Saturday, March 10, 2012

Ambulance Of The Day: March 10, 2012



Today's car of the day is Zylmex's 1977 Chevrolet Chevy Van Ambulance.



The Chevrolet and GMC G-Series vans were made by General Motors for North America. They are in the same vehicle class as the Ford Econoline van and the Dodge Ram Van.
The term "Chevrolet van" also refers to the entire series of vans sold by Chevrolet. The first Chevrolet van was released in 1961 on the Corvair platform, and the latest Chevrolet van in production is the Chevrolet Express.



For more information and pictures of the real car please visit: Chevrolet Van



The late '70s was when ambulances in the USA started transitioning from the traditional car-based units that often doubled as hearses to the van-based units we're familiar with today.



In 1971, ChevyVan received a major redesign, moving the engine forward of the driver with a short nose and hood. The van was constructed of a unibody style frame and employed stronger truck style hubs and brakes with dual A-Arm independent front suspension. The major restyle followed the engine-forward design of the competing 1968 Ford Econoline. Suspension and steering parts came from the Chevrolet/GMC C-series pickup trucks. GMC now marketed their vans under the VanDura name. These models between 78 and 96 were popular with Van conversions such as Curtis and Starcraft.

For 1997, the Chevrolet and GMC vans were replaced with the next-generation Chevrolet Express and GMC Savana. They adopted aerodynamic styling, and the extended 15 passenger version rode on a longer wheelbase, rather than just an extended body. These vans were built on a stronger truck frame versus the previous generation's unibody construction. A left-side door was made available for the declining passenger van market.

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