Pontiac procar pics

Attila Bethlenfalvy said:
I know nothing more than what was posted about it Skip. According to Wikipedia, Green River is a town of less than 1000 people. Finding the exact location in such a confined area should prove akin to shooting fish in a barrel: too easy. Start by asking local fire department - there is only one. 435.564.8111

Couple more shots found online after looking. It's been sitting in the same spot at least 4 years.

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Atti I have no idea what kind of camera you took these pics with, but they are STUNNING! They look like they should be in a calendar! The colors literally jump out of the screen, and they're so sharp and vivid!

Awesome pics!

Abe
 
Steve Loftin said:
One car that used to occupy this garage was an Ambulette now owned by the City-County Heritage Museum in Paducah. This car is in amazing shape for having sat outside - although under a canopy - for at least 30 years:

(SL photos)
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Steve: You mention that the car has been under a canopy the past 30 years. The last time I had inquired about the car was in the early '80s and it was supposedly in inside storage at the time. When the ambulance co. had it, it sat outside all the time, but was reasonably well maintained. You mentioned that the dash sign bracket was missing. Last time I saw the car it still had the "Ambulette" sign on the dash. When I bought the '68 combo, the f.h. still belonged to Pat Seigler. I didn't realize it had changed hands so many times!
 
Key-McCabe F.H. (Jacksonville, FL)
1965 Consort combination

This VERY nice two-tone grey beauty was one of a pair traded in to the M-M dealership in Jacksonville. How many combinations have you seen with an ambulance-style roof vent?

(SL collection)

Key-McCabe is now Hewell & Son:

http://www.hewellfuneralhomes.com/index.php/about-us
 

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As many times as I've seen that picture, Steve, I never noticed that roof vent. But the '65 Consort combo that we bought from Lubbock AID Ambulance (former Mason F.H., Mason,TX car) had a roof vent also. Most unusual.
 
Dave Richards said:
That 1970 Pontiac is indeed one of the ambulances formerly owned by Nevadan, Mays Hause. Last I knew, Mr. Hause had listed the car for sale on eBay with a Buy-It-Now price of $16,000. That was in September 2008... at which time the listing expired with a high bid of $9200; an amount that was below his reserve price. I subsequently lost track of the car after that. The other "Mercy" ambulances I recall Mr. Hause owning (and selling) were a 1972 Superior Cadillac, which I believe ended up with the Bockholt brothers (Bayshore Ambulance), in California, and a similar 1975 Superior Cadillac... which I believe our esteemed PCS colleague Ken Howe may have owned for a time (?)
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Dave; You and Tony are both correct. Mays Hause did the total restoration on this nice Consort, which had been a combination. I had been contacted by the original owner who was an area fireman. I had made it known on the old PCS board that I was wanting to find a Consort. The guy sent me some pix of the car, which was in pitiful shape at the time, but restorable (as you can see from the end product). We agreed on a price and I made arrangements for a trip to Vegas. The morning I was supposed to fly out, I called the guy to let him know when I would be there, and found out that he had sold the car to Mays. Not only that he got really defensive and nasty on the phone. No contact since! Reminds me of a gentleman near Ft. Worth we all know.
 
Attila Bethlenfalvy said:
'63 Superior Pontiac limo, at DeBaun Funeral Home's Prairie Creek Chapel, then funeral home.

Each photo circa '65. Captures courtesy of and permission granted from Curt DeBaun III. Copyright DeBaun Funeral Home's Prairie Creek Chapel

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'63 ('64?) Superior Pontiac ambulance and air ambulance, also circa '65.

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'61 Pontiac ambulance (Consort?).

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The big Pontiac is a '64. The red and white Pontiac is a '61 Consort, the first year for the Consorts.
 
Tony Blair said:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZlmhnmzTkC4
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I've always laughed myself silling when watching this. But when I was about 15, something like that happened for real!

An ambulance from Lamesa (pronounced La-meesa) was on a transfer from their hospital to Midland. Back then the intersections of Hwy 349 (north-south) and Hwy 176 (east-west) had through traffic for 349, and 176 had a stop sign with big flashing red lights. In the late '60s an overpass was built to take the 176 traffic over 349. But on this occasion, an older fellow in a Chevy Nova ran the stop sign and hit the ambulance broadside. The impact through the back door open and catapulted the patient (who was in a full-body cast) out the back door, and down the highway he went. He rolled nearly 1/4 of a mile before he managed to shift his weight, causing the stretcher to roll onto the shoulder and onto its side, unceremoniously dumping the patient on the ground. The driver of the Nova died instantly, and the two ambulance men were injured. When the ambulance from Midland arrived, the ambulance guys from Lamesa kept asking about their patient, but neither the DPS or the Midland ambulance guys had seen a patient. Finally a motorist stopped and informed everyone of the patient and where he was. Fortunately because he was in the full-body cast he didn't sustain further injuries.
 
pontiacs

Thgat was the biggest problem with Pontiac. They over heated all the time. Don't really know why? might be too small of waterpump and radiator to handle all the weight. 3 years and they were done! We had a 64 and 68, and were toast by 1971.:boo:
 
Kent Rogne said:
Thgat was the biggest problem with Pontiac. They over heated all the time. Don't really know why? might be too small of waterpump and radiator to handle all the weight. 3 years and they were done! We had a 64 and 68, and were toast by 1971.:boo:
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Over the years we had a '63 Consort, a '65 Consort, two '67 Consorts and a '70 Consort. Of all of those the only one that had a heating problem was the '65. After having had it overheat on us a time or two we had a mechanic look at it. He recommended some sort of "super-cooling" additive which we tried and it worked. We also used a number of short-wheel-based C/B Oldsmobiles, and except for one, the 455 engines just didn't hold up well. The '71 that held up well was a Seville ambulance that we got for $100 because of a small crack in the block. All we did before leaving the small town of Spur, TX with the car for the 100 mi. trip back to Lubbock was the addition of two tubes of "Weld-It" to the radiator. The crack in the block was tiny: not any bigger than the tip of your little finger. Within a minute or two of putting the additive in the radiator the leak stopped. Never leaked again in the two or three years we ran that car, and it turned out to be the fastest running ambulance we ever had!
 
Union Fire Co. (Medford, NJ)
1960 National/Pontiac

Lockport Twp. F.D. (Lockport, IL)
1967 Superior/Pontiac

Check out Lockport's other ambulances, including a '57 Ford Amblewagon with dual 888s:

http://www.lockportfire.org/History.htm

(SL collection)
 

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Kyle Martin said:
especially if it had one more!!
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One more 888, or one more 175? Twin 175s and twin 888s would look good together; and I think it needs an outside siren: Q or Super Chief, preferably. We had a '65 Consort with twin 175s mounted on the front corners with a center-mounted Q, and red DoRay lollipops between the Q and front beacons and a blue Dietz 211-WW beacon behind the Q. Made for an outstanding light package in its day.
 
Skip Goulet said:
Over the years we had a '63 Consort, a '65 Consort, two '67 Consorts and a '70 Consort. Of all of those the only one that had a heating problem was the '65. After having had it overheat on us a time or two we had a mechanic look at it. He recommended some sort of "super-cooling" additive which we tried and it worked. We also used a number of short-wheel-based C/B Oldsmobiles, and except for one, the 455 engines just didn't hold up well. The '71 that held up well was a Seville ambulance that we got for $100 because of a small crack in the block. All we did before leaving the small town of Spur, TX with the car for the 100 mi. trip back to Lubbock was the addition of two tubes of "Weld-It" to the radiator. The crack in the block was tiny: not any bigger than the tip of your little finger. Within a minute or two of putting the additive in the radiator the leak stopped. Never leaked again in the two or three years we ran that car, and it turned out to be the fastest running ambulance we ever had!
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Originally Posted by Kent Rogne
Thgat was the biggest problem with Pontiac. They over heated all the time. Don't really know why? might be too small of waterpump and radiator to handle all the weight. 3 years and they were done! We had a 64 and 68, and were toast by 1971.
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Funny, you should say those cars were prone to overheating. My '65 Catalina with a 389 NEVER overheated. Not in day to day traffic in the summer, not at high speed driving on the hiway, not even in the several summer parades the car was used in.
Ok, it wasn't a heavy pro car but still.....
 
one more

Skip Goulet said:
I'd love either of those Pontiacs, but I particularly liked the '65(6?) with the 175 and twin 888s.:applause:
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agree with you skip, 4 pancakes would look good but 2 cp25's and a 888 with a clear lens and all red mounted in the middle. had a cosort with this rigging and it came with a leece neville with a adjustable regulator. we could ron hot for 100 miles and never lose amps. get to the hospital and turn the car off. never refused to start. my brother installed 2 red in the hibeams and left them on the floor button. only problem we ever had with that car was on the way to a call the horn button stuck and had to use the horn/siren button to use the q. every 2 years my dad would buy a new consort and it was used for him as a first call car and sometimes a transfer ambulance or occasional coach or out of town trips. good thing for us was when he was getting a new one we would all want his car because it genneraly was as new. he always had big altenators and hd cooling. dual batterys were a must on anything he owned. even had them on straight funeral coaches. there was a reason to his madness. im gonna start a new thread about such things.
 
Rick McLaren said:
Funny, you should say those cars were prone to overheating. My '65 Catalina with a 389 NEVER overheated. Not in day to day traffic in the summer, not at high speed driving on the hiway, not even in the several summer parades the car was used in.
Ok, it wasn't a heavy pro car but still.....
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The only Pontiac we had that ever overheated was the '65 Consort....and we did everything we could to prevent it. That car was one of three that was stolen in '79 (also a '67 hightop Olds and a '64 lwb Pontiac combo)..all that the same time!
 
Kyle Martin said:
agree with you skip, 4 pancakes would look good but 2 cp25's and a 888 with a clear lens and all red mounted in the middle. had a cosort with this rigging and it came with a leece neville with a adjustable regulator. we could ron hot for 100 miles and never lose amps. get to the hospital and turn the car off. never refused to start. my brother installed 2 red in the hibeams and left them on the floor button. only problem we ever had with that car was on the way to a call the horn button stuck and had to use the horn/siren button to use the q. every 2 years my dad would buy a new consort and it was used for him as a first call car and sometimes a transfer ambulance or occasional coach or out of town trips. good thing for us was when he was getting a new one we would all want his car because it genneraly was as new. he always had big altenators and hd cooling. dual batterys were a must on anything he owned. even had them on straight funeral coaches. there was a reason to his madness. im gonna start a new thread about such things.
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Didn't realize you were in TX until you used the term "pancakes". I don't think anyone else did. That was started by the people at Gordon K. Allen who put the DoRay pancakes on everything they built. Speaking of alternators, on the '65 Consort, we found out abruptly that it only had a 35-amp. alternator. The Consorts came from Superior with a 55-amp. alternator stock. As I mention above, we had twin 175s, two red DoRay pancakes and a blue Dietz 211-WW on the car. First run we made from Idalou to Methodist Hospital in Lubbock, the Q quit about 2 mi. from the hospital. Switched back to horn and put the Interceptor on yelp, and that got us there. Same thing happened later in the day from the say race track to Methodist, and at about the same place. Took it to a auto electric shop, and the guy discovered the small-amped alternator. Replaced it with a 65-amp and never had problems.

On the opposite side of the scale, we had a '72 hightop Superior Caddie that came with a 150-amp alternator and twin batteries. No problem in accomodating the Q, triple beacons, tunnel lights, headlight flashers and SiTron electrtonic we had on that big beast!

Did you manage to keep any of your Consorts, Kyle. I'd love to find one. I have a pair of Sevilles ('68 and '69) but no Consort (waaah).
 
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