Am I crazy for liking this?

So our beloved white Ford E250 van will need replacement one of these days in the not-too-distant future, and today I saw a thing that I cannot unsee, in a good way: National Speedway Directory's recycled ambulance. Here it is as it ran One Lap:

And thanks to NSD publisher Tim Frost, I'm now searching AmbulanceTrader.com for one of our own.

Please, tell me why I'm wrong. I cannot for the life of me look away from this site or stop searching it. Such a great track support vehicle. Shoot, Gary would probably sleep on the gurney, too. (Okay, that's one reason not to get it.)

Help me, I'm serious.

Margie

It cannot not be unseen, because there is no image to be seen.

Yeah, I feex.

I don't see anything wrong with an ambulance but then I was watching Mother Jugs And Speed the other night.

Needs Jack Elam in the back

I know several that are in use as tow vehicles. Almost always diesels up here too!

Yes. Crazy.

Don't these tend to have oodles of miles and 3 years of engine idle by the time they retire from active duty?

Translation: Probably crazy

Good, keep it coming. I know I'd regret it. But... lights! Lockers! Diesel!

Yes Marjie, you are crazy! But, that is what we love about you.

I would love one of these if I didn't have to drive 45 miles to work each day.

I see no downside to this.

My son wanted an old ambulance pretty bad, and I was pretty agreeable to getting him one until (a) I thought about the things a teenage boy would do with an ambulance and (b) his mom squashed that idea like a bug. She didn't find it NEARLY as cool as we did.

So yeah, you should totally do it.

There is nothing wrong with this. Realistically, they should have washed all the blood out of it.

I see no downside either. And as a bonus, I now know where to look for used ambulances.

This one for $15k looks up to the job.

Marjorie Suddard wrote: Gary would probably sleep on the gurney, too.

If you raced one at Lemons.. you could use a gurney on the roof as a spoiler.. it would be a real "gurney flap"

mad_machine wrote:

Marjorie Suddard wrote: Gary would probably sleep on the gurney, too.

If you raced one at Lemons.. you could use a gurney on the roof as a spoiler.. it would be a real "gurney flap"

Oh.. the pain.. the pain...

IIRC you couldn't fit as much stuff in the back of an "Amberlamps" as you could in an E250. Dunno how easy you could gut the box of the ambulance.

LuxInterior wrote: Don't these tend to have oodles of miles and 3 years of engine idle by the time they retire from active duty? Translation: Probably crazy

I was trying to find the downside myself, because I'm in love, and you may be on to something there. The mileage actually doesn't look bad on a lot of those, but, yeah, they probably have insane hours from endless idling. Is that a bad thing for a diesel over its lifetime, or does it even matter?

I will consent. But only if Tim dresses up as Captain Chaos.

Chassis are maxed out on gvw a lot of the time, and therefore can't tow much (lighter duty non-1 tons may not be really rated to tow anything at all).

YMMV.

I tend to check govdeals on occasion to see what they have in either a ambulance or small bus. Tempting for sure but the fuel economy is probably going to be horrible.

I say do it and write a couple of articles about the conversion.

Look what you have done. Now I want one too!

I can picture one of those "medium duty" ambulances painted to match my track car. Plenty of places inside to keep tools and spare parts and even room to sleep while I am at the track.

Though they all look like equal boxes, there is a vast range in their cargo capacities.

Some are very near their rated capacity with a few tools on board, and not too good at towing.

But if you pick them well, and check the chassis ratings etc, they are great.

Possible downsides- bad on fuel economy, drive like a tank (not necessarily in a good way), those bodies are HEAVY, the cabinetry is SO specialized that they don't adapt as well as a cargo van, some are weak on towing, seating for only 2, and they usually have to have their lights and sirens removed before resale, which makes me very sad!

But potential...

Get serious!

http://www.ebay.com/itm/1941-dodge-wc-9-ambulance-/291378599945?forcerrptr=true&hash=item43d7849809&item=291378599945&pt=Military_Vehicles