F-100 (F100) Twin Life Ambulances (1982 to
1988)
In
the early eighties a particularly innovative ambulance design concept emerged
in
A rare early photo of Fleet 165 at Torrens Centre 1984, shortly after
the Twin-Life ambulances had become
operational in late 1983. At this stage,
the Twin-Life ambulances still had a
glossy white bonnet, and the standard number plate (registration number
UGL-526). There no external locker 14 on
this vehicle (see later image below).
The Hella driving lights were excellent at night but a trap for young
players was inadvertently leaving the plastic covers fitted and turning the
lamps on – they produce a lot of heat and could melt the covers on (this was
nearly as bad as crime as the attendant leaving the hand held spotlight turned
on sitting on the vinyl covered floor!).
Alongside Fleet 165 is a Ford XE Falcon clinic car (Photo supplied by
Kevin Marsland).
Staff
from St.John produced a wooden mock-up on the back of a utility, “something
like what they wanted” and approached Javelin bodyworks at
A photo of the wooden mock-up body on an F-100 utility produced by
St.John for the Twin-Life
concept. The stretcher on the right does
not have folding legs. The stretchers
are mounted directly on the utility body floor in this version (
Another photo of the wooden mock-up body on a utility produced by
St.John for the Twin-Life concept,
showing the internal wooden bracing. The
stretcher on the right does not have folding legs. The stretchers are mounted directly on the
utility body floor in this version (
The
Javelin designed, F-100, F-250 petrol and diesel Twin-Life ambulance modules became, arguably the most successful,
and long lived, ambulance body designed in Australian ambulance history. The prototypes were ready in 1982, and the
first Javelin Twin-Life F-100
equipped ambulance was operational in 1984 fitted to Ford seventh generation
F-100 cab chassis. Remarkably, the Twin–Life ambulances were still on the
road 27 years later in 2009, until they were finally retired in the middle of
the year.
Many
of the original grooved rear-wheel-arch F-100 modules from 1984 were still
around as operational ambulance modules as recently as 2005 – over twenty years
after they were first manufactured, clearly demonstrating the strength and
soundness of the original bodywork.
Another photograph
of Fleet 165 at Torrens Centre 1986, clearly showing the grooved rear wheel
arch that was characteristic of the F-100 utility tray upon which he original Twin-Life bodies were fitted. This F-100 vehicle had domed wheel trims and
a black extension below Locker 14 (the external locker behind the driver’s
door) which was not present on the earlier photo above. The bonnet has been sprayed black since the
photo above. Less noticeable is the fact
that the whirly-bird rotary ventilator is at the rear of the module on top of
the roof, it was moved to the front, on vehicles manufactured later (Photo
supplied by Kevin Marsland).
Given
that St.John and SA Ambulance have generally kept each of their vehicles for
200,000 km, it is conceivable that some modules have travelled over 600,000 km
as many of the grove arch F-100 style bodies were still in the fleet on the
last cab version used, the 1998 F-250 7.3 litre diesels.
The driver’s compartment of Fleet 165 as above, note the Dolphin torch in a Javelin custom-made
clip beneath the dashboard and the external radio speaker along-side it. The Hella 2631 chrome flexible map light is
visible on the left of the photo (Photo supplied by Kevin Marsland).
Another view of the driver’s compartment of Fleet 165, it appears to be
an AWA Carphone RT80 radio and the map pockets on the door were special Javelin
fibreglass moulding. In this era the
seats were vinyl covered (Photo supplied by Kevin Marsland).
Fleet 11 parked at an oval during a sporting event in its St.John livery
(registration SJQ-011). Unlike the
vehicles above the rotary vents are located at the front of the module with the
fixed vents at the rear. Fleet 11 is
fitted with the standard Ford F-series wheel trims and Hella rotating beacons
and TOA SC-35L siren speakers (Photo supplied by Steve Schuler).
The
Fleet 172 an F100 Twin-Life,
with black bonnet and fixed ventilators at the front. Registration SJQ-172 (Photo supplied by Kevin
Marsland).
Another shot of Fleet 165 (Photo supplied by Kevin Marsland).
The interior of an F-100 Twin-Life module showing the Physio-Control Lifepak 5 defibrillator
carried in the special cradle and the Sphygmomanometer, clock, CIG Entonox
bottle and regulator, CIG Ohmeda suction bottle and at the bottom left of the
picture the AWA portable radio in the blue canvas pack that could be used for
medical consultation at the scene (Photo supplied by Kevin Marsland).
The new Fleet 165 showing the AWA portable radio in the blue canvas pack
and on the bulkhead is the Pye radio handset, the large locker on the right is
for the
