Ever seen one of these--1947 Roadmaster fire hose wagon?

A new BCA member sent me some snapshots of his recently acquired 1947 Roadmaster fire truck. It is actually a fire hose truck, designed to carry the fire hoses and some equipment to a fire. It appears to be a standard 1947 Roadmaster from the cowl forward, and an open cab truck from the dashboard back. I will try to post the photo he sent, and I plan to run it in the Buick Bugle soon. The vehicle was in service with the Port Washington, NY fire department in 1949, and with a small volunteer department in the Adirondack region of upstate New York in the 1980s. The fellow who bought it recently has repainted it, and says it runs great, but he cannot find a body tag on it. It almost has to be a custom built professional vehicle, but I've never seen anything like it.

Pete Phillips, BCA #7338

Pete,

Perhaps I can shed some light on this vehicle. I do not know how far back this started, and I am not sure if it still goes on, but the volunteer fire departments in, at least Long Island and eastern NY, staged competitions which sequenced during the year and ended with a state chappionship. Some of my friends in the '60s where NYC firefighters but also lived on LI and competed. There were various events, some of which were more physical team type events.

One such event wass to drive a hose truck to a hydrant, lay several sections of hose and get water from a nozzle and hit a target. The first to hit the target was the winner and then it progressed like an elimination drag race rather then the best overall time. I remember they even filed the threads on the connections on the fire hose so they would connect easier, hold enough to not fly appart.

I am almost sure this Buick was one of many customized hose carts that was used. A lot of the volunteers were old hot-rodders or guys with customizing shops and spent quite some effort on these. Where to look for more info, I am not sure but I will try to learn more. Any BCA member in NY that is or was a volunteer fireman should be able to add info.

John

Is this the fellow from Ballston Spa? We are working on getting a truck just like this to our show in June.

JD

John,

Do you think this was a volunteer FD competition vehicle? Do you know anyone that has any experience with those and are they still doing that? I am almost sure that is what this was. I hope to see it and talk to the owner, but I don't want to burst his bubble that it was in regular fire service.

John

WE had one in OWEGO, NY was called the GOOFY GRAPE, cause it was purple, will have to ask my brother who did hose races and mom and dad for more info. I think it was a '48 Roadmaster. A friend of mine, and her husband, also hose team, rode in it after their wedding, I didn't remember that, even though I was in the wedding, but saw pictures at his funeral a couple of years ago.

The owner didn't say where he was from, but he did indicate that he plans to bring this vehicle to the Albany, NY Buick show in early June.

Pete Phillips

I might know someone who has the potential to find out about this type of competition. I'll ask him tomorrow.

And thank Pete. I'm sure it is the same car...er truck... oh , whichever. It will be neat to see it live.

JD

My Brother said the one the Owego Fire Department had, was a hearse, we still don't know what happened to it, he said it may still be in a barn somewhere in town, which is what we've suspected for many years. Toni and Steve were married in '75, and that the last I new of it.

Here's a link to the Owego Hose Team Tells about why they still do this, and is written my friend's son, and his brothers are on the team, just like their Dad was for 34 years!

A lot of the departments on Long Island had race trucks until the cost to insure them skyrocketed. One of the champion teams was from Islip and I have a friend who was on the Great Neck team. Maybe he remembers this if it came from Port Washington, I'll ask him Monday.

I showed pictures of the truck to my friend who's pretty sure it belonged to the Great Neck, Long Island fire department.

I got some more info on the Owego Hose Teams Goofy Grape today, it was a '50 Buick hearse that came from a funeral home in Waverly, NY, and was sold in the '80's to a local guy, and I knew the street it was on. Waiting to here if it still may be in that barn, or where it went after that. Hopefully more to come!

Hi Pete:

Gary B. is right on track. I was a volunteer EMT & Firemen in the late 60's and 70's outside Syracuse, NY. We went to a few State conventions and I do remember the firemen from the Long Island area had the winners in the hose races most often. I remember in particular, West Islip, they had a classy team. It took a lot of money to support the men, the equipment and travel. If I remember they used to trailer the cars. Last one we attended was in Buffalo in mid 70's. Hope this lends some help. By the way Pete, went through Sherman last August to a funeral in Houston. On the way back hit Dallas at 5PM and spent the next 1 1/2 hours getting to a sign that said "Sherman 20 mioles." Learned never to go through Dallas at 5PM again.

According to a long time member of the Great Neck, NY F.D. the pictured truck was indeed used by the Port Washington, NY F.D. and one of their members now lives in this area. He rode in it as a child back on Long Island.

Here's a link to Long Island F.D.s who still participate in competitive events: http://fdracing.911pictures.com/

Click on the drop down menu to see the different trucks being used.

I don't know if any are Buick Powered?

Wow!!! <img src="http://forums.aaca.org/images/graemlins/shocked.gif" alt="" /> How cool is that?!?! <img src="http://forums.aaca.org/images/graemlins/cool.gif" alt="" /> This is a much bigger event than I percieved. Hey, if we get that guy to join the chapter, maybe we can organize a tour to catch a competition? That would be a lot of fun!!!

JD

I grew up on Long Island during the late 1940s and the 1950s. We bought a 1931 Chevrolet Hose truck from the Roslyn Village fire department probably in 1947 and owned it until about 1965 or 1966. One of the nearby fire departments had a 1933 or 1934 Pierce Arrow car that had been converted into a Hose truck and was supposedly used in Fire Tournaments on the Island. The last I saw of that car, I had gone to college and it had been sold to a parade group and painted white. I've always wondered if it still exists.

Peter

In those days :

An Fire company might be as many as three vehicles ;

Fire Engine ( or pumper)

Hose truck

Ladder truck

The hose truck would lay line to the pumper

Nowadays; many of the functions are combined into one vehicle

A quint for example has five functions,

Hose truck

Ladder truck

Pumper

water tower

rescue truck

Seems to me there was a writeup on one in a past Bugle - I think the back end had been totaled and it was then converted into a Fire Department vehicle.

I remember reading about a '41 Buick hose wagon on line.

In those days :

An Fire company might be as many as three vehicles ;

Fire Engine ( or pumper)

Hose truck

Ladder truck

The hose truck would lay line to the pumper

Nowadays; many of the functions are combined into one vehicle

A quint for example has five functions,

Hose truck

Ladder truck

Pumper

water tower

rescue truck

Where we lived in Roslyn, there was a rail line up the hill from our house. It ran through the woods past the Mackey estate to Roslyn Heights. The trains were pulled by Steam locomotives and there were often grass fires along the tracks. The lighter weight Hose Trucks could drive along side of the tracks, laying hose from either a hydrant or the pumper, with a crew to man the hoses and carrying back-mounted hand-pump extinguishers and brooms to put out the fires. These light weight vehicles were often professionally built based on automobiles or light trucks, and as they were often fast and nimble they were used in Fire Department tournaments. Our village fire department -- Rescue Hook & Ladder Company No. 1 -- had a Ford Model A Hose Truck, with wire wheels, open cab, based on a Model A Pickup, and a 1931 Chevrolet open cab Hose truck based on a 1-ton truck with disc wheels and single rear wheels. My dad who was a teacher at Roslyn High School wanted the Model A Ford, but I think it went to a relative of one of the firemen, so we got the 1931 Chevy. I learned how to drive on that truck and I loved it!!!

While on the subject of Buick fire apparatus, I ran across this photo quite some time ago. It's a 1933 Buick that was converted into a hook and Ladder truck. The photo was not clear enough to make out the fire department, but I thought it was interesting anyway.

It looks to be a '51 or '52 Chev truck in the bay.

The sign above the open doors says "Merry Christmas."

For those of you that have never been, You need to visit the Museum at the Firemen's Home in Hudson NY. Dandy Dave!

http://www.fasnyfiremuseum.com/