after the last B-J fiasco, I have never felt the same about them... I wish someone had a bulldog media contact that would go after this story...
Maybe I should rephrase this, how about everyone contacting your favorite news organization with a "scam" department and them know about this.
On Tammy Allen's website (
http://allenuniqueautos.com/1960-1969/) she is completely up front about the history (and controversy) about this car.
"Following President John F. Kennedy’s assassination in Dallas on November 22, 1963, his body was flown back to Washington on Air Force One, after which it was to be taken to Bethesda Naval Hospital for autopsy. While airborne, Jacqueline Kennedy requested that a Navy ambulance be used for this transfer in honor of her husband’s service in WWII. The request was initially denied, as it was against regulations to use an ambulance as a hearse, but that rule was quickly pushed aside by higher officers in light of the circumstances. Thus, a 1963 Pontiac Bonneville Superior ambulance bearing the registration number 94-49196 was dispatched to meet the plane at Andrews Air Force Base. It then took JFK’s body to Bethesda for autopsy and embalming, then on to the Capitol building where it lay in state for three days leading up to the funeral. The car was used by the Navy for several more years before it was retired from service, but what happened to it after that is something of a mystery.
One widely-held theory holds that the original car was destroyed. In 1980 an ambulance was donated to the JFK Presidential Library, and because the Kennedy family did not like to keep morbid artifacts from the assassination they requested that it be crushed. This supposedly took place in June 1986, but no serial numbers were recorded and some of the registration numbers had been painted over. One is thus forced to consider the possibility that the photos, or the car itself, were altered. There is evidence supporting the destruction of the car, but not proof.
Rumors persist about the possible existence of a decoy ambulance, which was supposedly used to confuse the media and prevent them from following the real car. The likely source of the legend is that some members of the press mistakenly followed a similar ambulance that was out on another call, but the intentional use of a decoy is possible. It would have been easy to remove and re-paint the numbers on another car in a very short time.
Virtually everything associated with the JFK assassination incites controversy and talk of conspiracies, and this car is no different. It may be the real car, a decoy, or a carefully crafted replica, but the world will never know for sure unless some conclusive documentation surfaces. The car may or may not have carried JFK’s body, but it was certainly used to help save the lives of sick and wounded American sailors, and that is perhaps the most noble purpose a car can have."
I'm glad that it was outed as a fraud. That was one of the PCS finest moments.
