Wiscasset Emergency Management Director Roland Abbott picked up the town’s new ambulance in Manasquan, NJ on Oct. 24.
The ambulance has a 2013 Ford E-450 chassis and cab, but the same box as the old ambulance. “It’s actually called a remount,” Abbot said. “We do it to save money.”
The price for the chassis and the remounting was $72,000 and the cost of an entirely new ambulance was $140,000, Abbott said.
PL Custom Emergency Vehicles – in Manasquan – manufactured the ambulance’s box and remounted it on the new chassis, Abbot said. “It’s why we buy the brand that we buy,” he said.
“The woman down there complimented us, said it was one of the easiest remounts they’ve done because we take such good care of our equipment,” Abbot said.
Abbott said the new ambulance was purchased through Sugarloaf Ambulance/Rescue Vehicles in Wilton.
“It’s the first gasoline engine we’ve had in a long time” because Ford stopped offering diesel engines in the E-450, Abbot said.
Wiscasset’s other ambulance is a 2003 and its “throw-away” box can’t be remounted, Abbot said. It is slated to be replaced in 2013.