1956 GMC Carryall Ambulance Info and Leads

*UPDATE* 1955 GMC Carryall Ambulace-WBFD

Timeline of the 1955 WBFD GMC Carryall
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Happy Easter Monday everybody. Hope you find yourselves full of ham and surrounded by love ones. Today, I have some new information on one of the Christopher ambulances I have been trying to track down, the 1955 GMC Carryall that was owned by the WBFD. To properly present all the information, I am going to list the history of this particular ambulance in a timeline. This is the ambulance I have had the most success in tracking, and therefore is my best led. Anyways, here it is

1955-1957

The story Of this ambulance starts between the years 1955-1957, in New York City. At this time, The fairly new Coachbuilding company, Christopher, started to roll out their new Res Q apparatus, based off the 1955 gmc carryall. The West Bend Fire Dept, out of Wisconsin, was one of the first fire departments to order these vehicles. Because of this, the ambulance that WBFD ordered was chosen as the vehicle Christopher would use in most of their promotional materials. I the add below, you can clearly see the WBFD logo on the rear of the ambulance.
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1957-1965

I have recently emailed the west bend fire dept asking for any info they may have on the ambulance. I was able to talk to current betallion cheif John Sparts. According to him, the ambulance was in use for about ten years by the WBFD, until at wich time the fire dept ordered new ambulances. At this time, the ambulance was retired from the fire dept, and was then Used by the West bend Parks and recreation Department.

1965-Early 1970's

Once in posession of west bends park and rec department, the ambulance was painted dark green, and recrested with their logo.
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After finding out that WB parks and rec were the second owners, I sent an email to them as well. I was able to talk to Craig Hoeppner, the director of WB parks/rec. Unfortunatley, not a lot of info exists in their records about the ambulance. He was able to tell me that past employees do remember using the vehicle, but no active employees have ever used it.

Early 1970's-2009

After West bend parks and Rec was done with the ambulance, no one knows quite where the ambulance resided. There were no records depicting who bought the ambulance after. I contacted the Washington county historical society to see if they had any records. I spoke with acting curator Heather Pryzbylski, but she said that she did not have very much records of the 1950s onward, but would look into it.

2009-Present day(28/03/2016)

Though the ambulance was lost to the records for a period of time, it did resurface in 2009 in western Massatutsis, in a craigslist add.
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Todd Merrifield, member of PCS, talked to the poster of the add in 2008, named Brian. Apparently, the craigslist add was not to sell the ambulance, but to seek money to restore it for a museum. At the moment, no museums in Massatutsis have this ambulance in their posession, so it is not restored yet. I do have reason to believe that this Brian fellow still owns the ambulance, because during my conversation with John Sparts, he told me that he knows the person who is restoring it. He has not let me know who it is, but hopefully Brian continued in his pursuit.

I hope this has been helpful. A location is close, I can feel it. Until nex update, Clay.:beatdeadhorse5:
 
Hello gents. I have another lead regarding the Christopher ambulance I want to own, just that the ambulance I have a lead on is not a Christopher at all! Nicholas Studer would be proud, as I came across a 1955 gerstenlager gmc ambulance/rescue picture during one of my search sessions. This ambulance is almost the same as a Christopher, but with small changes like where access doors are located and different trim options. Below is the picture in question...

It seems to have been used by the kankakee FD in Illinois as there "rescue 7". I emailed the fire chief to see if he may know it's current location. I imagine it was sold because it is not seen in their fleet of parade vehicles. I will let you know if I get a response. Have a good one!:beatdeadhorse5:
 
I clearly remember the ambulance when it was last seen in Massachusetts, and it was located in a small town North of Springfield MA. The person that owned it was in his early 20's, and he had made a post on a forum, that didn't go over very well with the other members of that forum. I will forward to Clay more of the "detailed" information that I have about this person and the car. If the car hasn't been moved from its location in January 2008, it shouldn't be very difficult to locate.
 
One step closer...

Major, maajoor Break in the search for the elusive green 1955 GMC Ambulance.

Thanks to The help of Paul Steinburg, I was able to track down the the original Poster of the craigslist add Brian through a post he authored back in 2007. The link to this forum post is below.
http://www.masscops.com/threads/1955-ambulance-lighting-questions-permits.44024/#post-244362
Through Information Hidden in this Post, I was able to find a past business address of Brian's Father Michael Artherton. This business was called Poet's Seat Auto and has since been disbanded, but through that, I was able to find Micheal Arthertons new Buisness, which wouldn't you know, is also run by Brian Artherton. Here is a link to his Buisness Website, two feather restorations in greenfield, MA.
http://www.twofeathersrestorations.com
I called the number of the Buisness and was put into contact with Brian immediately. Seemed to be a good chap. He told me that yes he did own this ambulance at one point, but it has sense been sold to a buddy of his in a car club he belongs to. Buddy was going to try and get it running. Brian told me that he will get in contact with the fellow this evening, and to call him tomorrow for an update. One thing I learned through my conversation with Brian is that it is probably missing some things. Brian stated that the fellow who bought it from him removed the original wheels on the ambulance. Brian has 3 of these wheels original wheels but sold one recently. Anyways, this is the closest I have ever come to a true location on any of the Christopher's I am tracking. Mabey tomorrow we will have some concrete answers. It's a good thing I'm working tonight because I would not be able to sleep. Until tomorrow, clay.:beatdeadhorse5:
 
Clay.. You found the same information that I received yesterday. As I told you, I was going to keep on top of this. Glad to know that the information that I provided you solved the search. Paul
 
2009-Present day(28/03/2016)

Though the ambulance was lost to the records for a period of time, it did resurface in 2009 in western Massatutsis, in a craigslist add.
image_zpsaihxf2gf.jpeg
Todd Merrifield, member of PCS, talked to the poster of the add in 2008, named Brian. Apparently, the craigslist add was not to sell the ambulance, but to seek money to restore it for a museum. At the moment, no museums in Massatutsis have this ambulance in their posession, so it is not restored yet. I do have reason to believe that this Brian fellow still owns the ambulance, because during my conversation with John Sparts, he told me that he knows the person who is restoring it. He has not let me know who it is, but hopefully Brian continued in his pursuit.

I hope this has been helpful. A location is close, I can feel it. Until nex update, Clay.:beatdeadhorse5:


I now have confidence that I have located the green GMC posted above, and it is not the Wellsley vehicle. In fact, the green vehicle posted above has never been in the East. It is the same vehicle that is pictured in this advertisement in the top right hand corner.
 

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Possible lead on another 1955 Christopher. I was searching through Google for gmc Carryalls and clicked on one. The site it brought me to had lots of professional car pictures based off of Carryalls. During my exploration of the site, I found this picture.
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The image was posted by a fellow called Dan Boudreau. I emailed him with some questions and possible wearabouts. We will see if it provides any new leads.
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If you want to see the actual site, here is the link https://www.flickr.com/photos/dieselphoto/5169524258/sizes/l/

The search continues...:beatdeadhorse5:

Pictured above is the original Wellesley (MA) Disaster Services vehicle that surfaced in the Craigslist ad in 2007. This is also the same vehicle mentioned in post #2.
 

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