Suprised repaint of my 1973 S&S Professional

What color should this car be repainted

  • Stay with a red and white as it looks now

    Votes: 26 41.9%

  • Go back to the original Fort Wright colors as ordered in 1973 from S&S

    Votes: 36 58.1%
  • Total voters
    62
  • Poll closed .
Bruce Biancalana

Bruce Biancalana

PCS Life Member
To my suprise my 1973 S&S Professional has begun a repaint. Last week I went into my building to pull out my 1973 Fort Wright S&S high top, to my suprise it was missing. After asking "the kid" if he possibly would know where the S&S was, he reluctantly told me he was repainting it, but it was suposed to be a suprise. I have loved driving this car but I have wished that it still looked like it did in the picture that are posted in the photo section here on the board. My thinking has always been that the car was way too documented to have been changed. so my thought has been to sell the car and repaint my Blue and white 1973 S&S Profesional instead. now that the repaint has come to be a reallity I would like to go back to the original color sceme any Thoughts?

Present colors
1973SSredamb022.jpg


Durring paint
photobucket-5104-1335402829874.jpg


Original look
73fortwright3.jpg

73fortwright2.jpg

73fortwright.jpg
 
paint job

red & white is the only way to go. its beautifull. my dream car to be honest. it would be red & white not omaha orange. love s& s just my opion.
 
In my opinion you answered your own question Bruce... go for it and take it back to the original orange & white. If you don't you'll regret it every time you look at it, remembering you had the chance. I hope you do go with the orange/white scheme, sure would be sharp! An added bonus would be enlarging that factory build shot and proudly display it next to your hightop at shows.
 
Nothing beats the look of a clean shiny red and white ambulance racing down the street,it makes a statement, that this is how it should be!:thumb:
 
RED & WHITE !

I love the color orange... but not on a ambulance.
Orange was never used on a ambulance here in Toronto.

As for Fire Trucks - RED !
The town of Whitby use to have strange shade of yellow and that just didn't look like a fire truck to me.

Darren

P.S. Do what YOU want to do like Dwayne says.
 
Repaint Color Scheme

I'll go with the minority [to this point] and say repaint it the original Omaha Orange and Cotillion White.....if it's that well-documented from origin to now, I'd think it'd be in your best interest to go back to the original color scheme :myopinion: This may or may not make a difference to you but as a bonus, it might make the car worth more from a collector's point of view :my2cents: Besides, if you do display the original picture of the car in front of Hess & Eisenhardt, then everybody will know that it's original!! :myopinion: again.
 
I say go with the factory original orange and white. Not only is my favorite color orange, but I think the orange and white in that factory paint sceem looks great on that car.

Josh
 
I am not a fan of Omaha Orange & White at all........ and I live just across the river from Omaha! That car looks best red & white!! Just my opinion.
 
Bruce, that's going to be a tough call. When I took possession of that vehicle several years ago, it had the original paint on it. I made the decision to have it repainted in red and white, as I really didn't like orange on ambulances. Although the red clashed with the orange interior, I still saw it as an improvement. Fortunately, the next owner, Mike McDonald, changed the interior color to black, so any exterior color will now be a match.

Now, when I look at the factory photos, I'm leaning a little bit towards going original, particularly since the orange and white was broken up a few times.
My opinion only, I'm glad to see you removed the Super Chief from behind the Mars light. I also hope that you return the side pods back to the original silver flecked material that was used at the factory.

I'm looking forward to more photos as the project continues.

Kerry
 
A few observations

People typically expect an ambulance to be red & white. A freshly painted red & white ambulance looks stunning. HOWEVER, the orange & white IS orginal and the factory photo documents it. Its always cool to be different from what people expect, yet still be historically accurate. I vote for the Orange & white! But, do what makes YOU happy, Bruce!
 
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I really think Dwayne made a good point saying that you should make the car the way it will make YOU happiest. If you crave having it be the original colors to match documentation, then DO IT.

During the repaint of my 1960 Eureka, the painter chose a "correct" green about 4 shades too dark from original. (Long story) When he invited me to see the "finished" paint job, the darker green immediately jumped out at me. I walked around the car 100 times, pondering if I could live with this color. I determined, exactly as Dwayne stated, that if I accepted the car in this color I would regret it every time I walked up to it. He's 100% right. I stuck to my guns, said no...... it has to be repainted. From that time I had my hand in the color selection at the paint store, and it got repainted. I couldn't be happier and I'm glad I forced the issue. Go with your gut!

These photos will hopefully illustrate the dark and then correct greens for my car.
 

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IF my Lifeliner had a neutral color interior (instead of the orange upholstery and linoleum), and IF it had not been fully documented, I would have painted the upper body red, instead of the original Omaha Orange.

Have you considered bringing back the original, two-tone paint scheme, using red instead of orange ?? I think it was very striking, and compliments the make, year and body style.

Warren
 
Kerry Lange said:
Bruce, that's going to be a tough call. When I took possession of that vehicle several years ago, it had the original paint on it. I made the decision to have it repainted in red and white, as I really didn't like orange on ambulances. Although the red clashed with the orange interior, I still saw it as an improvement. Fortunately, the next owner, Mike McDonald, changed the interior color to black, so any exterior color will now be a match.

Now, when I look at the factory photos, I'm leaning a little bit towards going original, particularly since the orange and white was broken up a few times.
My opinion only, I'm glad to see you removed the Super Chief from behind the Mars light. I also hope that you return the side pods back to the original silver flecked material that was used at the factory.

I'm looking forward to more photos as the project continues.

Kerry
Click to expand...

As a very proud (previous owner) of this car, I voted to keep it red and white as it looks beautiful the way it is. Also, one of the other reasons it that "O-O" clashes horribly with the lighted plexiglass that I believe was OEM RED on all Medic Mark I's? I believe that most buyers in that era felt forced in to the Omaha Orange requirement instead of really wanting it... including it's Original Owner.... the Fort Wright, KY Fire Department's "LIFE SQUAD". Unless it's headed to "B-J" next... I think it would require a very expensive major tear down to do a complete color change back to "O-O". The B&M Super-Chief was only intended to be temporary at the time (had an extra one on hand and it fit in the slot). I got a lot of flak on repainting the side pods white too, but I thought that the flacked silver stood out adversly against the rest of our red and white fire engine fleet at the time. Also, out here there wasn't any other S&S MM-1's to compare with until years later, but plead "guilty as charged" for those two indiscretions! MM
 
Paint it the color you want, like has been stated. You will regret it if you paint it to please other people. Remember you are the one that owns it now and will have see the ambulance more than anybody else.
I personally like seeing ambulances in any other colors than red.
 
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