Solved TGF-261: Ford ambulance with Berwi (NL) body, about 1956

[targhediferro]

The difficult part doesn't come from the base car, obviously...but which coachbuilder is it from?

[Bill Murray]

I believe it is a body by Visser of Holland.
Bill

[targhediferro]

I have another name...but your picture makes me doubtfull. I'll check my source.

[Bill Murray]

Sorry, my bad, I responded too quickly.  Visser is so well known and made so many Fords..........

According to my "secret book", the body work is by Berwi of Winschoten on a 1955 Ford chassis.

Bill

[targhediferro]

Oh yes...a Berwi body on Ford 1955 chassis.  This car was in service at Alkmaarseweg, NL, almost till 1965.

[fyreline]

Interesting how the Berwi body uses the 1952-54 style Ford rear fenders and tail lamps on the 1955 chassis, while the very similar Visser body appears (at least from the angle the photograph shows) to use the correct 1955 Ford rear fenders and tail lamps.

[Bill Murray]

Hi Amigos:

As I have posted before, a good part of my "enthusiastic amateur" research is on the subject of American brand cars sold to, assembled in or manufactured in countries other than the US.

Well up into the 1960's, the Low Countries relied almost exclusively on US brands for the basis for limousines, hearses and ambulances and they came from not only "The Big Three" but also a lot of other brands. The downsizing and going away from the body and frame construction method after the Oil Crisis of the early 1970's that we saw in US brands pretty much killed that market.  Nowadays, they are mostly Mercedes products that one sees in these roles.

Regarding fyreline's comments, I am posting here a photo of the assembly process that shows the front end of the car being brought to be married to the chassis and the rest of the body.  This photo was taken in the US but the Amsterdam Assembly Plant used the same technique.  Thus, the coach builder could get the car from the factory with just the front clip mounted and complete the rest of the car from there and I suppose could mix and match parts as they saw fit.

If you go to Google.ne, and look for Amsterdam Assembly Plant, there are several videos that show the process but I won't post the link here.

A most interesting chapter in US brand auto history I think.

Bill

[fyreline]

Thanks Bill, very interesting indeed. I knew that most if not all truck chassis manufacturers supplied what they called "chassis-cowl" units to various body suppliers, but this is the first I've heard of an automotive chassis provided in that configuration. Makes sense, though.