The Waipawa Hospital Board's 1949 Humber Pullman ambulanced welcomed home by CHB Vintage Car Club member Brain Malcolm, president Rod McKenzie, CHB Museum chair Vera Smith, curator Jana Uhlirova and CHB District councillor Jerry Greer.
The Waipawa Hospital Board's 1949 Humber Pullman ambulanced welcomed home by CHB Vintage Car Club member Brain Malcolm, president Rod McKenzie, CHB Museum chair Vera Smith, curator Jana Uhlirova and CHB District councillor Jerry Greer.
As the news broke that the crumbling buildings of the old Waipukurau Hospital will finally disappear, making way for housing development, a long-lost remnant of the hospital’s past has made an appearance.
Waipawa Hospital Board’s 1949 Humber Super Snipe ambulance has been located and last week returned to Central Hawke’sBay, where it will be on long-term loan to the Central Hawke’s Bay Museum.
The Waipawa Hospital Board 1949 Humber Pullman ambulance - believed to be one of only two left in the world.
The ambulance was housed in one of the last still-standing Waipukurau Hospital structures, and was driven by orderlies, the most well-known being the late Bob Evans.
Central Hawke’s Bay District Councillor Jerry Greer, who helped to repatriate the vehicle to Central Hawke’s Bay, said Bob would have been “tickled pink” to see the vehicle returned home.
The ambulance was decommissioned in the early to mid-1960s and was sold to a horse trainer near Dannevirke - it was perfect for carrying horse-gear around.
The vintage ambulance is in near-original condition complete with stretchers and hospital blankets.
In 1987 a Palmerston North vintage car enthusiast, Trevor Cook, spotted the unique vehicle in a gully as he travelled past on the train. He saw it again on the way back and was able to trace its whereabouts and buy it, before starting a lengthy restoration.
Years later the ambulance made a brief return to Waipukurau as it passed through on a vintage car rally.
Current CHB Vintage Car Club president Rod McKenzie quicky introduced its owner to its old custodian: Bob Evans.
Bob, it seems, had taken a few pieces of the old machine for safekeeping before it it was sold. “You’d better come and have a look in my shed,” he told the new owner, and reunited the ambulance with its flashing light and ambulance sign.
Restored to near original - including stretchers, hospital blankets and first aid kit - the ambulance was onsold to a Thames couple who toured in it and even camped in it. It was even in pride of place when its driver passed away, as it carried his casket at his funeral.
Vintage car club members Brian Malcolm, president Rod Mckenzie and Jerry Greer take a good look at the Humber's six-cylinder engine.
When Jerry Greer heard the Waipawa Hospital Board ambulance was for sale he pricked up his ears.
“I did some research to make sure it was legitimate, but as soon as Bob’s name came up I knew it was right,” he says.
Jerry - a member of the Central Hawke’s Bay Museum committee - floated the idea that the museum could be the right place for the vehicle - thought to be one of just two remaining, worldwide.
“I thought it might be a step too far, but everyone was really keen and we were working on the idea of a fundraising page when...an anonymous purchaser came out of the blue. So it’s back in CHB and on long-term loan to the museum. We are very, very lucky.”
Central Hawke's Bay Museum curator and manager Jana Uhlirova tries out the driver's seat for size.
Coincidentally, a photographic history of the Waipukurau Hospital had been planned for the Central Hawke’s Bay Museum next May. Museum curator and manager Jana Uhlirova says the ambulance will now be the centrepiece of the exhibition ... once she works out how to safely get it inside the exhibition hall.
Jana says she is thrilled to have the ambulance as a museum piece. “We will want to bring it out into the community as often as we can...special events, parades ... it will be seen and enjoyed.”
The ambulance was trailered to Waipukurau courtesy of Ruahine Motors and has been assessed as needing a little work for a warrant of fitness, after which it will need some panel beating attention for surface rust and it will be ready to face its public.
