Station wagon ambulances

Paul Steinberg said:
This is the first 1962 Pontiac station wagon ambulance picture that I have seen where the car is sporting built in tunnel lights. Only wish that there was a full frontal view of this car.
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This is actually one of the few short-wheel-based units that C/B built. Easily mistaken for a Consort. Almost had my hands on a '63 C/B Pontiac similar tothis one, but w/o the tunnel lights.
 
Delivery of new '61 Pontiac Amblewagon to North York Municipal Offices.

City of Toronto Archives.

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Atti....that's an Amblewagon built in the company's Port Credit, Ontario plant on a 1962 Pontiac Strato-Chief station wagon equipped with a 283-cid V-8 engine. The Strato-Chief was the most economically-priced of the Canadian Pontiacs. Like most Pontiacs built in Canada at the time, the standard engine was a straight six - the same engine as was found in a base Chevrolet. In fact, these Pontiacs were based on Chevrolet frames and mechanicals. Thanks for posting the image.
 
Is it just me, or does it seem like there was a celebration every time a new vehicle was delivered to a municipality back in the 60's? Do they still do this?
 
Bill Leverett said:
I was going through a box of ambulance memorabilia that was passed on to me a few weeks ago and came across these 2 photos. Tag on the back says "1968 Dodge Station Wagon. One of the last Station Wagon ambulances in Quebec, retired on 1975." photos is from 1994
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It looks like they used an upside down shallow rowboat for the "roof cap"!

Abe
 
Todd up here when the county took over ambulance services,we had to have pictures taken with the politicians from the town,caption should have read "look what I got for my citizens" that was 3 towns that finally got dedicated ambulance service that they had been trying to get for years,When I worked at the Norwich,Ont station the town had a large Dutch population and every relative that came from Holland for a visit,seemed to come to the station for a picture of the rigs and us.Felt good.
 
then down here towns were do everything they could to get a ambulance. including collecting S&H green stamps. back then you did not just dip your hand in the public till and order the biggest most expensive one you could find . you worked for what you got. rigs like your GMC and my sedan delivery we brought that way. pancake feeds and all. it was a big deal when they meet there goal and the locale volunteer squad went from first responders to a ambulance service with there own rig or up graded what they had. like these wagon conversions
 
Here in my hometown,our fire dept ambulance is still 100% free! We started providing it in 1951. The ambulance is not part of our fire contract,but we staff it and pay for upkeep out of a separate account that is only for EMS.

We rely on donations,and when we need a new rig,we go begging for money. the public has been very good about helping us,and the ambulance is technically owned by the citizens of the village and town that it serves.

I've done a lot of raffles,and other fund raisers over the years,and i don't regret one moment of it. We're looking at new rigs now,but are still short on money.already raised aprox 90K,which leaves us still short about 50K depending on what we buy.

our present rig is a 1998 wheeled coach,and needs to be replaced.
 
Scott Crittenden said:
Back then it would have been considered "news".
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I agree, Scott. That would especially true in small towns, where something like getting a new ambulance is a big deal. I grew up at a time when the funeral homes provided ambulance service, so no one really paid that much attention until they saw the new unit out on a run. I remember my reaction in 1959 when Thomas Funeral Home here in Midland got a new 1960 Ford Sedan-delivery to replace their '56 Ford. When I drove up along side the funeral home on my motor scooter, the eldest son, Billy, was outside doing some of the installation on the new Ford. My first words once the shock wore off were "When did you get that?"Billy chuckled about that. That Ford would be the first with twin beacons along the roof-mounted Q; and I would actually ride attendant on the last call made in that Ford

But the big news locally when I was a kid was the arrival of a new fire truck.
Until the early '50s Midland had an all-volunteer fire dept, so when a new fire truck arrived at the railroad depot, people turned out to see it unloaded from the train car and the newspaper was there to get pictures. I can remember the "big news" in 1952 just before my seventh birthday was the arrival of two new 1952 American-LaFrance open-cab pumpers along with the city's first Aerial truck, also a '52 ALF. For that the newspaper and the fairly new TV station turned out. And what added to the story was that the fire station then was too small for any of the new trucks to fit into...especially the big aerial, so they had to sit outside until the new central station opened several months later.
 
Snagged these pictures off EBay a while back, thought it was neat as I own a few '57 Chevys. Based on a 150 Sedan Delivery. Very neat, wonder what its fate was...

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Bill Leverett said:
Here are some British Columbia station wagons.

#1 - 1968 Pontiac supervisor's wagon that carried 2 folding stretchers and was used as a back-up to the back-ups (Kamloops, BC).

#2 - 1966 Plymouth ACC conversion? - Beaver Valley, BC (Trail)

#3 - 1967 Pontiac - unknown builder - probably one of the worst uses of a wood-grain sided vehicle - Prince Geroge, BC

#4 - 1970 Chevrolet Brookswood - unknown builder - Nakusp, BC

$5 - same 1970 Chev.
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I missed these photos my first time through this thread. The '66 Plymouth wagon is almost a dead-ringer for the 1965 Plymouth wagon that was the first ambulance for the short-lived A-1 Ambulance Service here in Midland. When the owner, Ed Hearne, put the car into service, he didn't want to dress it up as an ambulance. He thoughtthat he could get by running as a transfer ambulance only, but the city wouldn't go for it. His initial emergency equipment was a hand-held Unity spotlight that had a red lens taped to the front, and he had a Federal 28 siren underhood. The city wouldn't let him get by with that and required him to have roof mounted lights. I suggested that he see Charlie Meadows, a retired Odessa fire chief, who had a fire equipment business. Charlie outfitted the Plymouth with a Junior Beacon mounted front center on the roof flanked by a pair of Federal LL4 lollipop lights. That package the city approved. In 1966 he bought Ellis F.H.'s '61 Chevy panel ambulance and in '67 a new '67 Pontiac wagon equipped with a VisiBar and Interceptor.
 
Jon VanDermark said:
1960's- Park Hills, KY Police ambulance. I believe it is a Ford. Interesting beacon. I can't make out if it is a spotlight or siren in front of it.

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The beacon appears to be a Dietz 211 mounted on an elevated stanchion. I've seen that setup once before on a sleek 1966 Pontiac wagon ambulance that originally belonged to the Longview, TX FD. It sported three roof-mount Qs and five Dietz 211 beacons. The center rear beacon was mounted on a stanchion like the one on this Ford wagon.
 
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