Old ambo`s

[Mickxr8]

Got an email today with this pic but not much info ? , will look into it further later but cool pic keen on any more info

[2011G6E]

I was an auxiliary ambulance bearer back from about 1982 to 1984 in Bundaberg.
The ambulances they had were as follows:
* Crash wagon...it was a big F100 with a high roof, air con mounted over the cab, four stretcher spaces in the back like bunk beds, heaps of gear, and under the hood a 351 4V engine with work done to it (big Holley, extractors, head work, etc), backed by an FMX auto. That damn thing used to fly...I was sitting in the passenger seat once at 160kph up the middle of FE Walker street going to a multi-car fatal one night.
* A couple of other F100's...302's, pretty standard ones.
* A couple of XB Falcons...both 302's, standard again.
* A CL Valiant with a 265 hemi...it was quicker than the 302 V8 Falcons...of course...
* The Big Bopper...the one that used to take people to Brisbane before the days of the aerial ambulance in Bundy, the one that everyone loved, the one that had a list as long as your arm of people wanting to buy it. I must regretfully inform you all that it was a Holden...
A HZ ambulance, with Premier front end, with room for only two stretchers in the back. It had a highly modified 308 (I saw the empty boxes after they did the engine up...names included Edelbrock, Holley, Iskendrian, Yella Terra heads, etc). It had a beautiful lopey idle. It was backed by a turbo 350 gearbox, to a ten bolt diff. It had modified suspension beyond what normally was changed in ambulances and actually handled well. It also had a full GTS dash and console with t-bar shifter...a yellow needle GTS dash with the Holden three spoke sports wheel. I saw 200kph in it one day when we were bringing a little kid into town from a farm where a tractor hoist had fallen on him and he was bleeding to death internally. I still remember that ride, sitting in the back giving the kid oxygen, his crying mother beside me, and I was thinking "Jeez, we feel like we're fairly shifting along...", and looked over the drivers shoulder to see the yellow needle down at 200...

Now they have lovely great trundling Mercedes vans with little diesels in them...I don't doubt that there's probably an awful lot more room in the back, but you probably need an eight day clock to time the 0-100 acceleration...

[Jim Goose]

If you want to see heaps of old QLD Ambulances have a look at this photo album.. (I found these yrs ago, so the picture you posted jogged the old memory.)

http://www.flickr.com/photos/5041573...n/photostream/

[2011G6E]

That's a beautiful old Fairlane!! Imagine making that into a family wagon with some modern running gear under it...

[Jim Goose]

Originally Posted by Mickxr8

Got an email today with this pic but not much info ? , will look into it further later but cool pic keen on any more info

Found them on that album actually... it may pay to send the owner of the album that picture... maybe he hasnt seen it before.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/5041573...n/photostream/

1972 Ford ZF Fairlane 500 and 1976 Chrysler VK Valiant Ranger ambulances

1972 Ford ZF Fairlane 500 and 1976 Chrysler VK Valiant Ranger ambulances. These were both my Dad's. Both were originally operated by the Queensland Ambulance Transport Brigade, the Fairlane at the Toowoomba branch and the Valiant at the Proserpine station of the Mackay branch. The Valiant was restored by a guy in Tamworth NSW, who sold it to Dad, and the Fairlane was completely original, bought by Dad direct from Toowoomba Ambulance when it was being decommissioned. Both had fibreglass ambulance bodies fitted by Superior Industries in Brisbane. Unfortunately both were converted to ferrous oxide.

[TC200six]

Dodge Regent ambo

[2011G6E]

Ah, the old "Queensland ambulance yellow". I remember they actually had a drum of that stuff in the corner of the old ambulance station in Bundy...no idea why they needed that much, it must have been about a twenty liter drum of the stuff...slightly more than you'd need for touch ups...

[Iggypoppin']

Those Mercedes diesels probably save more lives than any other ambo vehicle purely because of their fit out. There's enough stuff in there to keep almost any person suffering any injury alive long enough to get them to hospital, rather than having them strapped to a stretcher, and cannoned along the roads at 200kph.

[spud027]

Guy I know in NZ runs this site..

Heap of photos to look through..

http://www.111emergency.co.nz/S-W/VintageAusAmb.html

[2011G6E]

"Way back then" the priority was get to the accident site as quickly as possible (and a worked V8 certainly let you do that in spades...), get the patient stabilised and treatment started while the driver got the thing motoring again and to the hospital as fast as possible.

We didn't give injections (they started being trained in that just after I left), and we didn't have Packer Whackers or defibs, but would rather have to pump away at the person if they needed resuscitation on the way. The rest of the equipment was pretty much what you would find in an ambulance today.

Usually the big speeds were reserved for actually getting to the accident or incident site, and on the way back to hospital you normally just drove as fast as was safe and the traffic would allow...but you certainly didn't hang around. It was rare to do like the example I quoted of the 200kph run on the open highway, and it certainly wasn't a normal thing to do. Going to accidents or something serious in town was usually around the 80kph mark or maybe up to 100 on roads where traffic was lighter or it was a four lane (such as Takalvan street in Bundy), and outside town on the highway the "normal" speed was about 160. Coming back the speed really depended on what was going on with the patient...usually we only did 120...but sometimes the right pedal got a bit more weight put on it...

...but it was certainly nice to have the option there if things got suddenly worse on the way to hospital and you needed to hurry things up a bit...

[2011G6E]

Originally Posted by spud027

Guy I know in NZ runs this site..

Heap of photos to look through..

http://www.111emergency.co.nz/S-W/VintageAusAmb.html

Love the 1951 twin spinner Ford ambulance with the spare wheel set into the side...that would make an awesome panel van.

[hawkgirl]

Originally Posted by Iggypoppin'

Those Mercedes diesels probably save more lives than any other ambo vehicle purely because of their fit out. There's enough stuff in there to keep almost any person suffering any injury alive long enough to get them to hospital, rather than having them strapped to a stretcher, and cannoned along the roads at 200kph.

i dont know about that. I had lots & lots of room in my F100 ambo. And I had the misfortune to be able to look up close & personal at a fully fitted out one. Kept me alive between mt druitt & westmead hospitals

[2011G6E]

Originally Posted by hawkgirl

i dont know about that. I had lots & lots of room in my F100 ambo. And I had the misfortune to be able to look up close & personal at a fully fitted out one. Kept me alive between mt druitt & westmead hospitals

The F100's that I remember had, on the smaller two, a stretcher each side, a jump seat for you to sit on while treating them, oxygen and antenox bottles, cabinets full of medical supplies and equipment such as splints, bandages, and other stuff. As I said, back then ambulance officers didn't give injections or use defibs, they rendered primary care, stabilised the person, got them in the ambulance, and raced them to hospital where advanced care would be waiting. Even at serious accidents, as long as you didn't have to cut someone out of a wreck, you could be in the car and on the way to hospital with one guy driving and another continuing work in the back in a few minutes.

That's why they had stonking great worked V8's in the crash wagon and the Holden...speed was of the essence, rather than virtually doing most of the doctors work on the side of the road. When my father had his final heart attack, the ambo's turned up in a Mercedes van, and took over from a neighbour who was giving the old guy CPR. They did an awful lot of work there on the spot, as I watched the clock. It took ages before they put him on a stretcher and tootled off down the road. I was sitting up their bum in the XC Fairmont, and they never got above maybe 80kph...good lord...

The "crash wagon", the high-roof F100, had the same two stretcher positions on the floor, but it also had two fold down "bunks" higher up for patients who just needed transporting and weren't overly serious, and even more cupboards and hidey-holes for equipment...this is why the big wagons were so sought after as camper vans.

[borry]

The new sprinters are leaps and bounds from the old F trucks that were (and still are intermittently, in bris at least).

Pre hospital care has come a long way in the last 10 years, No longer do patients have to be at hospital ridiculously quickly. We have more resources available to us now out of the hospital.

All very interesting reading tho! many thanks for the pics and links.

[2011G6E]

"No longer do patients have to be at hospital ridiculously quickly"...

Honestly...?

[mik]

i had an old 76 f series ambo, bloody good tow vehicle, went very well for a big heavy tank, the fuel use would make an XY GT fuel consumption seem like a corrola`s , great cruiser though, i fitted a couple of good late model buckets to replace the dilapidated old ones, and discovered a big esky would fit perfectly between the front seats, bloody grouse for camping/fishing, double i beam front end rode better than many cars, i miss my fffy.

[hawkgirl]

i miss mine terribly - a 78 f100.

i got it cos a) i wanted one & b) i had horses. It was an excellent tow vehicle and was actually wider than the double floats it pulled. It did have a few odd quirks (would refuse to start when hot) and had a never ending appetite for front sway bar rubbers. Still miss it though. And soooo many storage hidey holes everywhere. I will find a pic later for other ambo lovers to see my Beast.

[mik]

see if i can dig up a photo, sure i have more, bloody hell you accumulate a lot of crap on the computer , only one i can locate

[2011G6E]

Originally Posted by mik

i had an old 76 f series ambo, bloody good tow vehicle, went very well for a big heavy tank, the fuel use would make an XY GT fuel consumption seem like a corrola`s , great cruiser though, i fitted a couple of good late model buckets to replace the dilapidated old ones, and discovered a big esky would fit perfectly between the front seats, bloody grouse for camping/fishing, double i beam front end rode better than many cars, i miss my fffy.

Yep, they were very popular as campers and panel vans back then...whenever one was coming up for sale, there would be a list of tender names as long as your arm of people wanting to buy it. I heard that the HX ambulance I mentioned actually bypassed the normal tendering as they decided because of the massive interest to put it to auction, as they knew what a special they had on their hands. I never heard what it went for, but apparently it was a staggering price at the time for a second hand vehicle.

[hawkgirl]

found it!
1978 F100 ambo

[ZGM86]

Originally Posted by 2011G6E

Now they have lovely great trundling Mercedes vans with little diesels in them...I don't doubt that there's probably an awful lot more room in the back, but you probably need an eight day clock to time the 0-100 acceleration

You would be surprised, they actually go pretty quick for a diesel.

I was a volunteer ambulance officer for 4 years here in Tassie. The ones they have here are V6 turbo diesels. The older 4 cylinder ones were slugs (they would get overtaken by regular traffic on emergency callouts if the road was going uphill), but the current V6 ones are pretty respectable. They might not be as quick as the hotted up V8s you're talking about, but they're still more than adequate.

They're also far easier to drive than the big old F trucks, according to paramedics who have been in the job long enough to remember them.

My local station used to have a late 70s (77, I think?) 4x4 351 F250 ambulance. That thing was a beast! It still gets around as some bloke's daily driver nowadays.

[MercurySilver]

http://www.gumtree.com.au/s-ad/esper...van/1010784232

[mik]

Originally Posted by hawkgirl

found it!
1978 F100 ambo

your`s is a very nice clean unit.

[2011G6E]

Originally Posted by MercurySilver

http://www.gumtree.com.au/s-ad/esper...van/1010784232

Wow. Somebodies gonna get a bargain there!!

[VSSII]

Don't doubt the new Ambos are better equipped but I'd want to get to hospital asap! How much training does an ECU nurse have vs an Ambo!

[smoo]

Originally Posted by VSSII

Don't doubt the new Ambos are better equipped but I'd want to get to hospital asap! How much training does an ECU nurse have vs an Ambo!

I have followed pre facelift Merc Sprinter on my motorbike at 155kmh for about 15km. The new V6 230hp Sprinters would be able to see some good figures.
The old V8s might be able to do those speeds but good luck passing a gas station or going around corners.

[hawkgirl]

Originally Posted by mik

your`s is a very nice clean unit.

Thanks ! Rust got it eventually though

if you want to see what NOT to do to your ambo, watch the aussie movie Spider & Rose.
They crash the same ambo as mine & I shudder at such sacrelige every time

[gravelrash]

Wow I'm glad I have found this thread. My dad was the Superintendant at Moura, Clifton, Goondiwindi & Dalby from the early 80's through to about 1994 before he took a Voluntry redundancy.
Being the OIC we lived at the ambulance centre, quite often the station was only through a sliding door into our lounge room. The casualty room door bell was in our hallway, being woken up to a school-like bell in the dead of the night when your only a kid is something you can never get use to. Mum and dad tell the story that us kids learnt to sleep on a stretcher in the back of a f100 on our way to 1st aid classes in nearby towns.
Family holidays meant calling into every other station in QLD for a quick cuppa. Back then we all knew each other as family, dad is now the secretary for the retired ambulance Superintendant association.
Reading about the Wacker Packer up further I can proudly say that it was my dad that resuscitated Kerry Packer when he suffered a heart attack at a polo game at North Star NSW, Kerry thanked the ambulance service by purchasing defribulators for every Nsw ambulance, trouble was it was a QLD ambulance that saved his ***.
Growing up with QATB then later the QAS was easily the best days of my life, the best day was also the day he finished. At long last I had my father back free from the stresses of the job.
Back when dad started there was no such thing as stress, trauma debriefings or counselling, you had to suck it up and get on with it. Over the years it has taken it toll on him. Nowadays he and mum are happy grey nomads who tour with other ex ambos all over the country side.

[mik]

Originally Posted by hawkgirl

Thanks ! Rust got it eventually though

if you want to see what NOT to do to your ambo, watch the aussie movie Spider & Rose.
They crash the same ambo as mine & I shudder at such sacrelige every time

Oh, that`s bad luck, but yeah they are getting a bit long in the tooth now, finding ones that have`nt got the dreaded car cancer established is getting harder.

[hawkgirl]

there's one for sale a few suburbs over.
Was a contender but I acquired the Reek instead as a project