1949 to 54 Chevy and Pon sedan deliveries

John ED Renstrom

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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.
 

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

Josh
 

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

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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
 

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1953 Pontiac Acme

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

1953 Pontiac Acme
 

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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?
 
My 1953 Pontiac/Barnette

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.
 

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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.
 

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Sedan Delivery

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.
 
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
 

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1952 National Pontiac...

...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.

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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!
 
Made by St Catherines Auto Body of Ontario

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.
 

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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.
 
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
 

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1952 National Pontiac Ambulance

...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:


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