My 1976 Ambulance and trip report

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sean
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My 1976 Ambulance and trip report

Post by sean »

Here is my latest acquisition.

:shock: :shock: :shock:
Its bad news.

I bought a plastic.

Well, its a plastic, so cant say much other than I feel one should be added to the collection to preserve it for many years later. We will propbably look back in 50 years and say I wish I preserved more. I had been looking for one for a while, but it had to have the very rare petrol R32 V6 engine. This one came up that was in very neat condition and added bonus its 4Motion.
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Ok, enough of the plastic. But how it actually fits in here is because I had just agreed to buy it last week and it was in PE.

Then on Thursday this ambulance comes up in the Northen Free state in Memel and I try and figure out how I can get both. So I book a ticket to PE that night and I courier my A frame and 4 tyres on rims to PE. On Friday morning I fetch the T5, then load up A frame and rims and leave PE around 11:45am to head to Harrismith.

I sleep in Harrismith and early Saturday morning I head to the ambulance in Memel.

Some pics from Saturday morning on route to fetch the ambulance. Again, I landed up on a horrendous gravel road that had become a mud bath due to all the heavy rains. I arrived late because of this, but man, what a beautiful pass and scenery it was.
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Ok, here's the real deal one. Its a 1976 ambulance, with branding from the civil defense. It belonged to the local municipality for as far as I can see on the papers.
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Pics of ambulance and town.
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Now after all this loading up, I was 300km away from Parys. Not wanting to disappoint old Retrovan who believed I couldn't make it back before next week Thursday, I decided to take a detour and head that way. What a good idea this was.

On route to Parys through the Free State.
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Arrived at Parys on Saturday afternoon after a 1440km drive from PE via Memel.
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I left Parys at 4:30am on Sunday and drove solid with only 2 fuel stops and arrived home at around 18:30. Not bad time at all considering I was towing and on my own.

The final stretch through the Karoo.
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I will take some more interior pics and more details re the ambulance and share tomorrow.


Terry Phillips
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Re: My 1976 Ambulance and trip report

Post by Terry Phillips »

Great story and a nice two finds the Ambulance looks like a nice find and straight.Good one thanks for sharing with us. :flash:
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jolas
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Re: My 1976 Ambulance and trip report

Post by jolas »

Congrats on the ambo !!!!
by fig » Mar 26, 2018
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Re: My 1976 Ambulance and trip report

Post by brianj »

Good work. Probably the most comfortable drive yet to the plasie!
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Tony Z
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Re: My 1976 Ambulance and trip report

Post by Tony Z »

it still amazes me how you find/hear of these things...
nice score, looking forward to the pics.
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Jdt1976
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Re: My 1976 Ambulance and trip report

Post by Jdt1976 »

Did you enjoy sleeping in the ambo on Saturday night?
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V6 Capri
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Re: My 1976 Ambulance and trip report

Post by V6 Capri »

That is a very nice bus, and ambulance!
The R32 motor does sound magic... Care to share what sort of consumption you were getting?
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Re: My 1976 Ambulance and trip report

Post by Dawie »

Nice. Do you think it was assembled in Uitenhage? And did they fit these ventilation fans?
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Staying Aircooled is so much nicer.
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sean
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Re: My 1976 Ambulance and trip report

Post by sean »

Dawie wrote: Tue Feb 19, 2019 8:46 pm Nice. Do you think it was assembled in Uitenhage? And did they fit these ventilation fans?
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No, it’s a full German import, not Uitenhage.

Mine doesn’t have those fans, it has one on the roof though.
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Donovan D
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Re: My 1976 Ambulance and trip report

Post by Donovan D »

Lekker score there Sean, very nice !
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sean
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Re: My 1976 Ambulance and trip report

Post by sean »

V6 Capri wrote: Tue Feb 19, 2019 2:06 pm That is a very nice bus, and ambulance!
The R32 motor does sound magic... Care to share what sort of consumption you were getting?
Nothing fantastic. Going up was around 5.5 km/l, but was hammering it. Coming down towing the ambulance gave 6.5 km/l.
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Re: My 1976 Ambulance and trip report

Post by fig »

Thanks for making the detour Sean. You forgot to mention that it earned you the Long Distance Award ... again.

And you forgot to take your stretcher. Sorry I was still asleep when you left.
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sean
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Re: My 1976 Ambulance and trip report

Post by sean »

Some interior pics. In the interim I got my domestic at work to clean it nicely inside. Well, after this, she didn't come back to work ever again. :?

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The stretches were missing, but one has already been sourced. 8)
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Still with some old school bandages in storage
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Cab divider
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Re: My 1976 Ambulance and trip report

Post by Terry Phillips »

As my Dad would say its a meat wagon.But if they could talk I dont think you would get in the back either.It must have been nice if you had a back injury and they tied you down on that stretcher.Bliksem
Well done Sean nice find very original.
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sean
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Re: My 1976 Ambulance and trip report

Post by sean »

One of the tasks was sorting out the rotating light. It was dead when I switched it on.

All looked ok so far.
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But open opening, it had got water inside so obviously completely wasted now. :x
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Another light was sourced (plastic base), but I found that I could remove the mechanism from the replacement part and fit it straight onto the same mounting points as on the metal base fitted to the ambulance.
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Completed. The lens isn't perfect, it has has some sticky tape repair to it, but it will do just fine for now.
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