Just found - 1963 Pontiac Military Ambulance

H

Herb Sohn

Hello everyone,
I just bought this 2 weeks ago. I thought I'd start a thread as I am 99% sure this is 1 of the 15 Pontiac / Superior military ambulances made that year and after the "JFK" one I noticed that many smart and in the know people on the 55 page thread in this forum had questions about them. So, if anyone has detail questions that this car may be able to answer, please ask.

I found this in northern Utah, about 6 miles from Hill Air Force base so that said, I am pretty sure it was first a USAF ambulance. It has 19,045 miles showing on it which seems to be beliveable considering it has spent the last 13-15 years in private hands (after being purchased at a government auction) and the last 10 or so parked in a pasture not being driven or started. It ran and drove when parked, and now it runs again but as of now I am working on the brakes so I can drive it. No doubt it needs work, just about all of the glass and the floor boards are rusted out on the driver and passenger side. It seems all original for being 49 years old including upholstry including the privacy shades in the back - they are there but the fabric is dry rotted. All of the data plates are there too. I also have some military maintenance records up to about 1985.

Here are some pictures: http://s1084.photobucket.com/albums/j401/leisureexpress/1963 Pontiac Military Ambulance/

If anyone has questions, or wants more pictures of different details/angles that I can add to the above link, please ask.... I can PM my phone number if there are questions better answered verbally.
 
Last edited:
color?

It seems to me that back in the 60s, Air Force ambulances were painted dark blue.........the "Memphian" units I saw when I was at Lackland AFB were blue, at least. Maybe this was originally a Navy unit, but it just found its way to the Hill AFB area.............?
 
I always wondered if the rear corner glass on these military rigs was replaced with metal or was the glass simply painted over?
 
Herb, are there painted military vehicle numbers running down either side of hood underside? That practice was done on military ambulances in the early '50s. Don't know when it stopped.

Paul Newman said:
I always wondered if the rear corner glass on these military rigs was replaced with metal or was the glass simply painted over?
Click to expand...

No glass. Painted metal. Fabricated as economically possible for military. No frills.
 
Herb, welcome aboard! You will find lots of friendly and helpful people and answers, advice and assistance, should you need it.

Good luck with your worthwhile restoration of a rare ambulance. BTW, I am no expert, but I would think you have a Naval ambulance.
 
Dan Brintlinger said:
It seems to me that back in the 60s, Air Force ambulances were painted dark blue.........the "Memphian" units I saw when I was at Lackland AFB were blue, at least. Maybe this was originally a Navy unit, but it just found its way to the Hill AFB area.............?
Click to expand...

Check my albums. I posted a '70's blue Air Force ambulance.

Looks like a great project. Just think of the history.....
 
Color / Dan, here are a couple of pictures of the color. Right now it is more of a weathered greyish blue and it appears to have been repainted from a lighter "sky blue" at some point. These 2 pictures are taken in the left forward door jamb area (the dark green shown is the color of the dash area. Also, sorry about the dirt in the pictures, I have not yet made it to the car wash):

IMG_5743.jpg

IMG_5746.jpg


Paul, Attila is correct, those rear corners where windows used to be are steel - I checked them with a magnet.

Attila, no numbers painted on the hood (top/bottom/or sides) anywhere I can tell after a close look.

Bill, Thanks for the welcome! I'm not really sure what I am going to do with this. I do know I do not want to make anything worse with a hack restoration, and balancing that with many other irons in the fire...... well I'm still figuring that out...... I am definitely happy that I found this and the buyer accepted my offer (he even talked ME down a bit on price!) before sending it to scrap.

Todd, you say "glass" area? Specifically, where?

I have got to say, I do not think this is the JFK "one" at all, however, I am all but certain it is one of the 15 made. If nothing else, I do know this does deserve to get restored "proper" and until that happens I want to share all the detail that I can and preserve what I can. I will probably sand off the doors with a fine grit paper and a DA sander to see what numbers (if any) lie underneath the present coat of paint. Stay tuned.
 
Last edited:
Paint

It seems to me that back in the 60s, Air Force ambulances were painted dark blue.........the "Memphian" units I saw when I was at Lackland AFB were blue, at least. Maybe this was originally a Navy unit, but it just found its way to the Hill AFB area.............?
Click to expand...

That is strata blue. Fixed many a step vans and truck,s with that color. I was stationed at George AFB from 75-79.:drive2:
 
got to say I don't recall anything the air force had that was not the dark blue. at least floating around Elsworth. I could not read the printing on the door. if I recall right the 15 number was one floated in the papers that were questionable. no one really knows how many there was made but counting this one I have pictures of at least 5. at a glance this one does appear to be ex navy. tested fire hose in front of one in 1970. there is no doubt the one used to carry Kennedy was crushed. nice find anyway there are not a lot of old military ambulances around in any condition.
 
Great find and hope we can continue to follow the progress on this from one Pontiac owner to another.
 
Herb, glad to see you are restoring one. As you've read in the "big thread", we are quite certain that THE ambulance was crushed. But yes, yours is one that is identical and from the same order. I would also suspect, based on the "battleship gray" color, that it was a Navy ambulance.

And that data plate, folks, is what a correct Superior data plate should look like. Looks nothing like the one Steve Davis from Barrett-Jackson was waving around...

Todd Merrifield said:
If I'm not mistaken, the Kennedy one had an antenna mounted in the "glass" area at one point.
Click to expand...
Well, the non-JFK ambulance we know so well did have holes from an antenna in the curved corner plate (the corner that was metal instead of glass on civilian vehicles). The antenna was probably added by a later owner - many military surplus ambulances served small communities through Civil Defense. The photos of the actual JFK ambulance do not show an antenna or holes there.
 
Thanks for all of the "well wishes" everyone :).

I like detail stuff, so please do not hold back anyone! I'd rather know what is right than repeat incorrect info. More than 15 made, ok.

On the color, it is interesting that many of you think it was likely a Navy ambulance. When I googled "strata blue" I come up with at least 2 of those.

Here is Air Force strata blue - which this car has none of:

26238932_n6Zrm-M.jpg


And here is GMC strata blue, which seems to be the original color of this car and is under the present coat of paint: http://paintref.com/cgi-bin/colorco...&syear=1963&smanuf=GM&smodel=GMC&sname=Strata Blue

and

gm_1960_gmc_ppg_c_01.jpg


Does anyone have an idea what glass was in the rear window/door? As in was it shared with any other production car? The windshield is easy, the side glass is easy too since it is just flat glass and tempered.
 
Superior used the same rear loading door glass from '59-'64 between Cadillac and Pontiac. I have a couple spares if you can not find one closer.

Not that you asked, but that vintage corner glass on Superior was interchangeable as follows:

'59-'60 Cadillac and Pontiac
'61-'62 Cadillac and '61-'64 Pontiac
'63-'64 Cadillac
 
That was fast! Thanks Attila! So it was a Superior part number, I will look for one closer and keep you as a source in mind. I have to ask, where is ATX?
 
never get hung up on a color name. they are a mix and match use. there is a fleet number for airforce blue. we all know what it looks like. the fact that gm used that name on one of there 10,000 colors is just that. door jams ,cowl and interier parts are ways to check what the origional color was. but it will be stencled on the door also.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top