By EMS1 Staff
SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. — An unusual piece of EMS history is being auctioned off this month — the ambulance that carried President John. F. Kennedy’s body following his assassination on November 22, 1963.
The gray 1963 Pontiac Bonneville ambulance picked up Kennedy’s coffin from Dallas and took it to the Bethesda Naval Hospital for an autopsy in Maryland.
“Not only did the ambulance transport JFK following his untimely death, it’s one of the finest examples of an un-restored ambulance from that time period,” said Steve Davis, president of Barrett-Jackson, a collector car auction company in Scottsdale, Ariz., that is selling the vehicle.
“It’s also, without a doubt, one of the most significant and historical vehicles ever offered for sale.”
The ambulance was one of 15 contracted for military use.
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After it was retired from service it was sold as surplus and held by a single owner until last year.
While it’s hard to speculate what it will sell for when it goes up for auction, a guess could be made from what other historical vehicles have sold for in the past.
A limousine used at the White House while Kennedy was in office was recently sold at an auction for almost $400,000, according to Fox News.
The Kennedy ambulance remains in its original condition, and comes with a stretcher, jump seats and two oxygen tanks from the 60s.