Factory options for Professional Cars

I don't want to hijack the Classy Cadillacs thread, but did have a follow up to this, I think worthy of its own discussion.

Steve Loftin said:

Visible extra-cost options include two-tone paint, whitewall tires, hanging hardware, bumper step, and a C6B sirenlight.

Click to expand...

I don't know much about what it was like to have been on the ordering side of buying a new professional car, since I wasn't even of driving age until the 1990's and there doesn't seem to be a lot of articles on the subject. Can you enlighten us on what coachbuilder "options" are? I always thought that most professional car manufacturers didn't really have a base model you added to, but rather each coach was a bespoke build. Almost as if you would order a Miller-Meteor "Traditional Landau" model hearse, decide what you specifically wanted on it, and no two were usually the same (of course unless ordered by a firm as such).

One of the few references I've seen to how a car was ordered is a 1960's ACC/Amblewagon brochure I have. It looks like at least a hundred or so items you could select from. Everything from roof treatment, to curtain styles, to first aid equipment, to body work changes, to warning equipment.

So what exactly is a base model when we talk about professional cars? Did coachbuilders ever build limited runs of similar standard-option basic coaches for general sale?

It is my understanding that S&S was one of those check the box for what you want things. Very interesting thread Adam.

Josh

All builders had base model(s) at which their pricing started. There was a list of available production options (sometimes called "standard options") which had already been engineered and priced that the customer could choose from. Custom or special order options to meet the needs of a particular buyer such as paint, equipment, or cabinetry were priced on an individual basis. Stock and demonstrator units were often built with popular options and new features to attract buyers. The same principles apply today.

Most procar brochures had standard specifications listed, sometimes with drawings and dimensions. Many had pictures of some of the standard as well as optional items. As an example, the pages below are from Wayne's 1972 full-line ambulance brochure that included M-M Cadillacs, C/B Oldsmobiles, Sentinel carryalls, and Vanguard Type IIs:

Each builder's literature was a little different. The pages below from a 1970 Superior ambulance brochure told a customer what features were standard and which options were available on their full line of Cadillac and Pontiac models:

that 59

Where is that green 59 today? Great looking coach. That 51 Ford probably became a donor for other 51 hardtops at some point.
Mike