'56 Superior Cadillac Ambulance

Rear Superior Glass

Thank you very much for your efforts Attila!! I parted out a '56 Superior 3-way 28 years ago, but have very little left of that car. Let me know if you find one out of a '54-'56 Superior! Oh, and yes I did buy it.




Attila Bethlenfalvy said:
You're correct in your assessment that identical door glass was used between '54-'56 Superior models, only placement changed. Measured '51-'53 Superior for you Kurt, see below. Without having quick '54-'56 access to compare measurements, I am certain that glass will not interchange with '51-'53. Top and bottom corner radii differ on '51-'53 while '54-'56 appear much closer. Exposed glass is first measurement; parenthesis contains best glass opening measurement 'guess' without removing glass.

When viewing comparison, keep in mind '51-'53 is a bit of an optical illusion as it cants forward more than the actual top to bottom taper. ('51-'53 and '54-'56 pics were not taken at exact angles.) Also, note croppings are not identical. '54-'56 is probably not narrower at base than '51-'53.

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56

good for you. hope you enjoy the car. if you change your mind let me know and i will overnight a check to include whatever you have vested in getting the car to wherever. and i promise my check is good. if its not i will write you another one just like it!! just kidding about check but not about buying the car. im here with money if you want. red red red...man will it look good!
 
Can anyone give me any information on this cabinet which is in this '56 Superior Super Rescuer? It is, obviously, not the standard Superior metal cabinet used in '56. This cabinet is a mahogany veneered wood cabinet, but does not look to be a "do-it-yourself" job. Was this an upgrade cabinet for Superior in '56?
 

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Railing looks correct but that doesn't technically negate cabinet being fabricated later utilizing same railing.

Dan Skivolocke has a tall cabinet in his (first, non-Crown) '59 Superior ambulance. If someone can post that you can compare styling cues.
 
Need Some Help From East Coast Friends

So I started to do some digging on this '56 Super Rescuer. The previous owner to me had a copy of the title that he received when he purchased the car showing the owner that sold the car in 1978. I googled the name of the guy that sold it in 1978 and found that that owner still lives in the Omaha metro area and has a used car business here. I called the business number this morning and spoke with an employee at the lot. He told me that the owner of the lot Winters in Arizona and gave me his cell number.

I called him immediately and we talked for probably a half hour! It turns out that he had been stationed in Ft. Monmouth, NJ in 1966-1967 and bought the ambulance off of a used car lot there in 1966! He said that the Super Rescuer had been in service in that Ft. Monmouth, NJ area, but he could not remember the name of the community at the moment. He then went to Viet Nam, returned to the Omaha, NE area keeping the car until 1978. He had lots of stories about that car and the times he had while he owned it... taking it to the beach, being able to drive toll-free on the interstate highways(because it was an ambulance), etc.

Does anyone know of a city or community that might have owned this car in that Ft. Monmouth, NJ area? Hard to believe that this car only saw service for 10 years or less. Any help would be greatly appreciated!
 
New Jersey keeps DMV records forever, and if you can connect with someone that has connections at the NJ DMV, they can look up the title records on the computer by serial number. I had requested a replacement title for one of my cars by mail, and got a reply back from the NJ DMV that they didn't have the records because of age. I then asked a friend that worked for a new car dealer to see if he could get it. He went to the DMV, gave them the serial number, and it came up on the screen. He paid for a duplicate title, and got it. If the car had belonged to a Volunteer Ambulance Squad, then there is a chance that you might find the original owner in-spite of the Federal Privacy Act. I don't believe that the Privacy Act covers business's or municipalities. If you have the original NJ title, there will be a letter in front of the serial number. A would be the second owner, B the third owner, etc. If there is a Z after the serial number, that indicates that the car originated outside of New Jersey, so they wouldn't have information back to the original Certificate of Origin. The other stumbling block is that it might never have gotten into the computer, so no information would be available unless you could get them to do a physical search of the paperwork.
Your best chance is with the car itself, by lightly sanding the paint on the rear door, looking for a shadow of the past lettering. If you can faintly make out the lettering, then take a digital picture, and enhance it till you can read it.
 
NJ Connection

Kurt,

I spoke with Rich Litton about your ambulance. Rich is, by far, the authority on NJ Volunteer EMS vehicles. Fairview First Aid is a possibility as is Hazlet First Aid Squad both of which were red. Spotswood had a 56 but it was green. Rich asked what color was the car originally?
 
Rich just called me back. Carlstadt FD in Bergen County, NJ (Northeast part of the state) had a '56 Superior that they replaced in 1966 with an S&S. The NJ S&S dealer was Harry Wagner who lived in the Fort Monmouth area.
 
Fred,
Wow! You guys don't mess around!!

The car was originally all red. Is there any other info that might help confirm this ownership?

Kurt
 
Kurt,

Is your contact sure about buying it in 1966? There is another one but it was purchased used and was with the squad into the early 1970's. Rich (who is a PCS Member just not on line) has pictures of a good percentage of the vehicles from about 1960 thru present day. He actually "buffs the squads" on weekends. I asked the question and Rich went right for his notes on the squads in the area. He called me back a little later about the Carlstadt car. The only real way to tell who the original owner was would be to trace the title as Paul said. Nice save! :applause:
 
Jackpot!! What condition is the side door glass in? I realize that I can get new side door glass, but if the original is good?
 
Check on the condition of the side doors as well, Attila. The lowers need work on a couple of mine and I would rather swap than fix. Thanks!
 
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