AMBULANCES

Some video clips of the Doctor DJ Ambulances from 1993.
I no longer own these vehicles, but they were fun for their time.

Category:

Howto & Style

Tags:

• Cadillac
• Ambulance
• Pontiac
• grandville
• DJ
• Discjockey
• disc
• jockey
• superior
• vehicle
• professional
• arrowhead
• custom

[EbonyBunny1]

Why did they use cars as ambulances back in the 1970's and earlier, why not use vans like they do now. They had to be cheaper then using a Caddy, plus they are much bigger. And since they used cars, why did they use Caddys, why not a Chevy, they were 1/2 the price before the conversion.

[DoctorDj]

@EbonyBunny1 : I was told that they didn't have the ability to fix patient in route as they do now. Back then the mission was to get injured people to the hospital as quick as possible. My old 70's ambulance had very little medical equipment inside, only a bed and rails to hold onto. LOL

Todays ambulances have miniature operating rooms in them.

[EbonyBunny1]

@DoctorDj I'm thinking maybe because an anbulance is basically a hease with a fiberglass top, so maybe because the tooling to convert caddys into hearses is already done, it's cheaper overall to use a caddy, then to retool to make the conversion from a chevy.

[DoctorDj]

@EbonyBunny1 : I always thought it was for weight and safety when traveling over the speed limit. Just like an armored truck is heavy.  "?"

[dhenryjr]

and that is when the truck/van type ambulances began to emerge as the primary form of EMS transportation. As a former paramedic, I have to say that the units today are great for taking care of a trauma patient, but there is nothing like the smooth ride on a Cadillac ambulance. I miss those days.

[dhenryjr]

back in the 'old days' many of the ambulances were provided by the funeral home as a courtesy. They would use Hearse conversion units, which means they could attach the lights and siren to the existing hearse when not being used for a funeral which was the hearse primary job.

Over time, the need for ambulances continued, so funeral directors purchased ambulances built on the the same chassis as their funeral coaches. Somewhere around 1960's funeral homes started to get out of the business.

[EbonyBunny1]

@EbonyBunny1 if that was the case, a buick 225 or old 98 were the same size and weight as a caddy, and the 1974 to 1976 buicks 225's were actually larger and heavy then the same year caddies. See my father owned a limo service, and we had hearses also, and we he would buy the hearses from this company in Ohio MM or something like that M&M, anyway they had pics on wall from when they used to make caddy ambulances, and I should have asked from then why caddies.

[EbonyBunny1]

@DoctorDj Interesting, thank you, but why use a caddy (I know a few are Pontiacs) when a chevy starts out at 1/2 the price of a caddy. I know the caddy is nicer looking, but it's not a hearse where image is important, so why not use a chevy to keep cost down.

[LIBERTYLATENIGHT]

@djfrankis Yjat was a stupid strobe effect on the camera.

VHS tape cameras had silly effects back then.

[djfrankis]

cool ending. loved u dancing on the car. lol