Oklahoma procars over the years

[Adam Borkat]

Shurden F.H. (Henryetta, OK)
1970 Landau Traditional endloader
(SL photos)

Steve, you can't post that '70 picture without sharing the story on the woody wagon with the beacon on top behind it!

 

[Steve Loftin]

Steve, you can't post that '70 picture without sharing the story on the woody wagon with the beacon on top behind it!

Scroll down:

http://www.professionalcarsociety.org/forums/showthread.php?t=3767&page=3

 

[Steve Loftin]

Central A.S. bought a few cars from Randle-Eastern (Miami, FL) over the years. This 1970 Rescuer shows how they looked when they arrived...white/orange/white, their beacons missing, and with a few battle scars. This car (or one just like it) was repaired, repainted, and sold to the Stumpff F.H. in Bartlesville. A few years later she was sold to the Quapaw F.D., replacing the 1962 Flxette combination seen earlier in this thread.

Keith Stumpff bought two of these and had them painted to match his fleet. After this one was sold to Quapaw, the firemen took off the Q2B because they wanted an electronic instead. The speaker shown is a Federal #SA-24.

The other one was leased to Jim Green in Pryor. By the time lease was up, Keith had sold the ambulance portion of his business to an employee who started Bartlesville A.S. The ambulance service used this car for a short while and then disposed of it.

(SL photo)

 

[Steve Loftin]

Speaking of Stumpff's

These are some of the worst photos I've ever seen, but they're the best I have of these cars:

1968 Rescuer
1967 Consort combination (one of two)
1974 Superior/Pontiac combination w/panels
1974 Sovereign Limousine combination (never saw a light or siren)

Oh, to be able to go back in time with an 35mm SLR camera...

(SL photos)

 

[Steve Loftin]

Davis F.H. - Guthrie, OK

The first three shots were taken in about 1947, shortly before owner J.F. Owen moved to Sapulpa after he bought the Landorith firm there. The cars are:

193? Buick(?) sedan
1946 Superior/Cadillac combination
1934 ?/Ford combination
1940 ?/LaSalle combination

(SL collection)

1975 Victoria endloader

(SL photo)

This building (and the garage), remodeled over the years, is still being used as a funeral home:

http://www.hayesfh.com/Home_Page.html

 

[Steve Loftin]

Goodwin F.H. (Cherokee, OK)
1966 Sovereign Tiara Limousine combination

Kremlin, OK (ex-Wilson's, Pond Creek, OK)
1967 Superior/Pontiac combination
Those C/B torpedo lights have to go! There was a #28 under the hood. The KFD had rigged a second alternator that charged an auxiliary battery they installed just for the siren.

Individual (Sperry, OK)
1964 Cotington Limousine combination

Dawson-Welch F.H. (Texhoma, OK)
1972 Sovereign Limousine combination w/panels (or on this day, without!)

(SL photos)

 

[John ED Renstrom]

These are some of the worst photos I've ever seen, but they're the best I have of these cars:

Oh, to be able to go back in time with an 35mm SLR camera...

(SL photos)

the advantage we have in this digital age is the ability to redo some of these old pictures we have. if your starting out with the original and a decent scanner(I kept my old system for this) you can really help out the old pictures or slides. I'm doing this with all the family slides I have from the 60s up to when Dad died. takes time but winter is here.

 

[Josh Gentry]

The pic of the 74 Superior Sovereign combo posted above, is exactly what my 71 use to look like when it was in service running ambulance duty. When its combination days were over, and it was just ran as a hearse, it was repainted solid black. Here is my before and after of the 74 above.

Josh

 

[Steve Loftin]

These are some of the worst photos I've ever seen, but they're the best I have of these cars:

I meant my lack of photography skills at the time. These shots were taken too far away from the car and not posed or lighted properly, in addition to being late in the afternoon and with a 110 camera. Plus, for some reason and unknown to me, my scan setting had changed from 300 dpi to 150 (possibly when I unplugged and replugged it recently).

Anyway...I'm still no photographer, but here's how I try to shoot a car nowadays (from an earlier post, shot with a 35MM SLR camera!):

 

[Steve Loftin]

When it was determined in 1978 that Central would lose the city contract, he sold four and kept one. The cars were sold fully equipped, from linens to Thumpers. Three went to Eastern Ambulance Service in Lincoln, Nebraska; the other, #65, went to Smith F.H. in Sapulpa. The car he kept, #63, was used through about 1989, when it was sold to an Oklahoma City funeral director. It was then sold to Steve Diamond (Port Arthur, Texas collector/ambulance operator), after that to a collector in California and then on eBay, after which it showed up at the PCS meet in Kingston, Tennessee.

Chapel Of The Flowers F.H. (Oklahoma City, OK)
1976 S/C 54"
When this car was on eBay a few years ago, it was missing a few pieces of medical equipment as well as the PA200 siren and Motorola Micor radio.

1963 S/P combination
This car served somewhere in the northwestern US before being taken in trade by Bob Hedges in the late 1980s. He had it, in it's original "desert rose"-ish livery, at the 1988 PCS meet in Decatur, IL. I was able to provide a #27 stretcher, 02 equipment, and correct "ambulance" window inserts after this photo was taken. "Chapel" has been closed for years, the former owner is no longer around, and I have no idea where this car ended up.

(SL photos)

 

[John ED Renstrom]

now that's a lovely poncho.

 

[Steve Loftin]

Jones-Wilson-Cunningham F.H. (Locust Grove, OK)
1971 Superior/Cadillac 51"
Original owner unkown; then Harris F.H. in Pryor, then G-W-C in Pryor (after they bought the Harris place), then J-W-C in Locust Grove (after they bought the Jones firm), then traded in to me (seen here on the T-W chapel driveway), sold at auction; whereabouts unknown.
1978 Crestwood endloader
1969 Cotington Landau combination
Here's the same car, about 10 years earlier and in her original livery, seen at the VA hospital ER in Muskogee, OK. The Sireno light bar, beacons, siren, and speaker were ordered right out of the Kelco catalog!

(SL photos)

 

[Steve Loftin]

More stablemates

Hayhurst-Wood F.H. (Henryetta, OK)
1971 Landau Traditional endloader

Hayhurst-Marlin F.H. (Broken Arrow, OK)
1975 Sovereign Landaulet endloader
1973 Seville combination w/panels
Originally black over blue like the '71, she had a gutter-mount red/blue #12 in place when used as an ambulance.

(SL photos)

 

[Steve Loftin]

"Plain Jane" endloaders

Henninger-Allen F.H. (Enid, OK; now Henninger-Hinson)
1978 Landau Traditional
1976 "

Myers Mortuary (Wewoka, OK)
1979 Sovereign Landaulet
1974 Landau Traditional

Hutchins-Maples F.H. (Bristow, OK)
1974 Landau Traditional

(SL photos)

 

[Steve Loftin]

More of the same...

Brown-Binyon F.H. (Chickasha, OK; now McVey's)
1982 Superior/Buick
1969 Victoria
(In retrospect, I wish I would've taken the time to dust this girl off before taking the picture. I know which car I would take on a service if allowed the choice!)

Kenny Lanman F.H. (Helena, OK)
1973 Landau Traditional
1972 "

Hart-Wyatt F.H. (Walters, OK)
1977 Sovereign Landaulet

(SL photos)

 

[Mike Burkhart - Deceased 1948 - 2016]

3000th view

Wow! What a popular thread!!!

 

[Steve Loftin]

More 110 goodies from the '70s

Strode F.H. (Stillwater, OK)
1968 Citation combination
1970 Landau Traditional endloader
...which were replaced by:
1976 Landau Traditonal endloaders

Reavis F.H. (Stillwater, OK)
1972 Landau Traditional endloader
1967 Cotington Landau "

Boatright F.H. (Stillwater, OK; later bought by Fred Reavis)
Very, very nice Classic combination w/panels

Owen F.H. (Sapulpa, OK)
1973 Cotington Limousine combination w/panels (and a PA-15 siren, a TS-24 behind the grille, and a red/amber/clear up/blue down 175-D on the roof)

Merriott F.H. (Chelsea, OK)
1970 Landau Traditional endloader

Wheeler F.H. (Sallisaw, OK)
1973 Sovereign Landaulet endloader

(SL photos)

 

[Jim Jordan]

The Goodwin 66 Tiara is still in service as their ONLY coach!

 

[Steve Loftin]

Central '68 S/P

#57 - This girl, the twin to #56, was eventually leased to City of California, Missouri. When the lease was up, she was sold to the Tulsa International Raceway (drag strip).

Here's a movie still of #57 taken at the TIR while the car was still owned by Central. I never knew this car was in a movie; now I'll have to see if I can rent a copy:

http://imcdb.org/vehicle_277594-Pontiac-Ambulance-1967.html

Here's a shot of her I took in about 1975:

 

[Steve Loftin]

Huckleberry F.H. - Webbers Falls, OK

My friend "Huck," mentioned elsewhere in these threads, owned funeral homes in Wetumka, Weleetka, Muldrow, Webbers Falls, Ft. Gibson, Valliant, and Idabel over the years. He was usually the last owner of any car he had; when he was done with it, it was finished. Here are photos I took in 1979 of most of his fleet when he was in Webbers Falls (he also had the '70 Pontiac hightop and '70 Suburban lowtop seen in the backgrounds). The majority of these cars were up and running most of the time. There are quite a few cars here for an operation that did around 25 services per year:

1967 Crown Sovereign Landaulet endloader
1967 Sovereign Limousine combination (ex-Buchanan's, Okmulgee)
1971 54" Superior (ex-Iowa car)
1966 Superior/Pontiac combination
1964 Classic combination
1969 M-M 48" hightop (ex-?, ex-Jackson F.H. in Wetumka)

(SL photos)