UNITED STATES SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION
FORM 13F
FORM 13F COVER PAGE
REPORT FOR THE CALENDAR YEAR OR QUARTER ENDED:03/31/99
INSTITUTIONAL INVESTMENT MANAGER FILING THIS REPORT:
NAME:AMBS INVESTMENT COUNSEL, INC
ADDRESS:161 OTTAWA AVE NW, SUITE 203-B
GRAND RAPIDS, MI 49503
PERSON SIGNING THIS REPORT ON BEHALF OF REPORTING MANAGER:
NAME:BARBARA J. DEMOOR
TITLE: CHIEF OPERATING OFFICER
PHONE:(616) 454 4535
PLACE AND DATE OF SIGNING: GRAND RAPIDS,MI 04/29/99
REPORT TYPE:13F HOLDINGS REPORT
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VALUE SHARES/ SH/ PUT/ INVSTMT -----VOTING AUTHORITY-----
NAME OF ISSUER -TITLE OF CLASS- --CUSIP-- (x$1000) PRN AMT PRN CALL DSCRETN -MANAGERS- SOLE SHARED NONE
<C> <C>
D Jacobson's Conv Sub Deb Curren 469834AC9 8 10000 PRN SOLE 10000
D Abbott Laboratories com 002824100 271 5792.000 SH SOLE 5792.000
D Allied Signal Inc. com 019512102 4067 82682.000SH SOLE 9950.000 72732.000
D American Bankers Insurance Gro com 024456105 2418 46500.000SH SOLE 42600.000 3900.000
D American Home Products com 026609107 378 5800.000 SH SOLE 5800.000
D American International Group com 026874107 2400 19893.000SH SOLE 1925.000 17968.000
D Ameritech com 030954101 752 13054.000SH SOLE 13054.000
189 3272.000 SH OTHER 3272.000
D Apache Corp. com 037411105 639 24500.000SH SOLE 1500.000 23000.000
D Archer Daniels Midland com 039483102 169 11483.000SH SOLE 11483.000
D Atmos Energy com 049560105 1286 53450.000SH SOLE 5600.000 47850.000
D Automatic Data Processing com 053015103 248 6000.000 SH SOLE 6000.000
D BP Amoco PLC Spons ADR com 055622104 1442 14276.000SH SOLE 14276.000
203 2006.000 SH OTHER 2006.000
D Bell South Ind com 079860102 288 7196.000 SH SOLE 7196.000
197 4912.000 SH OTHER 4912.000
D Berkshire Hathaway Cl B com 084670207 270 115.000 SH SOLE 115.000
D Bestfoods com 08658U101 221 4700.000 SH SOLE 4700.000
D Bristol Myers Squibb com 110122108 3416 53270.000SH SOLE 6600.000 46670.000
D CFSB Bancorp com 124927104 666 26655.999SH SOLE 880.000 25775.999
242 9680.000 SH OTHER 9680.000
D Cable Design Technologies com 126924109 4271 388311.000SH SOLE 187100.000 201211.000
D Canadian National Railway com 136375102 7229 129962.000SH SOLE 58083.000 71879.000
D Carnival Corp Class A com 143658102 10986 226225.000SH SOLE 80450.000 145775.000
D Chase Manhattan Corp. com 163722101 7685 94435.000SH SOLE 45500.000 48935.000
D Citizens Banking Corp. com 174420109 428 11882.000SH SOLE 11882.000
D City National Bank com 178566105 2570 83225.000SH SOLE 64150.000 19075.000
D Coca-Cola Company com 191216100 953 15530.000SH SOLE 15530.000
D Colgate Palmolive com 194162103 2352 25560.000SH SOLE 700.000 24860.000
D Comerica Inc com 200340107 3454 55321.000SH SOLE 1200.000 54121.000
D DPL Inc com 233293109 1991 120667.000SH SOLE 4512.000 116155.000
D Diebold, Inc. com 253651103 5275 219800.000SH SOLE 93350.000 126450.000
D Disney Co com 254687106 313 10050.000SH SOLE 10050.000
D Dupont com 263534109 561 9658.000 SH SOLE 9658.000
D Elan Corp. PLC ADR com 284131208 7257 104050.000SH SOLE 43475.000 60575.000
D Electronic Data System Corp. com 370442402 9413 193325.000SH SOLE 74450.000 118875.000
D Emerson Electric Company com 291011104 633 11950.000SH SOLE 11950.000
D Enron com 293561106 302 4704.000 SH SOLE 4704.000
D Equity Office Properties Trust com 294741103 4178 164663.000SH SOLE 68826.000 95837.000
D Equity Residential Properties com 29476L107 5258 127475.000SH SOLE 45850.000 81625.000
D Everest Reinsurance Holdings, com 299808105 4722 151410.000SH SOLE 58950.000 92460.000
D Exxon com 302290101 2612 37010.000SH SOLE 1800.000 35210.000
297 4208.000 SH OTHER 4208.000
D Fannie Mae com 313586109 10250 148010.000SH SOLE 48090.000 99920.000
D Firstbank Corp of Michigan com 33761G104 292 9988.000 SH SOLE 9988.000
D Food Lion Class A com 344775200 3051 331475.000SH SOLE 253175.000 78300.000
D Food Lion Class B com 344775101 3754 417075.000SH SOLE 52500.000 364575.000
D Ford Motor Company com 345370100 221 3900.000 SH SOLE 3900.000
D GTE Corporation com 362320103 8216 135806.000SH SOLE 56409.000 79397.000
D General Electric com 369604103 14180 128179.000SH SOLE 33578.000 94601.000
D Glaxo Wellcome PLC ADR com 37733W105 281 4200.000 SH SOLE 4200.000
D HON Industries com 438092108 3151 143625.000SH SOLE 76850.000 66775.000
D Hasbro Inc. com 418056107 8860 306174.500SH SOLE 126149.000 180025.500
D Herman Miller Inc. com 600544100 3761 206080.000SH SOLE 75900.000 130180.000
D Hershey Foods Corp com 427866108 271 4825.000 SH SOLE 4825.000
D Hewlett Packard Company com 428236103 259 3825.000 SH SOLE 300.000 3525.000
D IBM com 459200101 8728 49242.000SH SOLE 18675.000 30567.000
D Intel Corp com 458140100 582 4900.000 SH SOLE 4900.000
D JLG Industries com 466210101 1369 100500.000SH SOLE 100500.000
D Johnson & Johnson com 478160104 1362 14570.000SH SOLE 14570.000
D K-Mart Corp com 482584109 7110 422875.000SH SOLE 170200.000 252675.000
D Kellogg Company com 487836108 202 5970.000 SH SOLE 5970.000
D Kellwood Corp com 488044108 5129 232497.000SH SOLE 85900.000 146597.000
D Lilly Eli & Co com 532457108 246 2900.000 SH SOLE 2900.000
D MBIA Inc com 55262C100 6556 113040.000SH SOLE 42650.000 70390.000
D MCN Corp com 55267J100 4277 266250.000SH SOLE 106700.000 159550.000
D Magna Intl Class A Voting com 559222401 302 5200.000 SH SOLE 5200.000
D McDonalds Corp com 580135101 1272 28080.000SH SOLE 28080.000
D Medtronic Inc com 585055106 1502 20900.000SH SOLE 20900.000
D Merck & Company com 589331107 6307 78720.000SH SOLE 36000.000 42720.000
D Minnesota Mining & Mfg com 604059105 257 3626.000 SH SOLE 3626.000
D Mobil Corporation com 607059102 4692 53314.000SH SOLE 28460.000 24854.000
D Morgan J.P. com 616880100 215 1740.000 SH SOLE 1740.000
D Nabors Industries com 629568106 4172 229400.000SH SOLE 135700.000 93700.000
D National City Corp. com 635405103 275 4140.000 SH SOLE 4140.000
118 1774.000 SH OTHER 1774.000
D NiSource, Inc. com 629140104 5894 218300.000SH SOLE 98700.000 119600.000
D Old Kent Financial Corp com 679833103 1420 33569.000SH SOLE 33569.000
640 15134.000SH OTHER 15134.000
D PepsiCo com 713448108 592 15100.000SH SOLE 15100.000
D Pfizer com 717081103 1131 8154.000 SH SOLE 8154.000
D Proctor & Gamble com 742718109 651 6650.000 SH SOLE 6650.000
D RPM, Inc. com 749685103 4116 309170.000SH SOLE 38762.000 270408.000
D Royal Dutch Petroleum com 780257705 458 8800.000 SH SOLE 8800.000
D SBC Communications Inc. com 78387G103 284 6026.000 SH SOLE 6026.000
300 6360.000 SH OTHER 6360.000
D SPX Corp com 784635104 6561 130081.000SH SOLE 52875.000 77206.000
D Santa Fe International com G7805C108 326 17450.000SH SOLE 1650.000 15800.000
D Sara Lee com 803111103 515 20800.000SH SOLE 20800.000
D Schering Plough com 806605101 3776 68348.000SH SOLE 600.000 67748.000
D Schlumberger com 806857108 1885 31321.000SH SOLE 2450.000 28871.000
D Shaw Industries com 820286102 5544 299650.000SH SOLE 151100.000 148550.000
D Shell Transport & Trading com 822703609 930 22884.000SH SOLE 300.000 22584.000
D Smithkline Beecham ADR Rep Ord com 832378400 4593 64240.000SH SOLE 36650.000 27590.000
D Sterling Commerce com 859205106 5030 163575.000SH SOLE 73175.000 90400.000
D Sykes Enterprises com 871237103 5361 165925.000SH SOLE 73500.000 92425.000
D Teleflex Inc. com 879369106 3965 116400.000SH SOLE 72400.000 44000.000
D Tyco International Ltd com 902124106 10930 152337.596SH SOLE 52725.000 99612.596
D UST Corp. com 902900109 3267 149550.000SH SOLE 17100.000 132450.000
D USX-Marathon Group com 902905827 3455 125650.000SH SOLE 55000.000 70650.000
D Walgreen Co. com 931422109 251 8900.000 SH SOLE 8900.000
D Warner Lambert Co. com 934488107 383 5780.000 SH SOLE 5780.000
D Waste Management Inc. NEW com 94106L109 7175 161695.000SH SOLE 63695.000 98000.000
D EV Tax Managed Growth Fd Cl A equity fds 277911830 421 21029.167SH SOLE 21029.167
S REPORT SUMMARY 104 DATA RECORDS 293584
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FORM 13F SUMMARY PAGE
REPORT SUMMARY:
NUMBER OF OTHER INCLUDED MANAGERS:NONE
FORM 13F INFORMATION TABLE ENTRY TOTAL: 104
