The quote comes from an after-auction interview with Dr. Jon Jensen who purchased the ambulance from a California car collector. This was his second attempt to get the vehicle accepted by Barrett-Jackson for consignment. It was rejected in 2010 due to inadequate documentation linking the vehicle to the Kennedy tragedy.
KSAZ-TV Ch. 10 Phoenix: “Controversial JFK Ambulance Sold for $120K” around the 1:10 minute mark:
Well, this battle over the Scottsdale ambulance and the alleged JFK connection is over, so I wanted to say a couple things while we still have the attention of those who are visiting but probably won’t think about old ambulances again.
In my mind, we ended in a draw. The Scottsdale ambulance was auctioned for a ridiculous sum of money. It ends with a “can’t say it is, can’t say it isn’t” decision on the part of Barrett-Jackson, and, as such, probably in the mind of the general public. It’s positive for “us” only in the respect that the Scottsdale ambulance is no longer “certainly” the JFK ambulance, it’s just a “mystery”. Unfortunately, I think it’s a matter of time before we fight this battle again.
PCS President Rick Duffy thanked me for my efforts tonight. You’re welcome. I got some files and made a few calls and e-mails, really anything anyone could have done (and anything Steve Davis or his professional staff should have done). But I didn’t do this by myself. So while I have the outsiders’ attention, I just wanted to say some words of thanks to others.
JFK researchers Paul Hoch and David Lifton. They are amateur researchers like us but found a lot of information from the JFK assassination point of view. They contacted me for help, I’d never heard of them before. They also pointed out the “error” that Rear Admiral Hogan retired from the Navy two years before the letter he “signed” was written, a key point in refuting the documentation supplied with the car. Paul also called the PCS forums “civil”!
The John F. Kennedy Presidential Library in Boston, specifically, Head Archivist Karen Abramson, Audiovisual Archivist Laurie Austin and Archivist Maura Porter. They had the letters and photos all the time, it’s all public domain information. And when asked, they produced it all with lightning speed, graciously. I mentioned to Laurie that the one piece of evidence that would answer all the questions would be if there was a photo of the ambulance in the crusher. In about 15 minutes, all the photos were in my inbox.
1986 destruction of ambulance - JFK Presidential Library
Justin Hyde and Jalopnik.com. I’m not familiar with the website or blog, but after he published his story about the Scottsdale ambulance possibly being a “fake”, it was picked up by a lot of news outlets across the country. And thanks for mentioning the PCS and the ProfessionalCarSociety.org website.
Barrett-Jackson Auction Co., specifically Steve Davis and Craig Jackson. They backed off their initial claims to a point, and actually did show the Library letter and the photos of the ambulance being crushed on their televised broadcast of the auction – quite classy and surprising to me since they disagreed. But despite being “ranked in the Top 100 Most Ethical Companies” as advertised on their website, they proved that the desire for profit still exceeds the desire for truth and historical correctness. Frankly, the legwork should have been done by them, not by us. And Steve Davis gave the dash plaque a good waving and airing out, perhaps it won’t be put back.
PCS members Tony Blair, for being the first to point out to PCS that this was even coming up, Dwayne Brooks, who initiated contact with Steve Davis, and everyone who posted to the thread with good information or questions to be answered. Some of the questions our members asked were questions we didn’t know the answers to, but we looked for and found them. Most important to this discussion is member Dan Brintlinger, who first asked the question in 1988 and got the answer. The letter he got from Congressman Michel and the Navy pointed the direction for everything else. If I forgot anyone specific, I’m SORRY!!! And thanks to PCS Publicity Director Gregg Merksamer, Vice President Paul Steinberg, and President Rick Duffy, for their help, suggestions, and support.
I have no animosity toward Dr. Jensen or Barrett-Jackson. I don’t know who made up what parts of the story, so I won’t accuse. I didn’t intend to take money out of the doctor’s pockets, or B-J’s pockets, that’s just what happened. They should have known and should have done what was right. I’m not happy at the outcome, nobody really is.
I learned a lot from this experience. I learned a lot about the real JFK Navy ambulance that I didn’t know, and a lot about the Scottsdale ambulance. The real ambulance has an interesting history, ending in 1986. I’ll bet the Scottsdale ambulance has an equally interesting real history, and I hope we someday find out. I learned how to make the right phone calls or e-mails to get info. And I learned this takes a lot of time and effort – I’m not a professional researcher, I’m a Paramedic who likes the history of ambulances but still has to go to work.
If you’re a visitor and not a regular user of our site, but you like the history of ambulances, hearses, limousines and related vehicles, please stay, and join the Professional Car Society. We’re a great car club with great meets. If you aren’t staying but have any questions about such vehicles in the future, please come back here and ask, we’ve got a lot of good members who know a lot about these cars. I’m not THE expert, I learn from the experts every day. And if you’re done, thanks for coming to see and read us, and thanks for “getting it”.
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