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Finally outside briefly! This is part of a rearrangement of cars in the shop, a couple of which have been awaiting the lift but also it needs to be down on the ground to pull the engine for tanking, flushing and magnefluxing the block and head. Getting it to move off the lift was something of a challenge with the new bias ply tires had settled in and taken a set so I had to use the leverage of a long 2 X 6 to get it started and moved the foot or so to the ramp but once it started going down them, it didn't want to stop so glad I thought to place a 4 X 4 out in front along its path!

For the hood ornament, I had three choices: a very pitted one that more closely matches the car, an NOS one or this, which is nice original.

I sure wish I weren’t in the middle of so many other projects or I would restore this ambulance back to its former glory and if I were to suddenly win the lottery, I may still do so. Otherwise it will be up to the next owner.

Incidentally, the door panels are done in brown leather while the seats are in a heavy mottled brown vinyl. The instruments are not perfect but I have a beautiful cluster to go with it which I may install once I have the speedometer serviced and set to match the car’s mileage. I bought this a few years ago on eBay and was surprised that it was shipped from the same little Oregon town where the ambulance is!

Brown leather on the seats.



Brown vinyl on the seats front and rear. The rear has long folding benches down either side.



The dash with original instruments including an ammeter which may have been part of the military specification. The under-dash oil pressure gauge (barely visible in this photo) was probably added on.



Installing this may be like putting lipstick on a pig.

The planned tow early this morning went well and the ambulance is now tucked away in the deep reaches of the shop where I have left just enough space to park my van behind it.

After pushing it outside, the tow required a 90 degree hookup so when ordering it I specified a small hook truck.



This the space it was going into . . .



. . . and here it is all the way in.



To get it there once it was towed into the space, I used an electric winch anchored to one of the building’s trusses to pull it the last 8’ or so feet . . .



. . . and the last bit had to be done by hand and I was happy to see that over my calculations it had gained a half foot when the guards went into a bench at the back when the length I based it on was tip to tip.