1961 Oldsmobile Ambulance - $6500 (Hills Iowa)

http://iowacity.craigslist.org/atq/5376386341.html

Looks like a fun project if it is what the ad says it is.

1961 Oldsmobile ambulance, Body work is completely done, painted and undercoated, all bumpers have been re-chromed . engine has been tuned up and valves adjusted, runs great, The "Red Rockets and Siren have been gone through and are all wired to their switches and look and sound great I hate to admit how much I've got invested, have shop manual and factory shop manual CD. many items to go with like 1960's EMS bag, misc. 1960's medical items. registration current. Been working on it for several years, just the interior left, have all the chrome and parts for all the windows and doors. selling due to heath issues, would love to see it in its finished state. was new in Washington County Iowa ambulance service.
 

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Unfortunately, he will take a major bath in selling it in this state. Sad to see any forced sale due to heath issues. It appears that the seller has done quality work on what has been completed.
 
This '61 C-B Seville Olds parts car is still residing in a yard in SE Nebraska, if someone decides that they would like to take on the '61 C-B in Eastern IA. This one does have a different roof/window configuration however.
 

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This should refresh some memories, and shed some light on the history of this car. When I purchased the 1962 Chevrolet Bel Air ambulance from Lloyds estate, learned of this car from a former owner. It was well documented by others on this website, after I posted the first picture of it in another thread about station wagon conversions.... Read more about this car here...

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So, how is it possible that C-B was able to offer multiple roof, window, tail light, etc. configurations on the short wheel base Seville?? Crazy amount of tooling required just for the Seville offering.
 
Ed,
Both of these cars are 1961s. What I am referring to were all modifications that were done by C-B. These 2 cars have radically different roof treatments, windows, tail lights, etc.
 
I under stood that. the did a modal change mid year different rear bumpers and taillights. and if I'm not mistaken this was not the only year that happened. who can say if some thing they were using dried up one there was a problem with the first design. we have discussed the different bumpers before. all anyone knew was that there were two different ones.
 
So, how is it possible that C-B was able to offer multiple roof, window, tail light, etc. configurations on the short wheel base Seville?? Crazy amount of tooling required just for the Seville offering.

The C/B Seville was a higher priced car than the C/B Tartan. As you said, the Seville has different windows, however, I believe that the roof structure is the same in both models. Without knowing what the base car was that they used to build the Seville, it is difficult to know for certain. If you get back to that yard, and can take a picture of the GM data plate, along with the VIN plate, I can decipher the base car that the Seville is based upon. The Tartan models were based on the 6 passengers station wagons, with a raised roof, and rear.

If we consider the tail lamps as an identifier, we could make the assumption that the model that you are referring to as a Seville (in the literature it is called a Junior) was made from a passenger car, because the station wagon used a different tail lamp assembly that was sculpted into the top of the quarter panel.

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The one thing that isn't consistent in the above two pictures, is the bumper ends. One points straight down and the other points to the side. It looks like they used the station wagon bumper on the sedan, but without a data plate picture, this is all conjecture.
Correction: The angle of the bumper ends appears to be a photographic anomaly, and they are the same.

early and late 62 was a body change for gm

We are discussing the 1961 model years, not the 1962 model year. The only difference was that GM had 2 roof designs for the 2 door cars. There was the squared off roof, and what is known as the "bubble top".

I under stood that. the did a modal change mid year different rear bumpers and taillights. and if I'm not mistaken this was not the only year that happened. who can say if some thing they were using dried up one there was a problem with the first design. we have discussed the different bumpers before. all anyone knew was that there were two different ones.

What you are referring to is the Flxible Buicks that used the front bumper ends at both ends of thee cars.
 
I also noticed on the yellow '61 C-B that both rear wrap-around windows are plexi-glass. Can this be the way C-B built them? I would find it very hard to believe that both windows had been broke out at some point in its life. Factory curved/tempered glass is extremely strong and would not typically break without being shot out.
 
Kurt - The rear quarter windows could well have been plexiglass. This type of "window" was used extensively by the smaller coachbuilders and was prevelent in cars from such builders as Trinity. Even today, Eagle uses plexiglass in their Eschelon's rear quarter windows. Superior used this material for the "coach windows" in its '75-'76 Regals and quite possibly similar cars on the downsized chassis thereafter. The up-side is that it's cheap and can be readiuly sashioned to suit any opening. The down-side is that over time it can cloud up or yellow and scratches easily - like in the car wash. To the best of my knowledge, Cotner/Bevington used one roof style for the "Junior" cars that were converted from station wagons and yet another for the "Seville" models. The Seville bodies were fashioned after the long-wheelbase Cotingtons with the full circle type rear windows.
 
If I had the: space, expertise, etc, etc I would love to see bringing this one to its completion. Early 60's C/B ambulances are such a rare find. Thanks for sharing.
 
What lies ahead for the completion of this ambulance is a lot of work, and it is the type of work that you are most likely going to have to pay someone else to do. An example of this, would be to reinstall all the glass in the vehicle, which most likely, is going to need someone with expertise in this area. I don't doubt that someone that has done glass work in the past, could do this job, but even then, if it were to take them an hour per piece, with 8 pieces of glass, that would be 8 hours. I doubt that an experienced could do it that fast. I would estimate about 20 hours total for everything glass wise, and that is if all the parts are there, and properly labeled.
 
I also noticed on the yellow '61 C-B that both rear wrap-around windows are plexi-glass. Can this be the way C-B built them? I would find it very hard to believe that both windows had been broke out at some point in its life. Factory curved/tempered glass is extremely strong and would not typically break without being shot out.

I don't know if the size was the same between the Seville and the Cotington, but my old '61 Cotington's curved corner glass was actually glass.

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Thasnks, Adam. That being the case, to obtain the best economies in construction, I'd bet that the Seville also used curved glass in the rear quarter windows. Parts sharing across a product line was and is common. It only makes sense.
 
OK I thing this clears up a lot. the CB tartan model being built with a standard wheel base off the wagon body. all cb changed was the roof line and back door. from the base of the glass back. and if I'm nor mistaken the tartan used a standard windshield.

the standard line of seville ,cottington and ambulances were based off the sedan chassis whether stretched or not. they have the commercial glass.

now the only two examples of tartans I have see are the chevy Paul has and it's pontiac sister listed on e-bay. both of them had a standard interior with a back seat still in them. just wagons with a high roof and a big door. one has to wounder if they were all combos. then this one was converted to a ambulance by the owners.

as for the glass installation. one can figure right at 100 bucks a door if all the hardware is there. you add weather striping and you get 200 a door. the first one would be the hardest as you fumbled threw how they did it. then if the door handles still need plated you can add another 100 bucks a door for that.
if you have never striped out a door down to the shell then your best bet would be to get one out of the yard as close to this car as you can and take it down to the shell and put it back together first. this will give you a idea of how and what goes first. nothing is worse then getting it all together only to discover that you left the out side weather seal off. the 8hr a door would be lucky. it will take you two days just to sort parts. that's were I'm at with this 58 now.

someone else's project is the worse nightmare to step into as your lost from the start.
 
I was kinda disappointed when I saw this listed the other day, as I knew it was under restoration for quite some time, and was looking forward to seeing it show up at the local car cruise someday.
 
One more Tartan. This one is a '62 and had a full ambulance interior with a jump seat. No partition, however. Paul cut the tunnel lights off of it!
 

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Ed...let's be clear on something. No Cotner/Bevington Seville, Tartan or Cotington models ever had commercial glass prior to 1965. Like Superior-Pontiacs, a Cadillac-sourced commercial windshield was incorporated into all C/B models starting with the 1965 models. Naturally, this change also required that each coachbuilder now had to source and have higher side door glass made for their cars. But, the important part is that commercial windshields and side glass as we know and understand them today were not used in any funeral cars or ambulances prior to 1965.
 
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