I took my ambulance to Ogden for the gun show, it was very well received, I had to give lots of rides when we ran it out of the hall at the end of the show, but most were cute girls, so that was nice.
sent you a pm
Great display! Where's the pictures of the girls?
I was too busy driving and looking at the girls to take photos.
Hey Andrew
PM returned
Is that Barbed wire around the perimeter? That will keep it all safe. Great display, thanks for sharing.
Bob
Hey Bob,
Yes, that is barbed wire, it is the only thing that I have found that will keep hands off a display, I did have one of the show officials tell me that the wire was a potential liability risk for the show, so I may have to stop using it, or I may have to add a rope barrier in front of the wire. The wire is actually a bit new for the display, as It came off a spool dated 1931, but it is the same type as used in the war.
Best
Gus
Gus
Just add a sign that reads ELECTRIC FENCE,
If they have any smarts they won't check. Grin.
Bob
that cool
I have one of those wire holder upper things. I had heard it was from WWI but never knew for sure.
Herb
Very Nice Display!
Hey Bob,
I was tempted to electrify a display once, it seems that adult men can not keep their hands off grenades.
Yes Herb, those wire holder up thingies are from WWI, they were still being used in WWII. To be honest, I did not know the technical term for them until now
Best
Gus
Gus
All kidding aside.
You have created one great display for WW I and the Model T, Thanks for doing one fantastic
job, Keep up the great work.
Bob
Thanks Bob, I have to give a lot of credit to this forum, a year ago I started a T for the first time, and it was not mine. I have only had mine running for the past two months, but only driven it about 400 miles altogether, nearly everything I know about it, I learned here.
Thanks
Gus
Great display. I like the barbwire but I could see where someone could get too close and catch a pant leg on it. But anyone who's ever been around it probably wouldn't have a problem.
Hey Mike,
The biggest problem we had was when the museum where we were set up, had a Civil War Ball*, and the girls in hoop skirts were not aware of the size of their dresses. it was a struggle to keep them from walking too close to the display, and a few of the dresses ended up torn. I think there was a heavy blond factor involved.
Best
Gus
* War of Northern Aggression for you in the South
Great work Gus!!!
Did the laying case make it? Does he have a bandage around his head?
What do you have in the box?
Matthew
Hey Matthew,
There was a lot of interest in the M1917 hobnailed boots on the stretcher case. The tool box was filled with the equipment that I have been able to determine should be there (or at least what I have) According to Ford archives, each ambulance had 2 shovels, a hatchet and a pick, as well as the standard tool kit, air pump (still looking for one), jack and carbon tetrachloride fire extinguisher (on the firewall). A low rez photo of the right tool box shows the side curtains, small funnel, 2 gallon gas can, and 1 gallon oil can. The only open photo of the left tool box is on an AFS ambulance, and it has several French style gas tins, but the AFS tool boxes were of different dimensions, so that is not a good reference.
Figures! People are more concerned about the stretcher case's boots than how he is doing;)
Sounds like you have a good idea what what goes in the side boxes. I have seen a photo of the AFS side box and it seemed like it went clear back to the splash guard and maybe even under the seat. But as I look at original M1917 photos of the side box, I think you are correct. If you have a digital files of the photos you mentioned please PM them to me.
Thanks!
Fantastic! Great work.
Drive carefully, and enjoy, W2
If it (the wire) ever does become an issue, look at some of the theatrical supply places (or halloween stores) for fake barbed wire - it's rubber, not metal, but looks real enough to keep the curious at bay.
Hi Susanne,
I rather like the real stuff, and I have a bunch of it, but it does take extra time to set up and take down. The main reason I have used barbed wire, is because all my displays have revolved around WWI, and wire was a very big part of the war.
Best
Gus
As always, some idiot will get hurt and that will be the end of that.
I agree... we were using a combination of Real wire and concertina for visual effect (and it looked **good**) around a cold war display, and some, um, spectator who lacked common sense, a sense of personal responsibility, and the ability to read the DANGER and WARNING signs in 4 languages and got snagged on it - it wasn't bad, just a clothing snag, heck, we'd gotten worse putting the stuff up or taking it down, but the, um, spectator went wailing to the event organizers who forced us to pull it down sooner than now. - which is why we found and ended up going to the fake stuff...
One thing I learned doing that stuff - - you can try to idiot-proof something like that 'till the cows come home, but there will always be a Darwin-award candidate to throw a figurative wrench across the battery terminals (while sitting on the battery).
Susanne why do they listen to people like that? in my country only stupid people listen to people like that. Everyone else takes them to the vet for a sleep.
Hey Kep,
In this country, everything is controlled by lawyers, they can take 30% off the top of a settlement, plus an additional 5% for every crony they have lunch with. Juries award millions of dollars to lawyers when some one gets hot coffee spilled on them (the Juries think they are awarding the money to the injured person). Event organizers are very careful to avoid someone getting a boo boo at their event, because the insurance is very expensive, and with a claim, it is impossible to re-new, thus an injured (however slightly) spectator means the end of the even for the future.
Great display! it always warms my heart to see a model T ambulance. My grandfather drove one in during the great war in France. He was with the 30th Division, 105th Sanitary Train, 117th Field Hospital. Unfortunately, his ambulance did not survive the war. It was hit by artillery while he was carrying wounded men back to the hospital.
Hey Steve,
Do you have any photos of your grandfather? Any information on him would be very interesting.
Best
Gus
No photos of him with his ambulance, cameras were not common at the front (especially with common soldiers). I might have some other photos, but not sure. He survived the artillery hit and was pulled out of the rubble when another soldier saw his leg sticking out from under the debris. He passed away in 1960, when I was a young lad, so most of what I know was passed to me by my grandmother. I have his medals and enlistment/discharge paper work. Unfortunately, his service record was destroyed in a fire at the national archives many years ago.
Gus -- Have you been in contact with David Oneal in Wichita? He built a 1917 ambulance and posted pics of it here on the Forum a while back. He is a big WW-I guy and probably will share lots of pics with you. Send me an email if you want his contact info.
Hi Mike,
Dave and I have been in communication for a few years, he has gone AWOL though, working on a Ford GPW.
Best
Gus
Hi, Gus -- I'm glad to hear that you and David have been communicating, and I'm not at all surprised by that. What is surprising, even though David is not really a Model T guy, is that he is working on a "modern" vehicle. He definitely is AWOL from his normal WW-I bailiwick.