A (in)human look at the Fire Service and what comes after
Tuesday, September 3, 2013
Another Ex-R.F.D. Truck
I often peruse Craigslist and E-Bay for items from my department(s). I have found some good stuff including badges, documents and photographs. Imagine my surprise a few weeks ago when I found this former R.F.D. apparatus:
1957 American La France Fire Truck (Local truck and In Movie) - $3000
1957 American La France Fire Truck. Was a ladder truck but the ladder
has been separated. Engine starts to turn over, we are working on it
slowly as we have time, but probably won't take much to get it running
again. Historic Vehicle plates, clean title, and was actually in the
movie Born in East LA :) The last picture is the truck in it's prime in a
clip from the movie.
Have all the original owners manuals and service records all the way
back to original 1957 records from the Riverside Fire Dept.
It made its way up to Bakersfield over the years, which is where it is
now. We have the trailer to move it if we wanted to work a separate deal
for delivery.
3000 cash. Call 661-428-2534 or 805-704-0030 and ask for Steve
it's NOT ok to contact this poster with services or other commercial interests
I'm curious as to why fire trucks where being built with open cabs in to the 1950's? Is there an explanation that you know of or was it just TRADITION?
R - I am sure that tradition was a major factor as was cost. Old Truck 3 was a Simon Sonrkel mounted on a Crown chassis was built as an open air cab in 1967. (I Think)
Understand that we don't get much rain here and it gets pretty hot in the summer - an open cab vehicle wasn't necessarily a bad way to go most of the year.
Closed cab engines didn't start to show up in our dept. into the mid '60s. They were built on Ford commercial cab chassis' and didn't have jump seats. The firefighters rode tailboard. I worked on one and though riding tailboard was cool most of the time, I really didn't miss them when they went away.
My name is Schmoe, I am a retired Fire Captain from a "kind of big" municipal fire department that protects a wide range of risks. I am a little past fifty and spent thirty years on the job. I have been happily married for almost as long and have two young adult sons.
I'm curious as to why fire trucks where being built with open cabs in to the 1950's? Is there an explanation that you know of or was it just TRADITION?
ReplyDeleteR - I am sure that tradition was a major factor as was cost. Old Truck 3 was a Simon Sonrkel mounted on a Crown chassis was built as an open air cab in 1967. (I Think)
ReplyDeleteUnderstand that we don't get much rain here and it gets pretty hot in the summer - an open cab vehicle wasn't necessarily a bad way to go most of the year.
Closed cab engines didn't start to show up in our dept. into the mid '60s. They were built on Ford commercial cab chassis' and didn't have jump seats. The firefighters rode tailboard. I worked on one and though riding tailboard was cool most of the time, I really didn't miss them when they went away.
Thanks for the comment.