1956 Meteor Cadillac Ambulance

I see some fine examples of maturity, grace and professionalism in this thread and I'd like to say thanks specifically to Mr. Lichtman and Mr. Marcy for their input and positive attitudes. So...:thankyou2:
 
the decision of the group was that cars should be judged as they were built. there are combo out there that never were used for anything but a hearse never had a light or siren installed. there still combos. not Hearses. there are combos that have never carried a casket. don't have rollers and are painted red and white. they are still combos.

this is most likly the case of this car. for all practical purposes is it a ambulance. as that is what it was used for and because they did not use it for dual purposes it's set up and equipped as a ambulance. but the tag under the hood says it's built as a combo. there for, for judging purpose it's a combo. as that is what it was built as.

conversions cars are a different class all together. what the car started out as is different then what it left the aftermarket factory as.

after all most of the Cadillac pro cars all started out as the same commercial chassis. they were then altered into ambulances, hearses, combinations and flower cars.

so what this red and white car is, is a combanation set up as a ambulance. the same as the god fathers Buick.

we have see that you can paint a combo yellow and call it a taxie. it's still a combo though

Such is the case of my 1979 Cadillac M/M Traditional Landau Combination. It was bought new and was used as an end load hearse. The siren and demountable beacon were added after I purchased it.
 
Wow! I just checked on the auction and the price is up to $25,000.00.

It needs to bring alot more than that just for him to get what he paid me for it. Personally, I hope he gets $40K, it is a beautiful car. Sad thing is as I look at it, I wonder why I sold it, but you guys already know that's what I do. I guess you could say I love 'em and leave 'em. But when I sell them, they are always better than when I bought them, if that is any consolation.
 
I didn't mean the car wasn't worth more. It is a beautiful car. I was just happy to see a pro car auction where the price was progressing well. So often you watch some of these auctions and the cars seem to go for less than scrap price even though we all know that they are or should be worth more. As with everyone else on here I would like to save them all but in todays economy it's not realistic. Imagine what $25,000.00 could do for the person that recently purchased (for $1025.00) the only 1963 Buick Flixette service car manufactured.:my2cents:

The owner of this 1956 told me that the window signs are from Saginaw Mercy and they believe the car may have did service in that area.
 
I didn't mean the car wasn't worth more. It is a beautiful car. I was just happy to see a pro car auction where the price was progressing well. So often you watch some of these auctions and the cars seem to go for less than scrap price even though we all know that they are or should be worth more. As with everyone else on here I would like to save them all but in todays economy it's not realistic. Imagine what $25,000.00 could do for the person that recently purchased (for $1025.00) the only 1963 Buick Flixette service car manufactured.:my2cents:

The owner of this 1956 told me that the window signs are from Saginaw Mercy and they believe the car may have did service in that area.

I didn't think you were implying anything negative about the price either. But I know what he paid for the car. He is a real gentlman and I hope he gets more money, eventhough prices have changed alot in three years.

I was told the story about the nameplates by somebody who told me what the name meant, but I do not think the car worked at that hospital, there was some other reason for the name. If I remember what I was told, I will post it here.
 
I don't mean to beat a horse that died long ago, but I just stumbled onto this thread from back before I got involved in this forum. I purchased this very car in around 1982 for $800 from a salvage yard owner just outside of Rochester, MN. He had purchased it from Altura Fire & Rescue. He was a Cadillac collector and purchased it thinking that he would use the front clip on another Cadillac. That was not to be as he soon discovered. I stumbled onto the car in a "Wheeler Dealer" type publication. Steve's photos of the car were identical to the way the car appeared when I bought it and sold it. I used the car in one of my best friend's wedding shortly after buying it along with my '56 Meteor 3-way landau(which I used as my avatar a while back).

Having owned it for around 10 years, there is no doubt in my mind that this car was originally a combination. It was a combination set up for a skeleton rack. The car had a crude, home-made plywood cabinet in it when I bought it. I took the cabinet out and used it for tool storage for years. The car originally had the tri-tone exterior identical to the tri-tone combination pictured earlier in this post. This same tri-tone exterior color combination was also featured on the cover of the '56 Meteor brochure. There was remnants of the tri-tone exterior visible in the door jambs when I owned it. Just thought that I would add my :my2cents:and put this one to rest(most of you probably already thought that it was).
 
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