Ambulance

The engine of a 1914 Sunbeam Rover, which had been converted for use in a World War I ambulance, sits on a purpose-built trailer awaiting its body. “During World War I, Britain put a call out for people to donate their vehicles for ambulances,” says Mort. “The gentry donated cars, including their Rolls-Royces, and also their drivers.” This vehicle was bought by a local by the name of Keenan after the war. He went round showing movies, using it as a generator to run the projector. Later the body was burnt and engine salvaged to run a sawbench for cutting firewood. The heritage shed team is hoping to rebuild it as an ambulance, having obtained full working drawings of the 1914 vehicle and had a stroke of luck in accessing handy materials: “A guy in Ashburton was doing up a Sunbeam Rover car and had heaps left over including the chassis,” says Mort.