John Lloyd posted this shot with the following comment:
Pueblo, Colorado. This is the fifth one of these I have come across in the past five years. A lot of these were made in the early fifties. Many went to military bases as one I saw had Navy markings. I have seen and photographed five of them in the last decade. Henney was a big provider of ambulances, hearses and stretch limousines.
#2. This one in Spokane, along the road as advertising.
#3. This one is a little nicer, seen in Tacoma, Washington in the LeMay Collection.
#4. In Murdo, South Dakota
#5. Seen in the big Saturday car show at Hershey in 2010
I know absolutely nothing about military vehicle procurement. Why would the Armed Forces pay (assuming) top dollar for custom built cars when the Big 3 were all offering sedan deliveries from the factory?
Ambulances? Hearses? These were about the cheapest ambulances/hearses at the time.
I doubt they used them to deliver parts, except maybe body parts. 🙂
I have my dad’s Transportation of the Sick and Wounded field manual from when he trained as a medic at Fort Sam in 1950. These were classified as ‘metropolitan’ as opposed to ‘field’ ambulances, and were used at stateside bases such as Fort Benning or The Presidio. The field ambulances at the time were mainly WWII era Dodge 3/4 ton van and knockdown types.
The one at the LeMay looks like the much rarer service car version, with no rear quarter windows.
These are significantly bigger and taller inside than the sedan deliveries offered on Ford/Chevy/Dodge chassis by the factory (which by the ’50s were blanked-over station wagons). They’re also faster and smoother-riding than truck-based panel vans, which is why they remained in favor as ambulances until the ’70s when improvements in the truck field and the beginning of the transition from a scoop-and-run model to the ambulance as emergency room on wheels started.
Looks like it could make a nice personal camper with those rear windows, although being unable to stand up inside would be a drawback.
That looks like a Ford Durango behind the one in the 3rd pic.
Old hearses and ambulances were very popular as “campers” back in the day, especially with kids/hippies/etc. They were cheap, and had lots of room. Stand up height was not that important.
Drop dead good looking Paul.
The one in Spokane is right next to Fairchild Air Force Base, so probably came from there.
Henney was a fascinating company. They not only made hearses and limos, they kept pestering Packard to make sports cars, and their designer Richard Arbib created some attractive designs. Packard, as always, missed the opportunity.
Polistra,
On the contrary, Packard did take advantage of Henney and Arbib’s efforts. After seeing the 1952 Packard Henney/Arbib Pan American, Packard bought it and ordered 5 more. [A sizeable order for a company the size of Henney.]
And all too late, Henney pitched 2 additional show cars to Packard, both on the senior Packard hearse & ambulance chassis/body; The “Super Station Wagon” that had 3 rows of seats and a U-shaped booth at the back, and a “Sportsman” camper with the Henney raised ambulance roofline, equipped with 4 bunks for outdoorsmen. The Super Station Wagon did exist, I saw it in Martinsburg, WV just before vandals set fire to it. The Sportsman existed only on paper.
Without going into too much detail here, the 4 main reasons why Henney and Packard parted ways at the end of the 1954 model year are these:
1. Henney was in dire financial straits, having been mis-managed for years by Mr. Russell Feldman, the owner. By 1953 the company was broke, and in 1954 Packard actually had to advance money to Henney so they could finish the Packard Patrician limousines that had been ordered & paid for. It’s in the Packard corporate records that It’s president, James Nance, had made the decision to end the Henney connection back as early as 1953
For the 1955 model year, Packard was introducing a radical new chassis with interconnected torsion bars that were self-leveling. This would have been a great way to handle the big loads hearses and ambulances were subject to, but there were 2 basic problems;
2. Henney, having no money, couldn’t possibly re-tool for the new chassis requirements, and the only Packard cars for 1955 that had regular springs was the cheap 122″ wheelbase. This would mean Packard would have to provide the old chassis on the 156″ wheelbase for the commercial cars, plus the LWB chassis for the limos & 7-passenger sedans.
3. The small number of Henney-Packard vehicles produced each year was simply not enough for Packard to engineer & manufacture 2 different longer sets of torsion bars, one set for the limousines, and the other for the hearse & ambulance chassis.
4. The Henney-Packard design dated back to 1951, and it was already considered dated and obsolete by 1954. Henney had no money to invest in another roof line that was less rounded and could accommodate the new curved Packard windshield. There was an additional cost to create all new side trim to match the 1955 Packard Patrician trim.
Henney was out of options and money. So Russell Feldman closed the company at the end of their contractual obligations to Packard. All it takes is a look at what the other coachbuilders were introducing in the 1957 model years, to realize Henney was done for.
As for Packard’s demise a couple of years later, that had nothing to do with connections to Henney, but it’s another story that perhaps I might write up for Curbside Classics someday.
On a side note; AMT made a 1:25th scale toy plastic wind-up 1951 Henney-Packard Ambulance, and toymaker JNF of France made a metal 1:25th scale toy of the 1952 Pan American, in 2 versions.
I do hope you’ll start contributing to CC!
I’ve spend the night in Murdo, SD, I assume that #4 was in the little car museum / car dealership combo place right off the highway? We would have gone but got in too late and started again too early. Not sure if there will be a “next time”… The attached diner/breakfast place was good though and open early!
Several years ago I saw one of these on the Seattle area Craigslist, though almost certainly not one of the ones pictured because it was pretty rusty and probably too far gone to be worth saving.
I always thought these standard-wheelbase Henney Packards would’ve made attractive two-door wagons with one extra window per side or a longer single one that reached all the way forward to the B-pillar.
It would look really cool as a sedan/delivery with NO side windows between the door and tailgate.
Cars #1 thru #4 were all US military versions. they are easy to spot from the square top vent in the roof, this was specified in the military contract.
As to the military not buying the standard wagon conversions, they didn’t meet the load capacity requirements for the military, that included the ability to carry FOUR cots with occupants. Henney also took advantage of the military specs that didn’t include 4 opening doors on the sides, so Henney shortened the bodies and put them on the standard 127″ Packard Patrician wheelbase, with the smaller 288 engine.
Henney-Packard Super Station Wagon and Sportsman ad
Correction, the Super Station Wagon burned in Rye, NY. Photo courtesy The Professional Car Society.