The Gallery | ||||||||
1943 Chevy Fire Truck |
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# 2885 More pictures of my old fire truck From Chase : This 1943 Chevy Fire Truck once belonged to a Florida native and prominent Orlando businessman / millionaire Kenneth P. Kirchman. Mr. Kirchman died at his home in Winter Park on Tuesday, March 13, 2007. This Fire Truck then sat on the property known as “Lake X” inside his airplane hangar along with many other prized collections of his to include other antique vehicles, boats and engines. In 2010 Goldman Sachs had an estate auction where all the items where to be sold because the land was going to be donated to the Florida Boy Scouts. A gentleman from Illinois won several of the vehicles unexpectedly from the auction. He had never even seen these items before except from cell phone photos. All of the vehicles had to be removed from the property before a certain time, so whatever vehicles he couldn’t sell first had to be shipped to IL (a costly move all the way from Florida) so I was able to strike a great deal on this truck because of this and the fact that he knew no details of the condition. No information was known on the full condition of the fire truck. I too, had only seen a picture taken from a cell phone. I had no info on the engine or if it ran or not. No info on the interior of the vehicle. No info on any tools, etc. I took a chance on knowing that who owned the truck that it had to be in decent shape.
I drove down from North Florida to trailer the truck back. When they opened the hangar doors, I was amazed. It was almost fully restored. Interior and exterior was perfect. It still had the original hard suction hoses and several cloth hoses. I was able to trailer the vehicle back home where I then drained and replaced all the fluids, replaced the battery and cranked her right up. She purred like a kitten. This old fire engine still has the original 216 in her. After I had it running for awhile, she would run hot so I ended up having to take out the radiator to clean it good and now it runs as good as new. As far as the history, I hadn't traced down the background info yet and wasn't quite sure on how to. After some discussion in the Stovebolt Volunteer Firebolt Forum, Mikestem and the others Firebolters helped bridge that gap. Turns out, this old fire truck is a Caysler Army Class 500 truck which served during the war. All the I.D. plates with all the numbers are still in place. It served at the Army Air Forces Convalescent Hospital, Plattsburgh Barracks, New York. It carried USA number 505118. It had a sister truck (#505117). My truck is now on the Fire Trucks at War web site (under the new gallery). . I also have pictures of the truck back in 1943. Woo Hooo! If you guys ever need help hunting down info, these guys are a super great deal of help. They have lots of old records from the military fire trucks and pictures, too. I have had to trace and replace fuses to get the lights and sirens working. I’m in the process now of furnishing it with the proper equipment. I have just recently got my Horseless Carriage tag and now I’m ready to hit to parades and car shows! Chase
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