Series 2 searle ambulance

just in the process of buying a D reg series 2a 109 Searle ambulance. It looks like a standard station wagon with safari roof but a 6 inch extension has been put between the sides and the roof. the back door is 6 inches taller and looks professionally done. The interior was well trimmed but a bit of a mess now. A 3 pin 240v socket is fitted in the front passenger seat base so had an inverter fitted once. in the front offside wing there is a 3 inch dia hole looks like an air intake. Has anyone ever come across one before I am told there was 12 built and only 3 survive. picture to follow when deal finished.

Is it not just a series 3 wing fitted with the heater air hole?

Blackburn said:

Is it not just a series 3 wing fitted with the heater air hole?

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Heater air intake hole is on the near side wing.

Col

the hole is on the drivers side wing and is smaller than a series 3 it has a coller going in about 3 inches looks like it had a hose fitted to it. The headling above the front compartment is the same hight as normal land rover roof so has a 6 inch gap between it and the raised roof so making a useful shelf. There seems no place for a stretcher.

snorkel?

not for snorkel as lower than carb and on wrong side

Looking forward to the photos!

deal done.

excellent

now the journey begins ……………….

good luck with the resto and keep the pics coming

Looks great, that'll keep you busy during winter, spring, summer...

I like the way they have added a "slice" to the roof to get hight. How exactly is the door modified?

Interesting project there! Well done for saving it..

Looking forward to seeing more pics as the resto gets underway

Watching.....

rob1miles said:

I like the way they have added a "slice" to the roof to get hight. How exactly is the door modified?

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the door looks to be built just like the original only taller.

Hole in right hand wing looks like it had a flexi hose going to a fresh air vent behind the front centre seat facing second row seats. Took about 10 mins to get started with fuel down carb. oil light went out and alternator charged. result

Some of the amubulances have anti-roll bars, does it? Be intersted to see what other mods it has.

minecab said:

Hole in right hand wing looks like it had a flexi hose going to a fresh air vent behind the front centre seat facing second row seats. Took about 10 mins to get started with fuel down carb. oil light went out and alternator charged. result

Click to expand...

ambulances were/are commonly fitted with standalone heaters, could it be something like that?

found these pictures of reg no 3 later than mine. rebuilding onto new chassis.

lots of work done now. Great assistance with info from the London Ambulance Service Museum. There were only 5 of these built with matching trailers the museum thought they had the only surviver but had two trailers so a deal was done and I bought a trailer that they were using as storage. The landrovers were used as a control unit at major incidents as ambulances in the mid sixties were not fitted with radios so drivers booked in at the control unit. In the rear the three forward facing seats were removed and replaced with one side facing seat for the controller, one bench seat was left at rear facing a desk with map light. There was a paraffin underfloor heater this has been replaced with a diesel version. Loc kdown has given me the time to restore, I have rebuilt all mechanical parts using new gaskets and bearings new brakes and wiring. I still have to fit folding shelves to ouside of nearside doors and a foldout awning to nearside of roof rack. I fabricated the roof rack myself as it is nothing like normal landrover racks it has a top bar of round steel to which a ladder can be clipped anywhere .Classic landrover want to do an article about this.