Freedo -- I concur with Ed. I don't think it's necessarily a craze or a fad -- just those of us with fire trucks are "coming out of the closet" and in so doing are letting out the secret that it's okay to have a fire truck. Mine is, and will remain, a fully functional pumper tanker that could fight fire as well as it ever did but who's job now is irrigating around the farm and being ready to battle brush fires (for when our burn piles get out of hand -- which hasn't ever happened, but I'm not so worried about it now
). I'd be thrilled to death if the local VFD ever asked for it's help but they are very well equipped with very modern equipment so I'm not exactly sitting anxiously by the phone...
Teamja2 -- Your truck to do with as you see fit, but if you do decide to ditch the fire body, pump and fittings, be sure to make them available for those who might want them for their trucks rather than just cutting it all up for scrap.
I know that a lot (most) WWII-vintage Darley Champions have gone to scrap and I sure wish someone had offered one to me for parts for mine rather than just chuck it because they didn't want it.
Still, though, I'm not as experienced with antique fire apparatus as guys like Virginiafiretruck, but the few musters and parades I've been to haven't had very many Dodge-based apparatus of that vintage. Good on ya for being willing to preserve it, though. If you decide to try and find a home for it with someone who will want to keep it as a firetruck, try advertising it on the
SPAAMFAA web site.
A friend of mine has a beautiful '52 Ford with a Chevron rollback on it that used to be a fire truck. Of course, he also has a '59 Ford pumper that's still original and gorgeous and all he does with it is go to musters and parades with it -- and has a boatload of fun squirting water in the air (don't knock it until you've tried it
).
Regards,
John
