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Only 10 of theses were built in 1977, while one of the last ambulances built on an automobile chassis this was also one of the first Paramedic Ambulances. This unit saw service in the Fargo Moorhead area. |
Orignally from California, this unit saw service in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan, and then Winona, Minnesota. |
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This "Ghostbuster" Unit has quite a bit of nostalgia. It started out as a 1965 Oldsmobile 98, 4 door sedan. Oldsmobile did not make station wagon's in 1965. The vehicle was delivered to Cotner-Bevington in Ohio who gutted the vehicle and rebuilt it as an ambulance. It was originally used as a hearse and ambulance, or sometime referred to as a "Mortuary Ambulance," and it was light blue in color. After being erbuilt it was delivered to California where it was placed into service. The unit was eventually traded into M&M Ambulance Sales in Minneapolis, Minnesota in the late 1960's or early 1970's. M&M Ambulance Sales added the "tunnel" lights, electronic siren and etc. to make it a more modern appearing ambulance. The "Ghostbuster" Unit was then sold to Beacon Ambulance of Hurley, Wisconsin. Beacon Ambulance is a Michigan based service which is still in operation today. They serve the Upper Penninsula of Michigan. In 1974 the unit was sold to Winona Ambulance Service in Winona, Minnesota. Winona Ambulance Service used it primarily for nursing home transfers and standby assignments at local stock car races. The unit was retired in the late 1970's after Winona Ambulance Service went out of business. It was abandoned in the old Winona Ambulance garage until the late 1980's, when it was moved and abandoned in a field near Centerville, Wisconsin after the old ambulance building was sold. Director Robert Hess found the unit in this field and did not hesitate to hunt down it's owner and purchase it and then restore it. The retired owner of the old Winona Ambulance Service makes claim that the unit actually transported Senator Robert Kennedy when he was shot and he claims to have newspaper clippings and photo's to support his claim. The last most interesting note about the "Ghostbuster" Unit is that when it was converted to an ambulance in 1965, it cost approximately $7,500.00, while today, to convert Unit 216 cost the Sparta Ambulance Service over $75,000.00, plus the cost of the radio and all other equipment. |