KAMLOOPS CHAPTER

RESTORATION PROJECT

1952 AUSTIN SHEERLINE AMBULANCE

2005 Year One
Presented By Dave Dickinson

I am not certain when the club inherited this ambulance from the Stoughton family. It was however believed to be one of the first ambulances owned by the City of Kamloops.
September
A group of seven travelled out to the back field of Jack Woolard's to uncover the club's ambulance and move it to Andre Cordonier's shop.

{l to r} Jerry Wallin, Jack Woolard, Andy Cordonier, Dick Parkes, John Bone, Julian Slotylak,
& Dave Dickinson (photographer)

Dick Parkes prepares to uncover our project.


What we found after we took the tarp off.

























Julian discovers
primer pump switch



Now it was time to load it for it's trip over to Andy's shop

Jerry's winch needs some extra help
 so pushing was required.






It arrived at Andy's Shop. Andy has consented for us to to do the restoration using the back of his shop.
 {not realizing how long it is going to take to finish.}




Dick is glad to see it here so the club can get started on the restoration




Found us discussing how the restoration project was going to be handled. It was agreed on that the restoration would be correct and as close to original as possible or not done at all as the finished project would be a representation of the club.
Everyone was on hand to watch and see what was going to happen when it came time to see if the engine was loose or frozen. It did turn over easily which was a good sign.
This meant we had a good chance o being able to use it.
Keith Galbraith, Dick Parkes & Craig Beddie get ready for the try out of the engine.
[l to r} Bryan Vye, Dick Parkes, Keith Galbraith, Andy Cordonier, Jason Tasko looking in  
and with their back to the photographer is Jack Woolard & Craig Beddie.


The first job was to clean up the back. It is a big job removing the garbage, scraping and vacuuming was definitley needed from sitting around for such a long time.

Murray Williams does the vacuuming while
Jason Tasko puts on his Doctor's  mask and gets right into it.
It was suggested as we were dismantling everything that pictures should be taken as much as possible as they could be used future reference.
This evening was the start of the dismantling the various parts such as doors, grill, radiator, head lights, side windows & etc.

 

Ken Finigan & John Duerksen wrestle with the radiator

Julian Slotylak help Dick Parkes remove the headlight


October

Tonight saw the removal of the signal arms {lights}
Dick tries them on for size but not sure how they work and what direction he is going.






Mean while John Duerkson is busy pulling nails and working on the
 spare tire door.
The engine is lifted out
Julian Slotylak holds the light while Dick Parkes loosens the motor mounts

Everybody is curious {l to r} Jason Tasko,
Dick Parkes, Ken Finnigan,
& Keith Galbraith
Tim Wourms is loosening the transmission while
Murray Williams & Ken Finnigan try shaking the engine loose.

Ken & Dick managed to get the engine out.
However they did not do it alone.
They were the only ones that managed to get in the pictures...
Once the block was out and it had a going over it did not look bad at all, however it would still need to be completely rebuilt.
The front end is now blocked up to geve enough clearance under the frame to remove the transmission.
The brakes where checked and the linings were found to be in better condition than expected. However Ken Finnigan {our British Expert} took the master & wheel cylinders home for a complete overhaul.



Craig Beddie got the head off and on to the work bench. It was defintely going to have a valve job.


November

The steering wheel is in very bad condition and will needed to be replaced. No way of saving it. I think it will be just about impossible to find an original replacement.

The side panels were removed and Jack Woolard took them home so they would not get damaged while lying aroung the shop during the restoration.
It was decided by our three carpenters referred to as the 3 J's {Jack Woolard, Jason Tasko & Jerry Wallin} to install braces to keep the rear body in it's original form while being moved around during the restoration. It was decided to restore individual pieces one at a time rather than completely strip it and have a pile of unknown lumber pieces.
Stretcher ensembly was removed



2005 Year One comes to a close
It turns out that we had 16 work sessions with 21 different club members
making it to at least one of the work shops.
Each session is credited with two man hours for each of those that attend giving us a
total of 364 man hours to date.
Besides this time members haved worked on projects at home which are
extra hours that are not recoreded.


2005F