Jeremy D. Ledford
PCS Volunteer Chapter President
If you look just over the trunk of the middle car it looks as if there is another commercail chassis car on another line. I can see a front clip but no body behind it.
The color of front clips
- Thread starter Jim Staruk
- Start date
Mike McDonald
PCS Member
Old S&S # 352 going down the "line"
It looks like # 352 in (Dr. White's factory pictures)....(might be) the Omaha Orange & White 1973 S&S-Cadillac Hightop Ambulance sold new to the Fort Wright Kentucky Fire Dept "Life Squad" that we bought thru the Lange Brothers in Canada, that they delivered to me at the Minneapolis / St. Paul PCS Convention with 37,900 original miles, then driven to CA being driven another 20-K miles and shown for about 5 years that we later sold to Dr. David Richards in Michigan that I believe he traded to Tim Fantin? WHEW...MAYBE? MM
It looks like # 352 in (Dr. White's factory pictures)....(might be) the Omaha Orange & White 1973 S&S-Cadillac Hightop Ambulance sold new to the Fort Wright Kentucky Fire Dept "Life Squad" that we bought thru the Lange Brothers in Canada, that they delivered to me at the Minneapolis / St. Paul PCS Convention with 37,900 original miles, then driven to CA being driven another 20-K miles and shown for about 5 years that we later sold to Dr. David Richards in Michigan that I believe he traded to Tim Fantin? WHEW...MAYBE? MM
Dave Richards
PCS Life Member
Good eye!
That is indeed our former (now Tim Fantin's) 1973 S&S Professional, Mike... depicted in one of the rare set of 'assembly line' photos that were generously shared with me by Steve Schewe, current Chief of the Fort Wright (KY) Fire Department. The rest of the set - 11 pictures in all - can be viewed via this Web link: http://webpages.charter.net/danh2008/Amb2008/AssemblyLine.htm
That is indeed our former (now Tim Fantin's) 1973 S&S Professional, Mike... depicted in one of the rare set of 'assembly line' photos that were generously shared with me by Steve Schewe, current Chief of the Fort Wright (KY) Fire Department. The rest of the set - 11 pictures in all - can be viewed via this Web link: http://webpages.charter.net/danh2008/Amb2008/AssemblyLine.htm
John ED Renstrom
PCS Member
yes it is. they are a vary good set of construction pictures that answer a lot of questions as to what went were first. before the finished project. I have a few others showing jigs for the body and things that Mr McCall has shared from his collection. the set that is in the TSP showing chassis arriving are all in black and white. they show complete front end assy on the chassis with the dash in place. if that was the way this cowl arrived at the S&S plant then it was striped and painted then reassembled in the construction of the car. unfortunately the pictures only show the final assy after being painted. that still leaves one guessing as to what they did between the car arriving at the plant and were this set starts. but this body clearly shows that the fire wall was striped of components when this body was painted.
Dave Richards
PCS Life Member
Here are a few more...
Three additional shots (in color!) from the Hess and Eisenhardt factory floor made in 1973... a couple of them depicting the fabrication/initial painting phase of a hearse I believe, and, the third one perhaps depicting the Cadillac commercial chassis upon which the Fort Wright F.D. S&S Professional ambulance was ultimately built (?)
Three additional shots (in color!) from the Hess and Eisenhardt factory floor made in 1973... a couple of them depicting the fabrication/initial painting phase of a hearse I believe, and, the third one perhaps depicting the Cadillac commercial chassis upon which the Fort Wright F.D. S&S Professional ambulance was ultimately built (?)
John ED Renstrom
PCS Member
the first shot shows the car just after the body was completed ready to prime. it definatly shows the dash is out. as the chassis shot shows the front end assembly has been broken apart too. if they tore down the chassis assembly as shipped from GM that far I would be willing to bet that the AC was never charged and there were only enough bolts in things to hold them together for shipping.
John ED Renstrom
PCS Member
still they are good shots of the final assembly line and have to be from about the same time frame. the chassis has to be a hearse one as the over flow bottle has not been moved. but then it could be before that point to. you have any more you can share. good stuff. I can pretend that there pictures of my 73 combo.
While out at the Miller Meteor book signing last month, Tom Caserta introduced me to one of the retired painters for M-M. I asked about this, and he said that the commercial chassis arrived in either black, white, or primed. Once the chassis arrived, it was stripped of all sheet-metal and the sheet-metal was stored inside, while the bare chassis was stored on the lot across the street. The cowls were shipped by truck, and they also were stored inside the building with the front clips. When they started a new vehicle, someone would go across the street and get a cowl. The cowls were bare of anything at all. Then the cowl was mated up to the body, and the cowl and body were painted to the customer specification. If it were an ambulance that was two toned, then they painted the front white clip the second color. The back half of the car was painted before it was put onto the chassis. Since Cadillac put a car serial number on the cowl, and there was no easy way to match the cowl to the chassis, the numbering system never matched. They just couldn't keep track of the chassis numbers and match them to the cowls, because there were too many cars being built at any one time. Now, you know the "rest of the story".... How the other commercial chassis builders built the cars might have been different.