Hotrod Road Show

I don’t think you can still order from the Haverhill, MA address, but it may be worth a try.

barris metalflake

Brian Earnest and the fine folks over at Old Cars Weekly give us this blast from the past about a 1957 Pontiac Ambulance. Check out their site for a lot more.

1957 Pontiac Ambulance

The “wow” factor is what attracted Dennis Statz to his huge, blue Pontiac ambulance in the first place three decades ago. And it’s that same attention-grabbing quality that makes the big rescue rig such an adventure to drive even today.

“One thing I learned long ago is that, on the highway, you have to drive pretty much as fast as all the other traffic is going, because it is such a curious vehicle,” noted Statz, a resident of Sturgeon Bay, Wis. “So many people tend to gather around it, it gets dangerous, literally. There gets to be a bottleneck.

“It’s just a very unique vehicle.” And it’s our OldCarsReport.com “Car of the Week.”

Certainly, as 1957 Pontiacs go, it would be hard to find one much more unique than this eye-popping rescue rig. Not only is the car big and beautiful, it is a very low-mileage survivor, with a meager 13,500 ticks showing on the speedometer. The car started out life as a Star Chief four-door sedan and was turned into an ambulance by Superior Coachworks. It was ordered by the Detroit Diesel Allison Division to be a company ambulance, but it rarely saw use, and was eventually sold to an Indianapolis man in 1973 with only about 1,800 miles of use.

1957 Pontiac Ambulance-back1

That owner had the car until 1979, when Statz spotted it for sale along the road during one of his frequent work trips between Indianapolis, where he lived at the time, and Louisville. “I saw it out of the corner of my eye sitting in a cul de sac as I was heading to Louisville,” Statz said. “It was this big, blue Pontiac, and I thought, ‘Wow, what’s this thing doing out here?’

“I had some time that day, so I drove around to look at it and saw 6,043 miles when I looked through the window. I was thinking to myself, ‘Why would anybody restore it with 106,043 miles? Somebody really put a lot of work into this car.”

Turns out the car wasn’t restored at all, just underused during its working days. “The way the story was told to me from some folks at the [Detroit Allison] plant at the time is that they needed to buy an ambulance as a backup — they had already had Cadillac at the time, but couldn’t buy another one, because 1957 was sort of the start of a recession, and they had to cut costs… Well, the guy who ordered it wanted a Cadillac, and wasn’t allowed to get one, so he really loaded this one up. It cost almost $7,800 new, which was a boatload of money back then.”

Statz said he wasn’t even shopping for a hobby car when he first spotted the ambulance, but as a Pontiac buff, he couldn’t help himself. “I chatted with the guy who owned it, but I wasn’t interested in buying it at first,” he said. “But I talked to my wife about it and we went and looked at it and decided to buy it, and it’s just been a hoot.”

1957 Pontiac Ambulance-back2

There was a lot to like about 1957 Pontiacs, even without the unique ambulance accouterments. Pontiac introduced new “Star Flight” styling for that model year that included missile-shaped side trim, flatter tailfins, extended rear fenders with V-shaped tips, lower hoods, a more massive bumper grille, longer horizontal taillights and 14-inch wheels.

Star Chiefs were identified by front fender scripts, four stars on the rear fenders, chrome semi-cylindrical trim at the back of missile-shaped inserts and full wheel discs.

Under the hood was a 244-horsepower, 347-cubic inch V-8 fed by a four-barrel Rochester carburetor.

1957 Pontiac Ambulance-window1

To accommodate the ambulance’s size and weight, Superior Coachworks replaced the standard 1957 14-inch wheels with 15-inchers, which had actually been standard up through 1956. The wheel covers are also 1956 issue, which Statz says can confuse people trying to peg the car’s birth year.

Statz’s car got a 30-inch stretch from Superior and was fitted with bigger doors. “It’s really just like a big four-door station wagon,” he said. Above the windshield, the car was fitted with a federal C6-B siren that has a light that revolves, called a Propello Ray Light. The light is controlled by a dash switch and the siren has an interior button with a brake to squelch the sound quickly. There is no radio, but the rest of the cockpit area has standard Star Chief amenities.

In the back are two small jump seats for emergency personnel, and a large flat space for a gurney, which could be held in place by aluminum hardware. Statz noted that the Detroit Diesel factory had to remove both the siren and gurney equipment before the car could be sold, but he has since found replacements.

Throw in the privacy curtains in back, stunning two-tone paint scheme, etched glass in the back side windows, two big spotlights and four huge corner lights on the roof, and you have an impressive and unusual rig that Statz has been able to keep largely intact. He did repaint the roof about 10 years ago when the paint began to deteriorate around the tunnel lights. “The quality of the paint and finish back then just wasn’t that good,” he said. “It was cracking so badly that I just thought, ‘This is ridiculous,’ so I basically took everything off the roof and had it painted and now the top just looks fabulous.

1957 Pontiac Ambulance-people

“There is a spot in the back on the wall that I think was for a medical kit, and I’ve never found one of those,” he added. “Other than that, the only thing that I’ve really ever done to it is replace the exhaust system — it’s a really long exhaust system. And I’ve put correct original tires back on it.”

Statz said he has had a lot of Pontiacs come and go from his garage over the years, but has never been tempted to part with his beautiful blue ambulance. He has a splendid red and black ’56 Pontiac convertible that he also babies, and two restoration candidates — a ’55 two-door station wagon and ’56 Safari — but none of them have stolen any affection for the ambulance.

“I’ve had a number of people over the years ask me about it, and I’ve had some pretty healthy offers on it,” Statz said. “It’s just a real nifty vehicle and a lot of fun. It would be hard to part with … and both my kids, who will be getting out of high school soon, have said, ‘Dad don’t sell that thing!’

“I’m going to do everything I can to hang onto it.”

1957 Pontiac Ambulance-backopen

Bet you never knew Von Dutch and George Barris made pinstripe decals you could buy in stores!

barris_vondutch_pinstripes

barris_vondutch_pinstripes

barris_vondutch_pinstripes

BuggyShow

BuggyShowGaryGeorge

Buggy with new owner, Gary Hillman (r), and creator, George Barris (l)!

BuggyShowGeorge

George Barris worshipping, I mean autographing the Buggy!

Barris at the Buggy

Buggy

Seen in public for the first time since being sold at auction in 1983, the Bugaloo
Buggy is pictured above featured in a car show in Sweden, April 10-12. George
Barris attended and signed the Buggy!

“George loved it and done a piece on TV about the car. I also built some new wings
and got them fully working as well. It really did look like it came alive when they
started flapping!” – Gary Hillman

How fantastic is that!

NewBuggy

NewBuggy

The Bugaloo Buggy has been found – AGAIN!
The last we knew of the whereabouts of the Buggy was in France in dark, underground storage.
Well, I am happy to say the Buggy is back in the light and has a new owner, Gary Hillman!

The Buggy is now in London and in the process of being fully restored. In fact, the Buggy will
be shown for the first time in over 30 years in a car show in Sweden in April. George Barris
is also scheduled to attend – what a reunion! I will provide details and pics of the show when
available. For now, enjoy the newest Buggy photos!!

I’m so happy I could fly!!!

Bugaloo Buggy

the Bugaloos Buggy, featured on “The Bugaloos” television series. Since the concept of the show, starring Martha Raye and the four Bugaloos, showed the group with wings enabling them to fly, it was determined logical for the car to “fly” and to “ride” on water. The buggy was equipped with two large flapping butterfly wings, and twin screws installed under the rear body for high-powered water sporting. Oversized headlights looked like the eyes of a bug, while the taillights were tunneled portholes that illuminate at night. Wide oval Firestone tires were installed on Ansen one-piece sprint wheels. The interior was individualized for each Bugaloo – each star having his/her own telephone system and Muntz stereo tape system with individual earphones. The buggy was painted in a green, yellow and orange butterfly theme with orange and purple pinstripes.
- Cars of the Stars, ©1974

showbuggy

The Bugaloos buggy was another television show car constructed especially at the Barris Kustom shop for Krofft Productions. The producers desired a small, wild-looking, fun buggy to incorporate into their new NBC-TV series. To supply an automotive interest for the series, Barris built the buggy in late 1969 to be used in the 1970-71 TV season. His motivation: the vehicle was to possess all of the fun characteristics that made the Meyers Manx dune buggy famous – yet push the concept beyond the envelope with attention-getting color and design elements. The goal was a completely different and vibrant look. Using a four-passenger body mounted on a Volkswagen floorpan, the buggy actually looked just like a bug – mixing well with the show characters who could fly and walk on water like little flying insects. The design featured a T-shaped rollbar set over the rear wheels with a pair of “wings” that gave the effect of an airborne bug yet allowed plenty of space for television camera maneuvers. The chassis rolled on Ansen Spring alloy wheels, highlighted with orange spoked centers. The fully fendered four-wheeler featured oversized headlights that looked just like bug eyes. On the outside, the paint scheme was a wild combination of green, yellow and orange applied to copy the markings found on a butterfly’s wing. There was much more. The interior was fitted with four custom bucket seats with leaf-like design elements that continued the buggy’s nature theme. Four Capitol Communications telephones and four Muntz stereo tape cartridge players were also installed. A four-tone horn was on board as well, offering a distinct tone for each one of the characters. Fully street legal, The Bugaloos buggy was used extensively in the show. When the series was introduced to the airwaves, Barris contracted with model kit manufacturer MPC to design a plastic model kit based on the program vehicle (which never saw production. See MCP catalog in Collectibles).

Thanks to the great writers and researchers over at Hemmings Auto Blog for Part Two of the “Save these Cars – Hollywood, California.” A lot of information on what seemed to be some long lost but keenly remembers TV and movie cars. Great photos, too. Head over to Hemmings Auto Blog for the rest of the series.

Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, which turned up here last week, was on a vast list of cars that developed after we posted updates on finding the Better off Dead Camaro, Risky Business Porsche and other iconic movie cars. Since then, we’ve both found some more and had suggestions for literally dozens of others that should be preserved for posterity (if your definition of posterity includes pointing and laughing), but we’ll start with one from the original list: The ‘61 Ferrari California Spyder (250 GT) from Ferris Bueller’s Day Off

ferris_bueller,s day off

As we’ve mentioned before, it was a replica, built by our good friend Mark Goyette. Mark says there were three used in the film:

The Hero car. Built by Mark and leased to Paramount for the filming. It’s the one that jumps over the camera, and is used in almost every shot. At the end of filming, Paramount returned it to Mark, with the exhaust crushed and cracks in the body. “There was quite a bit of superficial damage, but it held up amazingly well,” he said. He rebuilt it, and sold it to a young couple in California. The husband later ran it off the road, and Mark rebuilt the front end for him. That owner sold it in the mid-90s, and it turned up again around 2000, but hasn’t emerged since.
Sold to Paramount as a kit for them to assemble as their stunt car, they did such a poor job that it was basically unusable, aside from going backwards out the window of Cameron’s house. Rebuilt, it ended up at Planet Hollywood in Minneapolis, but dropped off the map along with Planet Hollywood Minneapolis.
Another kit, supposed to be built as a shell for the out the window scene, it was never completed at all, and disappeared after the film was completed. Mark thinks he once heard it was eventually completed and sold off, but it could also still be in a back lot at Paramount.

Before we get to the rest of the list, commenters did come up with a few answers:

The 1974 Dodge Monaco Bluesmobile from Blues Brothers. There were a whole mess of them, most destroyed during filming, and replicas have been built almost since then. We can’t come up with anything definitive on the ‘74 Monaco that Jake and Elwood drove, but some of the Mount Prospect chase cars have survived. Allpar reports that of 13 used, eight were destroyed, and three of the remainder are accounted for, on in private hands, one at Disney’s “House of Blues,” and one at Universal’s Famous Fast Cars.
The Landmaster from Damnation Alley is still at home at Dean Jeffries Automotive, near Universal Studios, and has been restored. Dean shows it from time to time.
Rick’s Power Wagon from Simon & Simon has been spotted at a Universal Studios back lot.
The ‘Cuda from Mannix is around; Dan saw it at Mopar Nats a couple of years ago. We also recently featured the Mannix ‘68 Dart in Muscle Machines.
The National Lampoon Family Truckster has been auctioned several times in the last two years. There are a ton of replicas, as well.
But for every car we found, about 15 more turned up. I want to find:

Several Jeeps appeared in Airwolf. Stringfellow Hawke had a blue CJ-7 Renegade that appeared briefly, but there was a Stars-and-Stripes CJ-7 with “Santini Air” script in more episodes. Same Jeep?

Air Wolf 302

I’ve wondered about the Ford F350 Jet Car from Buckaroo Banzai for a while, and have turned up some information on it. It was designed and built by production designer Michael Riva, art director Stephen Dane and Thrust Racing owners Jerry Segal and George Haddebeck; Segal was also the stunt driver. Segal swapped in a Grand National–that’s NASCAR, not Buick–front end, a nitrous-boosted Ford big block and jet thrusters. According to the BB Press Kit, “The jet engine is massive,” says Dane. “It puts out smoke and flame that goes back twenty or thirty feet. That’s what it’s primarily set up for, but it does develop 3,000-4,000 lbs. of thrust which, in real life, gets the thing going up to around 200 mph.” ‘Sure doesn’t sound like something that’d be scrapped. Another back lot denizen?

JetCar

The Porsche 356 and later ‘84 Corvette that Bruce Boxleitner drove in Scarecrow & Mrs. King.
Dan wondered about:

The yellow Chevette from The Wedding Singer.
The Cherokee from The Goonies. (1984?–ed.)
The Rambler (Rebel Cross Country) from Mystery Men (on the Ben Stiller theme, a Bronco roadster was blown up in the Zoolander gas fight scene. It must have been a model, so where’s the one they drove around?–ed).
The 1974 Nova from Pulp Fiction. (Interestingly, a ‘74 Nova is specified in the script, and the Tarantino Archives mentions he uses a Nova in Reservoir Dogs and Death Proof, too. Vincent has a ‘60 Malibu. Related: The Oldsmobile as an analogue for despair in John Singleton’s “Four Brothers”–ed)
The Taxi from The Fifth Element. (2178 “Globe Fish” Checker Marathon. ‘Just possible it wasn’t a real flying car, Dan, but there’s a model if you want one.)
1972 Matadors from Adam-12. (It sounds like they only had one single Hero car for the whole series, and there’s a report it was later used on Columbo. None are known to survive–ed.)
And from our comments, regular commenter Jeff Reeves wants to see:

AJ’s targa-top Camaro (there were two–a ‘68 RS and custom Z28) or Mrs. Simon’s Mercedes from Simon & Simon. (There was also a ‘57 Bel Air at some point.–ed)
(Scarecrow and) Mrs. King’s LTD station wagon or later Cutlass Ciera wagon (Wasn’t it an Olds?–ed).
Cody Allen’s customized GMC S-15 Jimmy from Riptide. (Also a 1960 Corvette. The Jimmy was built by Unique, who have quite built countless cars and own 450, see appendix–ed.)
An original A-team Chevy Van. (ibid.)
MacGyver’s Jeep.
Wylie is looking for some real softballs. Happy to help!

Colombo’s Peugeot 403 (Supposedly accounted for–ed).
Roger Moore’s Volvo P1800 from The Saint (We’ve seen it–ed).

Roger Moore's Saint Car

James Garner’s gold Firebird from Rockford Files (see Nelson’s Garage, below–ed).
The ‘77 Special Edition Trans Am from the original Smokey and the Bandit (One remains, owned by Year One–ed, and there are innumerable replicas of varying provenance), and the 18-wheeler that Snowman drove.
straight6 wonders about

Melba Toast’s ‘70 Chevelle, Bannon’s primered Duster,and the rest of the dazed’n’confused car cast.
The 1976 Lancia Scorpion (Giselle) that Herbie the Love Bug fell in love with in Monte Carlo. (Restored, now in Texas–ed).

Giselle

Kathy Bates’ Wagoneer from Misery. “It had those cool slotted rims.” (There was a Blazer, a Bronco and a Cherokee, but no Wagoneer–ed).
Stjohn asks about:

“The Car” from the movie of the same name, 1977. A 1971 Lincoln Mk III, customized by George Barris. (A car matching this description was consigned to RM’s Hershey auction, but doesn’t seem to have appeared at the sale–ed).

automan

The Countach from Automan. (Me too–ed)
The Ultimate Police Car, from an episode of BJ and the Bear. A Plymouth Fury, late 70s.
The Black Moon from Black Moon Rising. (Never mind the disturbing sex scene with Linda Hamilton and Tommy Lee Jones.)
1973 Plymouth Satellite four-door that Frank Drebin would hit trash cans with in Police Squad.
Going deep into the obscure file, Randy H would like to see:

The mobile command truck (s) from Universal Soldier.
Saluting the Adam-12 post, vehicles from Emergency!
emacs wants to know where everything is:

Repolibu

The 1964 Malibu from Repo Man. (probably junked, but Jalopnik has everything you ever wanted to know about casting the cars.–ed).
The car (1975 Mercury Marquis Brougham) from Uncle Buck.
The ‘vette from Corvette Summer (a recurring question).
The ‘vette from Sting Ray (Nick Mancuso).
The Schlepcar from Wonderbug.
The convertible classic from Porky’s.

Ridgemont

The Firebird Trans AM from Fast Times (”first he’s gonna kill us, then he’s gonna …”). (Camaro Z28–ed).
The 1965 Lincoln Continental from The Matrix.

Cobra

Stallone’s Cobra car. (1950 Mercury street rod, auctioned by Mecum this summer. Also see Stallone’s former CSX3127, in private hands–ed).
Maxwell Smart’s Alfa Romeo.
Reggie Hammond’s Porsche Targa and Nick Nolte’s GTO convertible from 48 Hours.
Mad Max’s Interceptor.
All Batmobiles, and didn’t Green Lantern have a cool ride?
Fred MacMurry’s car from Absent Minded Professor.
Brad says:

I saw no mention of Christine (58 Fury), the car from the Stephen “the hack” King’s movie of the same name.
What about Greased Lightning from Grease?
Where is the hood from the Corvette Summer Corvette?
And the rest:

Magnum-Mondial

Magnum P.I. cars–Ferrari 308s and 328s–came up a lot. Jason W said, “I did some interior restoration work on one of the Magnum P.I. 328s when I worked at FAF in Atlanta in 1988,” but doesn’t know where it is. We heard that Larry “Rick” Manetti owns one, and Magnum Mania reports that as well. However, there may be confusion, as he did own a black ‘84 Mondial. According to Mania,
All of the original Magnum P.I. Ferraris were auctioned off when the series ended in 1988. Larry Manetti bought one of the early GTSs. He reportedly still owns it. One of the cars, a ‘78 308 GTS, is on display at the Cars of the Stars Motor Museum in Keswich, Cumbria, England. Also, an ‘84 308 QV is on display at Universal Studios Hollywood, as part of the Famous Fast Cars attraction.

I recall one of the 308s turning up on eBay about five years ago, and Nelson’s Garage in Deadwood claims to have one, along with the Rockford Files Firebird and others.

The Mercedes 560SL from Heart to Heart. Srsly?
Kojak’s Buick. (1973 Regal?–ed).

Kojak

Wayne’s AMC Pacer from the Wayne’s World. (Sold by Volo in 2004, not sure where it ended up. There are some prop cars around as well.–ed).
“Being a Toyota Landcruiser fan, I’ve always wondered about that red and white Fj55 in The Lost Boys.”
California speedster and Vette coupe from King of the Mountain.
Dan Tanna’s 1957 T-Bird 1957 in Vega$. (Reportedly painted blue for Richard Gere’s Breathless–ed).
What about the Torino from Starsky and Hutch?
1983 Porsche 944s from Sixteen Candles. Film lore says there were two. One auto and one stick. (There was also a Rolls Corniche that figured prominently. The Porsce was on the original list.–ed)
It’s a big list, people. Lets find some cars.

Many images found at Internet Movie Cars Database.

Appendix: Cars built by Unique:

Feature films
48hrs
A Few Good Men
Always
Apollo 13
Arachnophobia
Back To the Future
Batman
Bill and Ted #2
Black Rain
Black Sheep
Blank Man
Bugsy
Cannon Ball Run
Dick Tracy
Diggs Town
Doors
Elvis and Me
Family of Spies
Fools Rush In
The Hollywood Knights
Homer and Eddie
Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade
Indiana Jones and the Temple Of Doom
Judgment Night
Last Action Hero
Late for Dinner
Little Rascals
Loose Cannon
Men at Work
Misery
Mobsters
Neon City
Nutty Professor
Ocean’s 11
Poetic Justice
Point Break
Rain Man
Show Down In Little Tokyo
Smokey and the Bandit
Stop or My Mom Will Shoot
Tango and Cash
The Big Picture
The Boost
The Human Target
Toys
Two Jakes
Undercover Blues
Unlawful Entry
Vampire in Brooklyn
Vegas Vacation
Wild at Heart
Wraith

TV
Alf
Amazing Story
Baretta
BJ and the Bear
Bring’em Back Alive
Charlie’s Angels
China Beach
Chips
Crime Story
Fall Guy
Hard Ball
Hardcastle and McCormick
Hart to Hart
Hunter
Knight Rider
Nash Bridges
Remington Steel
Riptide
Simon and Simon
The A Team
The Flash
The Waltons
The Wonder Years
Vegas
Viper
Wonder Woman