Brass is Best Posted April 25, 2019 Share Posted April 25, 2019 Actually I drove this home. 180 miles without a hitch. 1953 GMC Series 450 American Fire Engine. 6 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TerryB Posted April 25, 2019 Share Posted April 25, 2019 Will you be getting a break on your homeowners insurance premiums? That is one big fire extinguisher to have around in case of an emergency! 2 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
oily rag Posted April 25, 2019 Share Posted April 25, 2019 180 miles would be a long trip for a fire truck, I hope there were many smiles along the way. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pfeil Posted April 25, 2019 Share Posted April 25, 2019 Is the first picture "Home" ? Question; what on earth are you going to do with the behemoth ? 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
C Carl Posted April 25, 2019 Share Posted April 25, 2019 Hi Andy. Is that an extremely well preserved/maintained original ? - Carl 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brass is Best Posted April 25, 2019 Author Share Posted April 25, 2019 2 hours ago, TerryB said: Will you be getting a break on your homeowners insurance premiums? That is one big fire extinguisher to have around in case of an emergency! I will be sure to ask my agent! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brass is Best Posted April 25, 2019 Author Share Posted April 25, 2019 1 hour ago, oily rag said: 180 miles would be a long trip for a fire truck, I hope there were many smiles along the way. Smiles, waves, honks, beeps and thumbs ups. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brass is Best Posted April 25, 2019 Author Share Posted April 25, 2019 38 minutes ago, Pfeil said: Is the first picture "Home" ? Question; what on earth are you going to do with the behemoth ? The first picture is not home. That is my local firehouse which was just taken out of service after 117 years and replaced with a new larger house. As for what I am going to do with it? That is a good question. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brass is Best Posted April 25, 2019 Author Share Posted April 25, 2019 21 minutes ago, C Carl said: Hi Andy. Is that an extremely well preserved/maintained original ? - Carl Carl, Good eye. Yes the rig is a well cared for original. It came from a town of 237 people in Ohio. They took great care of it and it has had 2 collector owners since. It looks like it was just taken out of service. There have been a few touch ups. No major restoration work. It looks ready for the next call. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dandy Dave Posted April 25, 2019 Share Posted April 25, 2019 Wow. Nice find. Dandy Dave! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zipdang Posted April 25, 2019 Share Posted April 25, 2019 The wife and I go to Green Camp on occasion for ice cream! Definitely a small outpost - but bigger than Radnor where we live. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
keiser31 Posted April 25, 2019 Share Posted April 25, 2019 Were the red lights flashing as it followed you home? 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
padgett Posted April 26, 2019 Share Posted April 26, 2019 Obviously you need to buy the firehouse that was taken out of service (have always thought an ex-firehouse would be a wonderful place to live...) 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brass is Best Posted April 26, 2019 Author Share Posted April 26, 2019 3 hours ago, zipdang said: The wife and I go to Green Camp on occasion for ice cream! Definitely a small outpost - but bigger than Radnor where we live. I'm told they have a good pizza shop in Green Camp as well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brass is Best Posted April 26, 2019 Author Share Posted April 26, 2019 3 hours ago, keiser31 said: Were the red lights flashing as it followed you home? No lights or sirens on the public roads. That is frowned upon by the powers at be. However on private drives and parking lots... 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brass is Best Posted April 26, 2019 Author Share Posted April 26, 2019 (edited) 36 minutes ago, padgett said: Obviously you need to buy the firehouse that was taken out of service (have always thought an ex-firehouse would be a wonderful place to live...) I like where your head is at. I wish the city would sell the Station. I would certainly make a play for it. But the Mayor and Council want to rehab it and turn it into a brewery or wine tasting room. My Great Great Grandpa was the first Chief of the department. My Grandpa was a Firefighter and the first Ambulance driver. It would be a great building to house a bunch of old cars and maybe a few old fire trucks. There is something sad about a place that was maintained around the clock for 117 years sitting empty. I drove by the station the first night it was out of service and it was so strange to see it dark. Even more odd was the lack of an American flag flying above the center window. Edited April 26, 2019 by Brass is Best (see edit history) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brass is Best Posted April 26, 2019 Author Share Posted April 26, 2019 Here is another neat old Fire Station in Sandusky Ohio. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wayne sheldon Posted April 26, 2019 Share Posted April 26, 2019 I may be the strange one. I have never really been drawn to fire trucks a whole lot. However, I truly appreciate anything that old in really original condition! That truck is wonderful! And your pictures of the interior bring back so many memories. My family had a whole bunch of Chevrolet and GMC trucks so many years ago. I did a lot of my learning to drive in several of them. I drove hundreds of miles in a '54 GMC ton and a half lineman's extension ladder truck! It had a small bucket to stand in at the top. I was using the ladder for service repairs before I could legally drive (NO hydraulics in those days, the ladder was raised and extended, positioned and handled all by pure brawn!). My dad had a two-ton Chevy flatbed, several panel/service trucks, pickups, among others in the family that I also drove. But what caught my eye? The Motorola radio. I still remember the call signals used in the television service business. K-M-K, 2-4-2, Mobile two to base (or mobile six or?). And, to keep this connected. We (my family) were headed to a family visit when we spotted a car fire just starting up going the other direction. My dad swung our car up onto the next overpass (we were just outside our normal range from the base, and needed the added elevation). My dad then radioed the base, to call for a firetruck. After making contact, we got back onto the freeway (one of the few in the greater San Francisco Bay Area at that time!) and headed to where the car had pulled off the road, its trailer almost fully engulfed at that point. He then unhooked the trailer before the fire could spread to the towing car, just as the firetruck arrived to extinguish the trailer, which was a total loss. It may not be "brass era" or "nickel age", but that truck is a wonderful, and so very excellent original, piece of history! I hope you enjoy it for a long time while you figure out what to do with it. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brass is Best Posted June 2, 2019 Author Share Posted June 2, 2019 More old fire stations: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Roger Frazee Posted June 2, 2019 Share Posted June 2, 2019 Just curious, what is the box for, between the radiator and the engine? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
R Walling Posted June 2, 2019 Share Posted June 2, 2019 1 hour ago, Roger Frazee said: Just curious, what is the box for, between the radiator and the engine? It could be a heat exchanger for the cooling system. My fire truck had one that used the fire fighting water to cool the engine while it was running at 2000 RPM while pumping. 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
R Walling Posted June 2, 2019 Share Posted June 2, 2019 On 4/25/2019 at 11:55 AM, Pfeil said: Is the first picture "Home" ? Question; what on earth are you going to do with the behemoth ? This is what I did with mine. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brass is Best Posted June 2, 2019 Author Share Posted June 2, 2019 8 hours ago, Roger Frazee said: Just curious, what is the box for, between the radiator and the engine? As Roger said it is a heat exchanger. There is a coil inside with the engine coolant circulating through. When you are drafting (pumping) water you open a valve and let pump water flow through the box. The cold pump water helps keep the truck extra cool while fighting the fire. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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