F + B Ambulance rolls again!

D

Dan Brintlinger

PCS Member
Just caught an episode of "ChIPS" this afternoon, and guess what showed at a freeway accident? Right!

F + B Ambulance, (of Mother, Jugs, & Speed fame) was the name on a '69 Superior high-headroom Cadillac..........B&M Super Chief siren over the windshield, F+B name on the doors and lighted sign.

Did anyone else see this today?:confused
 
Did it have a set of bull horns in front of the F+B front lighted roof sign? :D

(And yes, I know the Superior Cadillac from Mother Jugs & Speed is a '72, not a '69...)

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F+B Ambulance

It's amazing how much left front wheel air they got turning that corner. Always wondered if they modified the suspension on that car to make it handle, (or "Juggs" was one hell of a driver).
 
Stunt driver that knows exactly how much to push the limits of the car, and how to put it back down on all 4's at exactly the right time, not to flip the car.
 
Recently(on ME TV), they made mention of the fact that Ponch & John never pulled their gun, in all of the years that the series ran.
 
I recollect reading / seeing, somewhere on the net, that F&B ambulances made "cameos" in several tv shows after the movie came out - whether that was specifically for marketing purposes or just the company providing the movie cars didn't repaint the cars I don't know. (It's late, and I'm not feeling ambitious enough to try to find where I saw that info, so take it for what it's worth.)

As this is a '69, and not the '72 from the movie, I'm going to make the assumption that it was painted in F&B colors for the pilot episode of the tv show - Mother, Juggs & Speed - based on the movie. No network picked up the series, but the pilot was shown on ABC as a 1/2 hr. special. It was shown in Aug. of 1978, and the episode of ChiPs featuring the '69 was first aired in Nov. of 1978, the timing is right. While I have seen the movie many times, I have never seen the tv show pilot, and I could not find any still photos online - so I cannot say what they used for ambulances in it. (The above is all conjecture on part - I can't back any of it up.)
 
Jacob, I have been told that you are correct. The '69 Superior was painted for the TV version of "Mother, Juggs, & Speed" (note the different spelling of "Juggs" vs "Jugs" from the movie) (and I do recall seeing the TV show back in the day). After the quick demise of the TV version, the '69 did make the "CHiPs" appearance and probably a couple others.
 
That is awesome. I remember back when the show was current, and the year was around 1978 or 79 (the show started in '77) that Squad 51 showed up at a freeway accident and I was super excited, until I saw there was no Roy DeSoto or John Gage. In fact, the squad was a background rescue truck on scene. I guess I should not be surprised to see an ambulance from Mother, Jugs, and Speed on the show. Alas, I never caught this episode.
 
I wonder what happened to the movie car, and if either one of them survived and are still around somewhere. They were awfully hard on that 72 Superior!!!
 
There are previous threads regarding both these F+B cars, and it's been widely speculated that they have both been crushed years ago because there's no longer a current need for pro cars of this era.

But the F+B pilot car apparently made appearances on both CHiPs, and Charlie's Angels.

"Mother's" 1975 heavily customized Chevy van was apparently given away at some radio station giveaway in the 70s but has never been heard of since.

The Dodge Monacos, probably suffered similar fates...at the crusher.

I might just have to make more screen captures of the Mother Jugs & Speed movie, to capture the yellow and green CB car from Unity...lol.

I loved that scene when they were running code 3 through a golf course, with the BM Super Chief screaming all the way, and that heavy duty suspension flopping that thing around like a dying fish.
 
My understanding is that the ambulance that Bill Cosby drove in the movie is still in the car show circuits. After the movie, it was sold to an ambulance company and used as a legitimate ambulance, but in order to do so, they had to get rid of the custom grill/headlights, so they could have working air conditioning, as well as other adjustments needed. It now currently sports the original grill and headlights that it came with, when it was delivered to the studios.
 
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