'61 Superior Amb. In TX

Beautiful rig! First thing I noticed was the missing chrome/polished s.s. moldings on the bottom "fins" that run from the front fender to the rear quarter panel. Second was the lack of a real medicine cabinet (unusual for a full ambulance) and then there is that weird extra aluminum strip running the full length of the center of the floor in the patient compartment.

Not that any of those things would stop me from parking it in my driveway, as they can all be corrected.
 
Terry, you read my mind. It is the interior of a combination is it not (?). This is not to detract from the beauty of the vehicle.
 
Thanks, looks like a nice car. I do not remember seeing an ambulance with suicide doors. What coachbuilder?
 
the small block Chevy engine is kind of a turn off. but the cabinet is missing. it should have a steel cabinet in it. that most likely was a option in them the floor has just been replace and then use two strips instead of one piece. the lack of curtains rods and holders is what make everthing look funny.
 
We had plenty of SUPERIORS with suicide doors in this area squads were forever racing away from the scene without the door fully closed and tearing the door off. The Chevie engine is a turnoff not enough torque to haul the big barge around. Those Cadillac engines of the early 60s were great not like the 50s disasters. Why change it?
 
I had a very nice note from the owner. "Straight ambulance. I rescued the car out of Ca years ago. The previous owner had gutted the interior with the intention of converting to a party limousine"... Great save in my opinion.

So there we go. Anyone have a slightly used early 60's medical cabinet to transplant? Would likely help in finding a new custodian.
 
Looks good but the 350 Chevy is a big negative in my viewpoint.

Even a later Cadillac drivetrain would have been a better choice.
 
That is not an ambulance partition sans-cabinet............... that is definitely a combination partition.
 
Kurt Arends said:
That is not an ambulance partition sans-cabinet............... that is definitely a combination partition.
Click to expand...

No doubt it appears to be either a combo partition, or a close replica of one. If a person is to believe what the seller told Tim, the rear interior was stripped out. In the process of rebuilding it, he may have used whatever resources and material were available to him, even if not totally correct. That may not have included a factory metal ambulance medicine cabinet from 1961.

I'm more inclined to believe that the cabinet was an add-on, as opposed to 4 tunnel lights (and where do you find a complete set of those?) being professionally grafted onto the roof of a combo, not to mention the rear step ambulance bumper and chrome crosses.
 
Couple other nice ones lurking in the garage back there

s-l400.jpg
 
I really doubdt he cut the rear bumper to fix a step on a combination while he forgot to build a cabinet. That might be a straight ambulance without interior instead of a combo.
 
you look at the pictures the wheel well covers, as is the cabinet not original. they have constructed a interior as best they could back there.

it is a find example of a rebuilt car. small stuff still needs to be done. but if one did not care about being correct, just having a nice appearing car to drive round in it's not a bad buy.

it's not restored simply rebuilt. one notices things under the hood like all the braided hoses and chrome but a pair of water heater hoses that are just chopped off. most likely rear heater. then also the brake unit what was not painted. outside trim missing but holes filled. the rear interior off just a tad, like any other rebuilt car. as a restorer you see things that are not correct for the modal and year. but at first glance it's a sharp looking car. a lot of effort went into rebuilding it. but you see as a lot of them, it just kind of stalled out and tapered off at the end into good enough.
 
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