Combinations light removal/installation

Abe Bush

PCS Member
When I was a kid growing up in the 70's, my two local funeral homes ran the ambulance service in town.

The less popular, Tomlinson Funeral home, ran a 1968 white combination and I never once saw it in action as an ambulance.

The more popular Reynolds Renkes Funeral Home ran what I think was a 1971 or 72 Superior combination with a single red beacon ray on the roof.

My question is that I've never been able to figure out how the beacon ray installs and uninstalls. When the car was serving as a hearse, I remember scanning the front of the roof for some sort of indication as to where the light was at but there didn't seem to be any hint that a light could be installed. There was no visible hole in the roof, so how did the beacon rays and in some cases bullet lights install and how was the "evidence" hidden from view when the cars were being used as a hearse?

Was there a small plug that went into the hole to hide it from view? And how were these lights wired...there were never any visible wires anywhere when the cars were being used as an ambulance?

Thanks for any help, I've always wondered about this since I was a kid.

Abe
 
Abe, since you & I lived so close together at the time I think I can comment on this for you. Most of the combinations in our area at the time had just one beacon on the roof with the exception to the firm I worked for at Allens in Sterling where they thrived on extra beacons on their combinations. Look at my avitar this is their 73MM combination. Most combination beacons were located center of the roof and towards the front usually where the roof slopes such as over the cab. I know that to not be the case with one of the coaches from one of those firms, the beacon was located in the center of the roof making it difficult to see a bolt but good observation on your part, I always felt that beacon looked lonely up there and so far back on the roof. I may even have a photo of this coach but I will have to look for it. But I believe most were moved forward, it really came down to preference. Yes most have a painted bolt that blended in with the color of the coach. Once the bolt was removed the beacon had a threaded post with a power wire attatched to the bottom of the beacon ray. The power wire ran directly through the bolt, you then would simply place the beacon on the roof inserting the wire first and align it up so the beacon would sit level or straight. In the cab area above the front seats there would be in most cases a "V-Shape" in the headliner with a zipper, un zip this and you would find where the beacon bolt comes through the roof, you then would have a large wing nut, you then would attatch to the beacon bolt, this would hold it on the roof. The power wire would attach to the other power wire already in the vehicle running to the power source, most of the time they were attached by male/female ends or butt connectors. Some combinations switch for the beacon were discreetly placed since they only needed one switch versus having a large panel of switches. Nice to chat with you I will send you a private email to catch up on time.

Larri
 
Abe, since you & I lived so close together at the time I think I can comment on this for you. Most of the combinations in our area at the time had just one beacon on the roof with the exception to the firm I worked for at Allens in Sterling where they thrived on extra beacons on their combinations. Look at my avitar this is their 73MM combination. Most combination beacons were located center of the roof and towards the front usually where the roof slopes such as over the cab. I know that to not be the case with one of the coaches from one of those firms, the beacon was located in the center of the roof making it difficult to see a bolt but good observation on your part, I always felt that beacon looked lonely up there and so far back on the roof. I may even have a photo of this coach but I will have to look for it. But I believe most were moved forward, it really came down to preference. Yes most have a painted bolt that blended in with the color of the coach. Once the bolt was removed the beacon had a threaded post with a power wire attatched to the bottom of the beacon ray. The power wire ran directly through the bolt, you then would simply place the beacon on the roof inserting the wire first and align it up so the beacon would sit level or straight. In the cab area above the front seats there would be in most cases a "V-Shape" in the headliner with a zipper, un zip this and you would find where the beacon bolt comes through the roof, you then would have a large wing nut, you then would attatch to the beacon bolt, this would hold it on the roof. The power wire would attach to the other power wire already in the vehicle running to the power source, most of the time they were attached by male/female ends or butt connectors. Some combinations switch for the beacon were discreetly placed since they only needed one switch versus having a large panel of switches. Nice to chat with you I will send you a private email to catch up on time.

Larri

Larri thanks so much for replying to this post for me and answering my question so thoroughly.

That makes perfect sense that the Tomlinson coach (I looked in my M+M book and it was actually a 1969 or 70, not a 68 limousine combo, which had a single beacon ray dead center) had no bolt visible since the beacon was so far back but I also rarely saw that coach in anything but ambulance mode anyway as he usually had it sitting out in the driveway yet I never once got to see it in action as an ambulance.

The Reynolds Renkes coach, either a 71, or 72 Superior Cadillac, I think it was a Soverign Regency combination because it had the small landau bow on the rear sail panel, had the single beacon ray extremely forward placed. The beacon ray was moved so far forward in fact that it literally had a slight downward angle to it which I remember thinking looked rather unusual because of the slight downward angle. But at the same time, it also made it easier for me to look carefully at the roof for any signs of a hole, bolt, plug when in funeral coach configuration but I was never able to see any. So the bolt must have been flush with the roof, and painted exactly the same color.

As the years went on, I remember seeing what appeared to be a circular ring that was really just a slight worn spot on the roof that indicated where the light was installed while in ambulance configuration, but only if the light was hitting it just right.

Larri I have seen your white duplex coach a couple times from a distance in Sterling, and that is one beautiful coach. I would love to see more pictures of it sometime if you would ever want to share them on here. It looks incredible, and I love the custom "Allen Funeral Home" artwork on the rear windows not to mention the famous count em 4 full sized beacon rays! It makes me wonder if the original owner of your coach struggled with the decision as to whether or not to also include a 5th beacon ray in the center of the coach when ordering it from [presumably] Foster Coach as well!

Not only is your coach famous among PFC members and enthusiasts, but I'll bet it was also famous in and around the twin cities of Sterling and Rock Falls back when it was in service!

How many other similar cars did Allen have over the years?

Your avatar is the first and only time that I have ever seen that coach, and I actually increased the web page size so that I could see it in more detail!

Abe
 
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M&M used the single bolt with the wire through the center and secured by a wing nut. Superior had what was called a contact connection which had the wiring already in the connection and all you had to do was bolt it down. Superior used a much smaller bolt and wing nut to secure the beacon and when removed, an elongated cup which covered the entire contact on the roof was bolted on. It was raised just enough to cover the contact but was more noticable than the bolts used on M&Ms. We always had M&Ms so I was never familiar with the Superiors. I just know they were not interchangable with the contact or the angle of the cut on the beacon skirt. Those were the "good ole days" when you were lining up for a funeral and got a call for all ambulances to go to a wreck. I had to make a mad scramble to the garage and get the beacon ray, flip the rollers back, grab the cot (one man because we are a small community and my boss was older so guess who went on the ambulance calls) and go screaming out to a wreck in my suit and my only clean white shirt, grab and run (we weren't EMT's yet) and get back to the funeral home before the funeral started. I usually left the beacon ray on unless I had the time to remove it. Would I go back and do it again? NO!
 
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