Im a proud owner of this rare beast of a car. Its a 1939 Cadillac Lasalle Ambulance made by Flxible Motor Corp, and It was built and spent its entire life in Ohio until making its way down here to Evansville, In. I know this much. What I dont know is what "series" the car is, original engine size V8 or V16, how to decode the VIN (if possible). Any ideas? Thanks in advance, Ian
Seriously? The bus company? According to: http://www.flxibleowners.org/history.htm "THE FLXIBLE FUNERAL CAR AND AMBULANCE The story of funeral car manufacturing at Flxible followed much the same history common to the whole motor coach industry in the early years. The company first began funeral cars, or hearses. in 1925. The early bodies had all wood frames and were built with a great deal of painstaking labor. Production quantities were limited, but the finished product reflected Flxible's attention to details. The company experienced a steady healthy growth, helped by contracts from the US Navy, who became a regular customer. The Flxible Company always maintained that quality should be the main objective in manufacturing. This objective often produced higher costs, but in the long run paid higher dividends. In the early days, funeral directors would buy their own chassis and then have Flxible build and mount the body. These early customers were very pleased and proud of their cars. Flxible continued a steady growth, starting with 21 cars in 1926, with production growing to more than ten times that number in 1941. Funeral car and ambulance production was finally halted in 1964." ~Jason
This was a 1 of 874 built '39 LaSalle Commercial Chassis. They were $1020 each when new, but all you got was this for that price - the price went WAY up after the coachbuilder got done with it: Here's the info you're looking for (scroll down): http://100megsfree4.com/cadillac/cad1930/1939/CAD39S.HTM ID data, series, motor specs, transmission, etc - all there. Click on the link and be happy. ~Jason
Thanks for all the info guys. She'll be bagged in a few weeks. I want to chop it bad, but dont know if i can bring myself to do it. Its quite a rare car.
Try this link too...I wish you well with it. I agree with many other folks-that grille is killer-kool!! http://www.coachbuilt.com/bui/f/flxible/flxible.htm
There's one of these on ebay right now. http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/e...m=220235884658&ssPageName=STRK:MEWA:IT&ih=012
I knwo where there is a Lincoln V12 flathead, tranny and rearend. That would be pretty cool. It's running and pretty cheap.
here is one similar on CL http://richmond.craigslist.org/car/634070426.html I have all front sheet metal; hood/sides/fenders ron (919)669-0608 919-266-5900 home<table summary="craigslist hosted images"> <tbody><tr><td align="center"></td> <td align="center"></td></tr> <tr><td align="center"></td> <td align="center"></td></tr> </tbody></table> This item has been posted by-owner. Location: Raleigh, NC
Scroll down - in the grey boxes near the bottom of the page is the specs you were wanting about the body style, production, etc. ~Jason
Very cool. As has already been said, there was only one engine choice in a LaSalle, the 347 flathead. Since the LaS. was the "poor man's Cadillac", there was pretty much just one 'series' unlike the Cadillac counterpart which came with a variety of body styles and engines.
No offense, but it may be rare, but not too desirable to restorers, etc, so, that's good news. Chop away! That sucker will look really long.
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