A Restoration Story: 1968 Cadillac Ambulance

After 10 months, the restoration of a 1968 Cadillac ambulance is complete for Maple Grove resident Scott Anderson.  

The ambulance was purchased about a year ago from a collector of hearses and ambulances built on automobile chassis Anderson’s “new” ambulance has previously served in Washington, Oregon and most recently in Worley, Idaho.  

“Ambulances build on automotive chassis began to be phased out in the middle seventies when regulations changed and Federal grant money could only be used for ambulances built on van or truck chassis ” he wrote in an email to Patch about the history of the vehicle. “Locally, automotive chassis were used by North Memorial Ambulance until the early seventies, and by other ambulance services throughout Minnesota into the early eighties.”

The 1968 Cadillac ambulance reminded Anderson of “adventures in his younger years,” he said about his decision to buy it.     

After purchasing the vehicle, Wright County Collision went to work restoring primarily the body on the ambulance, which has only about 37,000 miles on it. Anderson said a lot of the interior is in its original condition.  

The restored 1968 Cadillac ambulance made its first public debut recently at the EMS Week open house at the North Memorial Ambulance’s headquarters in Brooklyn Center. Anderson plans on driving it in the Maple Grove Days parade, to area car shows (such as one at the Minnesota State Fairgrounds June 9) and around Maple Grove throughout the summer months.