chrismartin1701
Member
Worst Ambulance and Fire Truck Thread:
- Thread starter vc859
- Start date
DLuccia
Member
chrismartin1701 said:while this was intended to be a novelty truck for kids, it still qualifies to be in the wtf category.
Nash Metropolitan tiller anyone?
I remember rideing that as a kid at the game farm
chrismartin1701 said:
Now that brings back some memories. The one on the right is what I was talking about, Chris. It was built by Collins Ambulance up in KS. Collins built a lot of Type II and III ambulances and a few of the Caravans back in the '80s. As far as Apollo is concerned, I think that they're still in business, but I haven't seen one of the little vans in a very long time. I worked with a guy several years who eventually became a part-owner in Apollo. When I had my standby ambulance service still in operation he was going to get me one of the Caravans, but that never happened. When I got the chance to call them and see what happened, my friend had passed away and no one knew that I was supposed to have gotten one of the Dodges,so they were all gone by then.
A company here in Texas that was known as B&B Coach built some hearses and removal vehicles on the Caravan platform,but didn't have the hightop like the Collins vans. One of B&B's owners, Wayland Bratton, had been sales manager at Summers Coach in Duncanville, TX for many years, and I bought a lot of ambulances from him over the years. In their hey-day, Summers built a lot of Suburan and van ambulances in-house to compete with Modular Ambulance Corp. And for a very short time (1965-1968), Summers owned Trinity Coach Co. which built hearses and ambulances on Buick chassis. Their short-wheel-based Buick ambulance, known as a "Triune" had the 434ci Buick Wildcat engine and was a fast running little ambulance. Dennis Funeral Home in Dimmit, TX (nearly 100 mi. nw of Lubbock) had a '68 Triune amblance that would really get up and go. My standby service was in Lubbock at the time and I knew the Dennises and got to go on a couple of runs in that little Buick. I had seen them make the trip from Dimmit to Lubbock on emergency transfers in just under an hour. Now that was fast! (Maybe a bit too fast...but it scooted).
HILO
Member
Skip Goulet said:
The credit is given in the text on the photo. I found it by using the search function on ELB, having remembered there was a thread about these very Caravans a few years ago.
http://elightbars.org/forums/f35/sprinter-ambulances-great-grandfather-4001/
chrismartin1701
Member
For several months I've seen Nissan's NV vans running around with most of them belonging to oilfield-related companies. And in the back of my mind I've been thinking that they'd make a neat ambulance if they had the proper headroom
Well, someon's gone and done it. A new company called Triton EMT (Emergency Medical Transport) as introduced a new Type II amblance on the Nissan NV chassis.
I don't have any way of uploading the brochure I got, but you can go to Home to view pictures of this new ambulance. This co. is Priority Emergency Vehicles, and they're located in Texas. They deal primarily in Wheeled Coach and Braun, so this appears to be a new line for them.
Well, someon's gone and done it. A new company called Triton EMT (Emergency Medical Transport) as introduced a new Type II amblance on the Nissan NV chassis.
I don't have any way of uploading the brochure I got, but you can go to Home to view pictures of this new ambulance. This co. is Priority Emergency Vehicles, and they're located in Texas. They deal primarily in Wheeled Coach and Braun, so this appears to be a new line for them.
HILO
Member
I'm not sure if this is the correct place to post this or not, but I felt I had to post it. Check out link to the CL ad - it's without a doubt the strangest Cadillac ambulance I've ever seen!!!
cadillac 1958 patty wagon
cadillac 1958 patty wagon
HILO said:
Quite an impressive website. I loved that red and black Samaritan ambulance. If I didn't know better I would've thought it belonged to Texas Tech!
If you've been in Texas long enough, you may remember all the competiton between Gordon K. Allen/MAC and Summers. The good ol' days of ambulance building in Texas.
Tristar said:
I've seen pictures of this old beast before. And I think it was in "The Professional Car", the newsletter for PCS, the Professional Car Society. PCS member Rich Litton lives in NJ and has posted pictures of old NJ ambulances over the years and I think this is one of them. I almost sure he posted something about the history of it also.
SomeBloke
Member
The third one is neat. It says in French that it's a first response unit. The bus-looking side doors are unusual. I guess they use it as a personnel carrier as well as a response unit!
premier secours evacuation - Google-Suche
Not only that.
These Units are used by the Paris firefighters, called "premier secours evacuation", they are capable of transporting a patient on a stretcher as well.
The Link above shows you some inside drawings and also the current version.
BTW: The Paris firefighters are a part of the french army.
Not only that.
These Units are used by the Paris firefighters, called "premier secours evacuation", they are capable of transporting a patient on a stretcher as well.
The Link above shows you some inside drawings and also the current version.
BTW: The Paris firefighters are a part of the french army.
Officially it was a support unit, not sure what that meant as I've seen it running code and at incidents, first response type. At least it had a decent flash pattern with the lights, the main Ambos have a stupid light pattern with steady reds all round the vehicle.
[Broken External Image]:http://firegeezer.com/files/2009/12/tiny-ambo-a-ABC-TV.jpg
Apparently it's a first response Paramedic unit for major events in Sydney.
[Broken External Image]:https://encrypted-tbn3.gstatic.com/...0D1RD2WO-EktrI6T89tmzehuaZxb7D4ILiUfnxJuX18jU
A cut and shut Holden Commodore ute with a gutless 3800 V6. Massive problems when new, and no warranty at all. I've seen a few that started rusting where they welded the stretch after a very short time, >12 months in 1 case. One of the shortest life spans for an Ambulance in Australia apparently, was told most were retired, some scrapped, after 2 years.
Save a penny, cost a dollar. NSW Ambulance service, and VW Australia, really screwed this up. NSW Ambulance ordered several hundred T4 Transporter LWB TDI but only ordered the standard civilian version. Result was constant transmission failures, same issue also effected V6 powered Eurovans which used the same transmission. At the time I worked for a VW dealer so I was heavily involved in this, at one point we had 6 vans in with failed transmissions. We, the dealer, discovered a special severe service transmission intended for police and ambulance use which was used as the service replacement from then on. Amusingly I had worked for a Mercedes dealer a few years earlier when they were having issues with the Sprinters, again regular civilian spec vans used instead of the factory severe service vans.
Arguably the worst ambulance in Australia, originally intended as a general emergency ambulance, they were quickly down graded to little more then patient transport vehicles, or support roles. Way too small and fragile, many stories of them having transmissions removed by jumping over median strips!
Last edited by a moderator:
Looks like they missed the front. Did they label the back, too, or just the sides?SomeBloke said:
I remember as a kid seeing these NYC ambulances, and I thought they might qualify as one of the worst ambulances...
Then I found the 2nd photo, with an older and uglier version of that type of ambulance.
Then I found the 2nd photo, with an older and uglier version of that type of ambulance.
irsa76 said:
Officially it was a support unit, not sure what that meant as I've seen it running code and at incidents, first response type. At least it had a decent flash pattern with the lights, the main Ambos have a stupid light pattern with steady reds all round the vehicle.
[Broken External Image]:http://firegeezer.com/files/2009/12/tiny-ambo-a-ABC-TV.jpg
Apparently it's a first response Paramedic unit for major events in Sydney.
[Broken External Image]:https://encrypted-tbn3.gstatic.com/...0D1RD2WO-EktrI6T89tmzehuaZxb7D4ILiUfnxJuX18jU
A cut and shut Holden Commodore ute with a gutless 3800 V6. Massive problems when new, and no warranty at all. I've seen a few that started rusting where they welded the stretch after a very short time, >12 months in 1 case. One of the shortest life spans for an Ambulance in Australia apparently, was told most were retired, some scrapped, after 2 years.
Save a penny, cost a dollar. NSW Ambulance service, and VW Australia, really screwed this up. NSW Ambulance ordered several hundred T4 Transporter LWB TDI but only ordered the standard civilian version. Result was constant transmission failures, same issue also effected V6 powered Eurovans which used the same transmission. At the time I worked for a VW dealer so I was heavily involved in this, at one point we had 6 vans in with failed transmissions. We, the dealer, discovered a special severe service transmission intended for police and ambulance use which was used as the service replacement from then on. Amusingly I had worked for a Mercedes dealer a few years earlier when they were having issues with the Sprinters, again regular civilian spec vans used instead of the factory severe service vans.
Arguably the worst ambulance in Australia, originally intended as a general emergency ambulance, they were quickly down graded to little more then patient transport vehicles, or support roles. Way too small and fragile, many stories of them having transmissions removed by jumping over median strips!
Those are some interesting looking units. Too bad they've been so much trouble. Wouldn't it be easier for Australia to import from the U.S., using Wheeled Coach, Braun, etc., rather than the European units?
Speaking of tranny problems, my small standby ambulance service bought a 1971 lowtop Suburban ambulance in 1981 with relatively low milage considering the age. We never had any mechanical problems with the truck, and the engine outlived the vehicle. But we had problems keeping a transmission in it. The truck had a 350 c.i. engine and came with the standard 350 tranny as well. After we had replaced the transmission three times, a mechanic friend who had towed the truck for us recommended using the tranny for a 454 engine. We went with that, and like the engine, that transmission outlived the truck and ended up in the 1970 hightop Suburban that replaced the '71.
August Arborists
Member
I really like the rounded milk truck looking ones, they're almost art-deco. Are those Beacon Rays on all the busses? The step vans have a taller skirt, but it looks like the milk trucks had them cut to match the contour of the bus. I also love the mechanical sirens, are they Qs? Skip, I'm betting you'll know.
And just to be an ELB hard butt: Geez, hadn't those guys heard of intersection warning and scene lighting? The beacon being right at the front of the ambo is no excuse, they're too high! Those little blinkers on the hood don't count, a guy sitting on the PB holding a Zippo would provide about the same output.
And just to be an ELB hard butt: Geez, hadn't those guys heard of intersection warning and scene lighting? The beacon being right at the front of the ambo is no excuse, they're too high! Those little blinkers on the hood don't count, a guy sitting on the PB holding a Zippo would provide about the same output.
August Arborists said:I really like the rounded milk truck looking ones, they're almost art-deco. Are those Beacon Rays on all the busses? The step vans have a taller skirt, but it looks like the milk trucks had them cut to match the contour of the bus. I also love the mechanical sirens, are they Qs? Skip, I'm betting you'll know.
And just to be an ELB hard butt: Geez, hadn't those guys heard of intersection warning and scene lighting? The beacon being right at the front of the ambo is no excuse, they're too high! Those little blinkers on the hood don't count, a guy sitting on the PB holding a Zippo would provide about the same output.
No, it would appear that the sirens on those stepvans are Federal Model 28s. It's hard to see in those pictures, but I'm sure they're not the smaller EGs...although that wouldn't surprise me. You'd think that as big as NYC is they could afford to run the Qs; but a friend of mine who had worked on an FDNY ambulance said that New York City is just plain cheap. I had a nice book on American-LaFrance firetrucks sometime back, and it surprised me how many of the FDNY trucks had the Model 28s instead of Qs.
Midland FD ran a big GMD stepvan for its rescue and overhaul vehicle for many years, and it had a roof-mounted Q flanked by a pair red 17s. That truck replaced a 1956 GMC 3/4-on panel that had served the same function for many years, as well as the assistant chief's unit until the A.C.'s got their own vehicle. That old panel responded for nearly 30 years with just a sole red 17 on the roof and a Q on the left front fender. Here's a cute story about the assistant chief's cars. From 1956 until 1959 the Fire Chief drove a red 1956 two-door Ford. The sold piece of emergency equipment on it was a WL siren mounted on the left front fender. When the chief got a new car in 1959, the new Ford was equipped was only a Federal doubletone siren underhood....no red lights of any sort. The assistant chiefs inherited the '56 Ford. The first time one of the a.c.'s responded in the little Ford with just that WL siren, he almost got run over! So to the city shop it went, and it came out with a Q on the left fender to replace the WL and a red junior beacon on the roof. They ran with that '56 Ford until 1963, when it was replaced with a '63 red Ford wagon which was equipped with a pair of red juniors on the roof and a doubletone siren underhood. You might wonder why the chief's car was so sparsley equipped, but the chief back then rarely ran "hot" on anything. In 1963 the '59 Ford chief's car was replaced with a '63 red Ford sedan, and it was equipped solely with a Federal Interceptor siren with an underhood speaker. The only time I ever saw the chief run "hot" was in November of '64 when a plane crashed landed at Midland International on a Saturday afternoon. Fortunately there only five people on board and a couple had serious injuries, but there were no fatalties. But this was an old commercial cargo plane, and the tower mistook it for a commercial airliner. Every ambulance from Midland and Odessa responded, with six from Odessa and four from Midland. All but two were station wagons: Ellis Funeral Home's '61 Chevy Panel, and Hubbard-Kelly's (Odessa) '59 Cadillac combination. I worked at Rix Funeral Home in Odessa at the time and responded second man in our '58 Chevy wagon. The unusual part of this story was that Ellis' two ambulances, the '61 panel and a '63 Chevy wagon, were the first two to arrive. The panel driver had cut across the runway to get directly to the scene, but the station wagon driver went to the main entrance of the airport. Meanwhile the lone airport cop (back then) had loaded all 5 victims of the crash in his patrol car and had head out with them. He flagged down the Ellis station wagon and all five were loaded in it. Since no one had communications to speak of back then, no one knew that the one ambulance had all 5 victims, so everyone continued to the scene. Our two units lead the pack of the Odessa units, so when we pulled in the Ellis panel was the only ambulance there. Hubbard-Kelly and Chapel of the Roses followed us in. Remember, back then only the funeral homes had ambulances! We were all shocked when we learned that only the one ambulance had transported.
August Arborists
Member
I knew you'd know something about those old rigs, Skip. I thought those sirens looked small, but hearing from you solidified it, thanks.
lafd55
Member
It's either a noise ordnance or just isn't spec'd on the bids for the Q siren on fire apparatus in the city, the newer rigs do have the electronic Q. Most companies install their own mechanical siren on the apparatus and you will see a lot of them in pictures. But, they have to remove them whenever they go to the shops because the will be confiscated by the mechanics.Skip Goulet said:
lafd55 said:
That's rather interesting. In Texas for many years the DPS units came with a sole spotlight with a detachable red lens along with a small Federal EG siren underhood. The spotlights had a 3-way switch under the dash where it could be steady on or flash. The troopers generally kept the red lens in place. Now, they were allowed to put whatever they wanted to on the cars, but at their own expense. A DPS sergeant who was also a member of my dad's Air Force Reserve unit was the primary accident investigator for this region back then. So he made his share of Code 3 runs. So on his unit he had a pair of the EG sirens underhood; a red sealed beam in the spotlight and red sealed beam lights in the rear deck. By the mid-60s we started seeing other troopers following suit by mounting larger sirens such as the 28 underhood; adding grille and deck lights, and one unit I saw had gone so far as mounting a red Model 17 beacon on the roof. The first units to employ VisiBars in the late 60s and early 70s were done at their own expense, with the chromed WG sirens bar-mounted. When DPS started using the small Mustangs, they came equipped with North American electronic sirens and N.A. bumper and deck lights. By the mid-70s, if memory serves me, DPS began furnishing the units with lightbars and electronic sirens as they do today with the new LED bars. But even now you see a few troopers who use their own dash, visor or deck lights.
Why would FDNY mechanics confiscate sirens mounted on the trucks by each fire company if that was accepted procedure? Oh well, that's NYC for you.
Skip Goulet said:
IF I understand it correctly, FDNY companies are not allowed to have mechanical sirens, even if they pay for them out of pocket. I believe it's due to noise issues.
Phillyrube
Member
The fire company I was a junior member of had a donated Volkswagon ambulance. Our old firehouse was single bay, double wide, and very deep. On one side were the Oldsmobile ambulance, and 2 mack C95 engines (the twins) but they were really a year apart. The other side had a Dodge/Hahn engine, and a Maxim ladder truck. The Volkswagon was staged sideways, under the ladder. The 2 Macks had to pull out to get the VW out. We had a fire one day and the last out Mack was 10-7. One of the older members came in, threw a bucket of soapy water on the floor under the wheels, and we pushed the VW sideways so it could be driven out! Amazing to see the ambulance in these links. The only thing missing are the Federal Model 17 Beacon Ray on the roof and the chrome Federal Model 66 that was mounted on a bracket right in front of the nose VW emblem.
VW Bully Ambulance | Flickr - Photo Sharing!
VW Bully Ambulance | Flickr - Photo Sharing!
VW Bully Ambulance | Flickr - Photo Sharing!
VW Bully Ambulance | Flickr - Photo Sharing!
From the history of the Enterprise Fire Company, Hatboro, PA:
1958
VOLKSWAGON AMBULANCE
In October, the Rotary Club advised the fire company that they were willing to provide a
Volkswagen ambulance to the company with no strings attached if the fire company was
willing to accept it. The company agreed to accept the offer and directed the line officers
to take over the operation of the ambulance for the first year until a rescue unit could be
formed. The ambulance was complete with a siren and 360 degree red light. The
company used a $450 cash donation as a matching fund to purchase a radio for the
ambulance and two walkie talkie radios for the fire company. The new ambulance was
delivered in April. There was immediate interest by some members to form a rescue
unit. A committee was appointed to attain that goal.
The
RESCUE UNIT CREATED
On July 1, 1959, a group of eighteen firemen officially created Enterprise Fire Company
Rescue Unit. The unit was charged with responding to all fires and disasters with the fire
company, to attend all first aid needs of the firemen, to respond to emergency calls, to
assist the fire company with fund raising and to train personnel in first aid and operation
of rescue equipment. The Rescue Captain would be in charge of the unit assisted by two
lieutenants, and an engineer to maintain the equipment. Membership was originally
limited to males over 18 years of age of good moral character and they had to already be
a regular member of the fire company
VW Bully Ambulance | Flickr - Photo Sharing!
VW Bully Ambulance | Flickr - Photo Sharing!
VW Bully Ambulance | Flickr - Photo Sharing!
VW Bully Ambulance | Flickr - Photo Sharing!
From the history of the Enterprise Fire Company, Hatboro, PA:
1958
VOLKSWAGON AMBULANCE
In October, the Rotary Club advised the fire company that they were willing to provide a
Volkswagen ambulance to the company with no strings attached if the fire company was
willing to accept it. The company agreed to accept the offer and directed the line officers
to take over the operation of the ambulance for the first year until a rescue unit could be
formed. The ambulance was complete with a siren and 360 degree red light. The
company used a $450 cash donation as a matching fund to purchase a radio for the
ambulance and two walkie talkie radios for the fire company. The new ambulance was
delivered in April. There was immediate interest by some members to form a rescue
unit. A committee was appointed to attain that goal.
The
RESCUE UNIT CREATED
On July 1, 1959, a group of eighteen firemen officially created Enterprise Fire Company
Rescue Unit. The unit was charged with responding to all fires and disasters with the fire
company, to attend all first aid needs of the firemen, to respond to emergency calls, to
assist the fire company with fund raising and to train personnel in first aid and operation
of rescue equipment. The Rescue Captain would be in charge of the unit assisted by two
lieutenants, and an engineer to maintain the equipment. Membership was originally
limited to males over 18 years of age of good moral character and they had to already be
a regular member of the fire company
Last edited by a moderator:
lafd55
Member
Because they are not allowed to modify the fire apparatus and that would be a modification. It's accepted by the firefighters but it's far from procedure. I am guessing because the some(if not most) firefighters in the city are also vollies, so maybe that's where their love of the Q comes from.Skip Goulet said:
Tristar said:
In that case, I would bet that they have them mounted in such a way that they're easily and quickly removed from the truck. A friend of mine in Lubbock, now deceased, was active in the Red Cross' disaster team and first aid team. He drove an old Dodge Power Wagon suburban-type truck to and from work; but when he was involved in Red Cross activities, the old truck quickly converted to an ambulance/rescue vehicle. He had a demountable Federal Beacon to go on top, and out on the bumper he welded a plate where his B&M S8B Siro-Drift siren would sit. He had holes in the plate that lined up with the siren's bracket, and the siren was held in place with large bolts and wing nuts. I would think that the FDNY trucks would have something similar.
lotsofbars
Member
Tristar said:
They're not, but the rule is becoming less enforced as more and more companies say "screw it" and mount a Q, 28, or Super Chief to their front bumper because everyone knows it sounds better and the eQ's sound more like loud dying ducks half the time than an actual Q.
I don't believe FDNY or any NYC agency ever ran Qs, probably due to cost and the lack of need of a dressed siren. My memory is the 28 was the prominent if only mechanical siren outside of the P660 for the NYPD from 1963? to 1972.
charliefox
Member
Phillyrube said:
Interesting way the cot was loaded because of the rear engine. Didn't leave you with much headroom. We had a Corvair van set up at the ambulance service where I worked in Big Spring, Tx, summer of '66. We loaded from the side, and still had plenty of room.
lotsofbars said:
I'd like to see an FDNY truck with a Super Chief. That would be most unusual, since you don't see a lot of B&Ms up north. But that would rattle a few brains, I guarantee! I've ridden under a lot of Qs over the years and they never bothered me. But the first time under a Super Chief.....OUCH! :yes:
Tristar said:
I would think that if it was a noise issue, it would go in favor of the firetruck, since there's already a lot of noise on NYC streets. I would think that whatever it takes to get people to move would be the name of the game, not some jicky ordinance.
Firefly Berlin said:IIRC FDNY Rescue 1 currently has a Super Chief on their newest rig.
Have you got any pictures of the truck?
Phillyrube said:
I had a toy plastic VW ambulance as a kid that looked exactly like this. Brought back some good memories seeing a real one here!
rettoded
Member
Skip Goulet said:
Courtesy of B&M sirens:
Courtsey of Peter Stehlik and Wikipedia:
And some related video I think you will enjoy: