Memphis, Tennessee-based Barnette & Co. was a player in the custom coach business from the 1940s to the 1960s. Ambulances and hearses were common products and they typically relied on Chevrolets and Pontiacs as the donor vehicles. This ambulance (painted black like a hearse) is a 1952 Pontiac Chieftain under the modified skin and has been in storage since the 1980s. The seller was intending to restore it but has thought otherwise and it’s available here on eBay where bidders have taken the price tag to at least $7,101. Thanks to T.J. for the tip and you’ll have to travel to Wheaton, Minnesota to retrieve it.
Barnette used 2-door sedan deliveries for ambulance/hearse conversions. Pontiac sold such a vehicle and produced 2,428 of them in 1952 (we don’t know how many Barnette and others like them got hold of). The cowl tag on this “wagon” confirms the sedan delivery body style and the 5200 black paint. The “25” is supposed to indicate an inline flathead-six as the engine, though the seller refers to it as an eight. Unfortunately, no under-hood photos are provided to clear this up. The difference is 29 cubic inches in displacement.
The seller has owned this Pontiac for a couple of years. While it may have been outdoors for some of that time, we’re told it was put into storage in the early 1980s. Before that, it was supposedly in service as an ambulance in a neighboring town (black ambulance?). The seller purchased it from the estate of a collector after his passing. The odometer reflects 65,000 miles, though no records exist to back it up and there is no title either. No mention is made regarding its status as a running or non-running vehicle.
Rust is present below the doors and in the back of the Chieftain, but the seller says the undercarriage looks good thanks to some earlier undercoating. From all indications the machine is complete, and no trim pieces are missing. The seats in the back for transporting either the wounded or the dearly departed are said to be operational. I would hope if you decided to keep it as a vintage ambulance that you’d go with a more optimistic color. Or turn it into a Halloween-style hearse for fun or profit.
OK, I’ll be the first to say it. This would make a gnarly surf wagon!
I would leave it as is or restore it to orginal condition.
A very harmonious transformation. No deformations or unnecessary details.
Saved the times better than the present.
Very interesting since I lived in Memphis in the late 60’s and early seventies. I was big in the local Nomad Club and had found there in Memphis a ’51 Pontiac Sedan Delivery which was not in the best of shape. I tried talking the owner into selling it to me and after a few months I gave up. I was transferred to Birmingham. Two days before I left town and after arranging to move my other cars, he came to my office and offered it to me for $150.00, but it was not running. So I deciding not to take advantage of his offer. Wish I had it now to add to my other cars.
I have a hood and rear door from a ’53 .
This “would not be a good car” to drive where I live (95% of the people are retirees. Driving this around the streets here would make most people a bit nervous.
I don’t think so. When I was driving my hearse back in the ’80’s, the older people seemed to like it more than younger people.
This old beauty has the ” Pontiac Eight ” script over the glove compartment which I’ve always found to be an accurate indicator of the car’s engine. I bought a rusty but running ’52 Hydra-Matic 8 in upper NYS in the late ’60s for $20 and used it as a winter beater for 2 Quebec winters. What a dear old heap it was – it never let me down and with the block heater plugged in would start on the coldest mornings after a 12 V conversion. I nearly cried when the frame rusted out .
I drove one like this in the 60s when I worked at a funeral home. We used it for picking up the bodies and a flower wagon at funerals. It was a straight 8. It would be more than cool to have it to restore it. Unfortunately with the state of my 401k it will remain a dream.
I’d rather have the Buick Roadmaster!
SOLD for $6,827.
Thanks PRA – I hope the buyer got a good deal . I am totally envious but what could I have done ? Living in Oz , all I can really do is lust after these old beauties . I’m nearly 80 and have COPD , so the moral of my story is ” be grateful for the times we shared with these old cruisers and ‘dream on , McDuff !’ “
Peter: I’m always glad when readers share their experiences with vehicles like this, so thanks for providing your insight.
I love reading about interesting vehicles that I’ve never seen before.