1949 to 54 Chevy and Pon sedan deliveries

[John ED Renstrom]

I was talking with Joe and he though we need to start a picture of this set of cars. he and I both have one his is a 51 national Chevy mine a 53 economy pontiac.
so who all has a picture of one of this type of cars built by national, Economy,
memphis, superior, acme, little, barnette or anyone else I may have missed. I have been sent a picture of a meteor on this chassis also. I'll start off with some of what I have.

[Josh Gentry]

A 53 Chevy, and Dave Maple's I think a 54 Chevy, I beleave there both Nationals.

Josh

[Joe Melanson]

No recent pics but here it is: 1951 Chevrolet National Imperial Series Ambulance. Saved from the crusher. Been working mostly on mechanical and frame.

[Joe Melanson]

From ebay 5/07

[Joe Melanson]

Ebay 5/07 - Beautiful Rig

[John ED Renstrom]

a few more. I'll label these better. discovered that I do have a few of these in the collection. here is a 51 Barnett, a 53 Memphis highly modified and trashed by us earlier in a different life time and a 51 economy service car poor quility photo

[Joe Melanson]

Ed, Thnaks for starting this. Its hard to find pics of these vehicles. Hopefully, some unknowns will show.

1953 Pontiac Acme

[John Royark JR]

In my photo album there is a couple pics of my old 51 Barnette Pontiac.

[Rick Franklin]

Bill Leverett has a Barnette Pontiac. Im sure he will chime in here. Joe, I noticed the Washington plates in the pic of your car. Do you know the history of it?

[Bill Leverett]

Rick beat me to it. Here's a few pics of my '53 Pontiac/Barnette from Oliver BC, where I grew up. One in 1973 when it was still in service as a reserve unit (then removed from service in 1974) and a few of when I found it in 2004. It's been set up as a straight ambulance with permanent lights/siren ever since I can remember as a youngster however it technically a combination in that it has mounts for a casket rack (looking for one of those if anyone has any leads) and bier pin placement. Status is up on jack stands while I slowly work on it.

[John ED Renstrom]

thanks Bill I have those pictures but I had them miss labeled. in fact a had a number of these cars labeled wrong. funny thing till you start looking for parts you don't have the years straight at all. here are a few more I have a 40 and 50 national and I believe a 52 national. you notice that a number of them are not stretched. a lot were built on the standard chassis . Bill you have a shot of the inside of that car.

[Tom Pinner]

My dad worked for Economy Coach in the early 50's and remember him talking about the OWB three door Sedan Deliverys as jitterbugs. I think this is a slang all the workers labeled these coaches.

[John ED Renstrom]

been studying the pictures of the cars and notice that the tops of the doors change from year to year and maker to maker. some are squarer both ends some, one end other rounded and others rounded off on both ends. were I can see the other accessories being different or custom built I don't see the tops of the doors being that way. in the 53 year the Economy was square topped the Barnett was rounded top. national squarer the mystery that surrounds this car I have found goes on. I get it home and I can find the holes filled in for the fender emblem then I narrow it down. they put them in different places on the fender to. here is a 53 year in the top three makers. the national is from the flint meet the Barnett off the web and the meteor is a crop of the photo Tom McPherson sent to me built by Economey

[Dave Richards]

...an impressive 'Imperial' ambulance I had the privelege of owning for 14 years (1994-2008). This vehicle is one that our colleague, Dr. Roger White, first saw, admired and took photographs of (when new) as a young boy, near his home in Michigan's Upper Peninsula. He would later track the car down, acquire it (in 1969) and have it beautifully restored, in 1988. Since July 2008, this ambulance has been part of Tim Fantin's impressive collection in Indiana.

http://home.comcast.net/~drichards247780mi/1952PontAmbHLoct2002.jpg
http://home.comcast.net/~drichards247780mi/DLR1952NPAmbWeb1.jpg
http://home.comcast.net/~drichards247780mi/DLR1952NPAmbWeb2.jpg

[Dave Richards]

...some views of the car's interior:

http://home.comcast.net/~drichards247780mi/DLR1952NPAmbulanceWebInteror2.jpg
http://home.comcast.net/~drichards247780mi/DLR1952NPAmbulanceWebInteror3.jpg
http://home.comcast.net/~drichards247780mi/DLR1952NPAmbulanceWebInteror4.jpg
http://home.comcast.net/~drichards247780mi/DLR1952NPAmbulanceWebInteror7.jpg

[Joe Melanson]

Rick Franklin wrote:
Joe, I noticed the Washington plates in the pic of your car. Do you know the history of it?

No I don't. Wish I did though. I bought it out of Washington. The guy I got it from didn't know anything about it's history either. I tried tracing it back but no luck. Someone had done extensive modifications to the trans, 2nd crossmember, shifting mechanism and rear end as well as drop in a '58 235. All of which were serious "half a**" jobs needing a lot of corrections to go back to original. As such, I doubt that they would have saved any old paperwork. The good part is that whoever did it did not modify the body or rear compartment, even the jump seat is still there. So maybe I'll find something when I can finally ($$) tear it those areas. Just glad I could save it since these stretched Chevy ambulances are very hard to come by. I've found a number of hearses but very few ambulances. BTW, the one that got me started on these non-Caddy ambulances is the one that Dave posted here. Incredible vehicle!

[Joe Melanson]

From a listing 6/09 (don't remember where)

1952 Pontiac. Custom made by St Catherines Auto Body of Ontario. It is # 49 of 54 ever made.

[Joe Melanson]

Tom Pinner wrote: My dad worked for Economy Coach in the early 50's and remember him talking about the OWB three door Sedan Deliverys as jitterbugs. I think this is a slang all the workers labeled these coaches.

Tom, Thanks for that bit of trivia. Had never heard that before. Now I know how to refer to the "short" ones.

[John ED Renstrom]

here are what interior shots I have. that 52 national was at Denver in 05 a vary impressive car to say the least. now I wish I had paided more attention to it. this set is of a 50 Barnett , 51 Barnett combo, 51 national "Joe's", a 52 Barnett and 53 national

[Dave Richards]

...that 52 national was at Denver in 05 a vary impressive car to say the least.

The ambulance at the 2005 International Meet in Denver was actually PCS Technical Director Mike Riefer's '52 National... a virtual 'twin' of my former car. Mike R. - as is his wont - meticulously and beautifully restored that vehicle back in 2003 or so. It was subsequently featured in a very nice 'cover story' that appeared in the October 2005 issue of Cars and Parts magazine.

Here are some nice images of Mike's car that were made/posted by Matthew Taylor, during the '05 gathering in Denver:

http://pic50.picturetrail.com/VOL490/589785/8670267/119750775.jpg
http://pic50.picturetrail.com/VOL490/589785/8670267/119745465.jpg
http://pic50.picturetrail.com/VOL490/589785/8670267/118089933.jpg
http://pic50.picturetrail.com/VOL490/589785/8670267/118102005.jpg

[John ED Renstrom]

thanks two vary close cars the antenna and the spot light being the only quick show that there different. I'll get my photo collection up to date. here is a interior of Mikes at Denver getting the nod from the Goood father. also one of a 53 Chevy jitterbug at work in Waco Tx

[Chris Mooney]

Great Photos everyone.... I think ill use them to Build a Extended wheel Base Chevy ambulance to go with my 51 Chevy I built... Keep posting good photos!!!

[John ED Renstrom]

got these two today usually don't pop for them but as I'm trying to get the maker of the 53 I have down need as many photos as I can. this is a 53 national taken in 54 old brownie snap shot out of focus on the edges. you can see the rounded top on the cabinet doors and the national logo on the glass. tops of the door are squarer and the drip rail doesn't go around the back glass. the emblem is under the spear on the front fender. it's not clear but looks like national to me. anyone know that front plate.

[Joe Melanson]

Here are a couple more interiors:
1) 1953 Pontiac National Combo
2) 1953 Pontiac Barnette Ambulance (small pic only was available - sorry for the eye strain)

[John ED Renstrom]

got just a few more. we can't get John out of the hospital so he can share his pictures I'll put them on here. here is the 51 Barnett and a shot of a 53 Little that Walt shared with us.

[Attila Bethlenfalvy]

Hmm...uncertain about the sedan delivery part but I'll add some already posted so they're together.

Barnett, near Austin:

http://img138.imageshack.us/img138/6711/dsc00594qm.jpg
http://img688.imageshack.us/img688/8051/dsc00600g.jpg
http://img718.imageshack.us/img718/3702/dsc00596l.jpg
http://img413.imageshack.us/img413/3968/dsc00595l.jpg

The cracked blue interior shot (attendant's seat area) is of this coach.

[Joe Melanson]

Don't remember where I got these and can't make out the coachmaker but these are great old photos of Chevy ambulances.

#1 - Two 1952 Chevrolets
#3 - 1952 Chevrolet
#3 - White 1950 Chevrolet then three 1952s (dark vehicle unkn if procar)
#4 - 1951 Chevrolet

[Attila Bethlenfalvy]

Original, unmolested National, sitting in Mexico:

http://img27.imageshack.us/img27/4206/50pon1.jpg
http://img180.imageshack.us/img180/3258/50pon1d.jpg
http://img28.imageshack.us/img28/2536/50pon1c.jpg
http://img114.imageshack.us/img114/281/50pon1b.jpg

[Attila Bethlenfalvy]

Here's an Economy. Snagged off net without saving specifics.

http://img688.imageshack.us/img688/1814/economy.jpg

I do have some rough junkyard pics of an unknown '48 Chevy if you'd like to see and ID. ;)

[Joe Melanson]

Atti, first off thanks for all the great pics and stories. The last pics is one I've never seen posted before. I know that its a '53 Chevrolet. I also know you said you didn't snag the specifces. Was there any thing that lead you to know it was an Economy other than the web description? I ask because you see more of these in this state than most of us do and might have some other insites to IDing them.
Thanks, Joe

[Attila Bethlenfalvy]

Negative Joe, sorry. When saving the image, the string came up economy.jpg.

The part about turning up junk made me chuckle. History channel has a new show about turning up old cars in the works - akin to American Pickers. A local friend is one of the finalists. If chosen, more will see my field skills. :eek:

[Joe Melanson]

If chosen, more will see my field skills

Look forward to it!!

[John Royark JR]

got just a few more. we can't get John out of the hospital so he can share his pictures I'll put them on here. here is the 51 Barnett and a shot of a 53 Little that Walt shared with us.

Ed, ust got released yesterday afternoon.
Here is a couple interior shots of my old 51 Barnette Pontiac.
1690

1691

[Brendan Martin]

Ed, ust got released yesterday afternoon.
Here is a couple interior shots of my old 51 Barnette Pontiac.
1690

1691

Glad you are out John, hope you are feeling better.

[John ED Renstrom]

OK here are the last ones I have. set of 49 Barnett's one hearse the other combo a 50 acme 51 Chevy unknown and a 53 acme both service cars.

[Bill Leverett]

Here are some pictures of the interior rear of my '53 Pontiac/Barnette. The side deck covers are off so that I could access the belt-line trim. I do have replacement vinyl for the damaged areas around the medical cabinet.

[John ED Renstrom]

in my searching today I did find a different one on the net a 53 acme sitting in a field somewhere in England. bad enough that only made 1324 of them then divided them among the pontiac dealers and the coach builders . but they shipped them over seas to. you can tell this is a Acme because the doors are square on the pillar and rounded on the outside edge. it has the delux hood orinament less the amber head. I could use that headlight bezel to.

[Allen Whittington]

Does anybody know how man 1953 Chevy Imperial Nationals wer made? Thanks

[Dave Hopping]

thanks two vary close cars the antenna and the spot light being the only quick show that there different. I'll get my photo collection up to date. here is a interior of Mikes at Denver getting the nod from the Goood father. also one of a 53 Chevy jitterbug at work in Waco Tx

Here's another one of Mike's at Denver.