barrett-Jackson Auction. I found these from a website called ColoradoCarGuy.com, and he apparently visited the museum.

So it is on display, but I like the choice they made on the display sign with it. They do make very clear the fact that this is not likely the actual JFK ambulance but was one of a group of identical ambulances. Of course, you have to throw a little conspiracy theory into everything surrounding the assassination.

So here's two photos from the website, one showing the car (before anyone asks, no, it's not another ambulance in the background, it's a mirror on the wall), and of the tasteful display sign. Kudos to the Tammy Allen museum for that.

1963-pontiac-bonneville-ambulance4.jpg


history.jpg
 
It seems that Tammy Allen is a real classy lady with a gorgeous museum. And her representation of the ambulance has lots of class too. I sure would like to visit her museum.
 
Well,it's a nicely done replica,and very likely one of the group the actual car came from.After all this time and all the history,that's as close to the real thing as we're ever likely to get. Steve,thanks for the pics.
 
What a great read this thread was! My big question is why did Jack Pinner insist the car was not a Superior, but instead a Memphis built to Navy specifications, when it was in fact very obviously a Superior?
 
November 22, 1988

On November 22, 1988, exactly 25 years after the assassination, I received a letter from my congressman, Robert Michel, who had researched the fate of the JFK ambulance at my request.

I still have the letter from the Navy Department to Congressman Michel, stating that the Navy understood the vehicle had been destroyed.
 
Abe Bush said:
What a great read this thread was! My big question is why did Jack Pinner insist the car was not a Superior, but instead a Memphis built to Navy specifications, when it was in fact very obviously a Superior?
Click to expand...

According to Jack, Memphian had built the car under a sub contract with Superior. I don't know what the size of the contract was, but it might just have been that it was too large for Superior to finish all the cars that were ordered in a timely manner, so they reached out to other coach builders for assistance. No different than GM having parts manufactured by Checker Motors, because it was more cost effective, and time saving. Back then, there were the "front line" coach builders, and then there were all of the smaller companies that also built coaches, but just not in the volume of the others.
Jack was very knowledgeable, having lived and worked in the Pinner Coach business with his brother and father. In fact, the whole family was involved in the business. Back then, the people that built the Pinner cars, were also the same people that built some of the other brands. One thing that I learned from Jack, was that the man that built all the rear doors for Pinner, also built all the rear doors for Memphian. I compared the rear door of my 1963 Pinner built Chrysler with the 1957 Memphian Desoto owned by Dawson Blackmore, and sure enough you could see the similarities. I even compared the rear door glass, and it was the same glass.
 
Large Gov Orders

I agree with Paul's "probable cause". In 1954, REO was awarded a Federal Contract to build 1,313 Civil Defense "Calamity Jane" Rescue Trucks. REO built all the chassis, but the body orders were split up between SWIFT and BOYERTOWN because of the order's delivery deadline. All had the same spec's and blueprints, but with (very) small differences if compared side-by-side. (*) So small in fact that the 1954 REO CD Unit that the Boyertown Museum found and spent a lot of money restoring was in fact a SWIFT build-up. After restoring our own 1954 REO-BOYERTOWN they wanted to make a trade, but I declined.

Similarily... when the State of California (Disaster Office) ordered 101 GMC Fire Engines at once in 1953-1954.... American-LaFrance did a few of the build-up's and Van-Pelt did the rest, but very hard to tell the small differences other than the final ALF / V-P Badges and VIN Plates on the fire bodies. MM
 
Abe Bush said:
What a great read this thread was! My big question is why did Jack Pinner insist the car was not a Superior, but instead a Memphis built to Navy specifications, when it was in fact very obviously a Superior?
Click to expand...

What Jack said was that Memphis built them for superior. Not that the were Memphis cars. This was not a unused practice back then. According to what he told me, he helped drive the cars to the plant. If superior was who won the contract and it might be tight with there other commitments they would contact with another manufacture to build them to superior specks. Jack said at that time Memphis had people standing around and they were looking for work. You can take it with a grain. Of salt. But as he was there and I was not?
 
Paul Steinberg said:
Considering what was paid for the vehicle, I would have expected a higher level of correct replacement service items, such as the hose clamps. I also don't believe that it has the correct alternator. I have never seen a spotlight with a knob on the back. That appears to be a rear loading light spotlight head. The correct spotlight wouldn't have the knob on the back. I believe that you should leave the car as original as possible, however, if you need to replace a part, at least make sure that the replacement is correct for the vintage of the car.
Click to expand...

That makes sense, thanks Paul and everyone who responded! I guess I didn't catch where Jack mentioned that Memphis built them for Superior (sub contracted them), but it does make sense that Superior might need help fulfilling that big government contract. I will say talk about bare-bones ambulances, definitely no frills on them!
 
I was asked to assemble some of my old funeral memorabilia for the state funeral directors convention (Wolfman Jack's and Sonny Bono's Memorial folders, UPI newsfeed breaking news of John Lennon death, Buford Pusser's funeral procession photos, Elvis procession photos and ultimate end of the 77 M-M, etc...) and I stopped by this thread and printed off the letters attesting to the crushing of this car and printing the photos to be laminated for folks to see.
I reminded me, thanks to Steve Lichtman and all those PCS faithful who worked on this, it was PCS' finest moment, and Barrett-Jackson's worst.
 
Kent Dorsey said:
I was asked to assemble some of my old funeral memorabilia for the state funeral directors convention (Wolfman Jack's and Sonny Bono's Memorial folders, UPI newsfeed breaking news of John Lennon death, Buford Pusser's funeral procession photos, Elvis procession photos and ultimate end of the 77 M-M, etc...) and I stopped by this thread and printed off the letters attesting to the crushing of this car and printing the photos to be laminated for folks to see.
I reminded me, thanks to Steve Lichtman and all those PCS faithful who worked on this, it was PCS' finest moment, and Barrett-Jackson's worst.
Click to expand...

If you don't need it like tomorrow, I have every picture and video associated with this thread that I can burn to a DVD or CD for you. It is a little over 200 MB.
 
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