Did you know that the Chevy Suburban has its own star in the Hollywood Walk of Fame? I kid you not. Since 1952 (when it wasn’t called an SUV), GM’s big Suburban has “starred” in over 1,750 movies and TV shows. In fact, according to the Internet Movie Car Database, the Suburban has been in so many movies that it takes up 87 pages of entries. I’m not sure if Suburbans demand a trailer of their own on the movie set, but that’s a pretty impressive statistic that spans 70 years. And speaking of 1952, here’s an 8,000 original mile surviving 1952 GMC Suburban that saw duty as a military ambulance on a base in New Jersey. In 1972, it was brought to Pittsburgh and stored in a garage, untouched, for 50 years. Currently located in Womelsdorf, Pennsylvania, this Suburban Survivor is for sale here on eBay. As of this writing, no bids had been made on the $5,500 starting price. There’s also a listed Buy It Now price of $15,500.
This 1952 is part of the 1947-1955 3rd Generation of Suburbans that were originally introduced back to 1935 when they were called the “Carryall-Suburban.” Unlike today, most Suburbans back in the day were used for farming and commercial purposes with some doing duty as ambulances or rescue squad vehicles. Suburbans were also used for military purposes during World War II as well as the 1950-1953 Korean War. According to the seller, this Suburban had one repaint sometime in the 1960’s when it became a civil defense ambulance (there’s still an old Civil Defense logo decal on the rear bumper).
The seller provides a good number of detailed photos and states that, “The body is in incredibly good condition. The doors, cowl bottoms, quarter panels, and rear door sills are in excellent condition with no rust or rot. The rocker panels and underbody structure are all in excellent condition. The front floor pans will need to be patched as well as the passenger inner kick panel (showing rust through).”
There aren’t many photos of the simple, utilitarian interior, but it looks pretty good for a 70-year-old military ambulance that probably wasn’t pampered. There’s a detail of the floor pan rot and a photo of the back of the ambulance which I’m sure could tell some interesting stories.
There are no photos of the engine (probably a 228/100hp inline-six with a 3-speed column shift manual transmission) that is described as “not currently running but engine is free.” The seller shares that the last oil change sticker is dated 1969 with the vehicle showing just over 6,000 miles, so the 8,000 miles on the odometer are believed to be true since the truck was last registered in 1971. This is a rare time capsule with a most interesting history. How many other 8,000 original mile Rip Van Winkle GMC Suburban Ambulances are out there? Not many I’d imagine. The next owner will have what looks like a solid survivor to work from. And you could go in many directions with this one. Keep it as is after making it roadworthy, restoring it, or hot rodding it up. What would you do if it was yours?
Thriftmaster? In a GMC? I’d think it should have a 228 in that engine bay. Canadian GMCs used Chevy engines but American ones used the full pressure lubed GMC engines faithfully. Of course it would be very little to swap one in, not that you would actually want to do it. I’m a fan of full oil pressure although I have to admit that the ol’ babbitt-pounders took a LOT of abuse.
The county used the 1-ton version of this for school buses, and they were all powered by 228s. A couple of them were picked up, rebuilt and converted into hunting wagons/campers. If this came my way, I’d be inclined to restore it to a functional panel-type burb with the rear windows intact. I doubt if I would try to source out some rear seats as the open cargo area would be far more likely to be used. Overall, a nice truck with a lot of potential…
D’Oh! Thank you or bringing the powerplant error to my attention. It has been changed to a 228ci/100hp inline-six.
It should be noted, GMCs were called “New Design”, as opposed to the Chevy “Advance Design”. There is a bit of controversy, about the name. GMCs were initially called GMC-Carryall Suburbans, as mentioned, but I think Chevy dropped the “Carryall” part, and GMCs retained just the Carryall. Most Chevys were simply Suburbans. Like the tag says, most of these window ones were used for ambulances, and not to disagree, but were almost never used. These were peacetime units, where maybe some soldier fell off a plane, or dropped a transmission on their foot, not like it saw blood and guts combat duty. Not sure the entity, if it even was military, it was obviously painted school bus yellow at some point. I hope they didn’t paint over the stainless grill, a GMC exclusive. Neat find, 1 bid, so interest is pretty low, common for this sort of thing today, it just shows, however, this stuff is still coming out of the woodwork 50 years later.
Spent a summer while in college surveying timber in the Oregon mountains. Chief surveyor drove a real old version of this truck and we went everywhere you weren’t supposed to be able to go with it. Asked why the old truck and not a newer one. He said “this one always runs”.
Put this on a good chassis with a LS and drive the snot out of it
did U leave out “work crew transport”?
Then along came NAPCO! WoW, world changer~
(see other channel:
https://bringatrailer.com/listing/1958-chevrolet-apache-31-carry-all-4wd/
I prefer the road worthy down sized (as usual) plymouth suburban or a sedan delivery. These (’52 GM above) are a lill like the listing here from 22 Oct w/the panel van or truck (ford ’49 ford F-1) – yet s t r e t c h e d . BUT…
as usual, the industry has been incredibly flexible and as the saying goes “There’s a butt for every vehicle”. Millions upon millions of Applications (inc 1 wheel, 2, 3 etc).
Thnx for the write up, pic !
-Signed-
Wagonman
8^ )