I'm of two minds about altering fire trucks. In my heart, I agree with Ed, it's just a cryin' shame when one of these noble trucks is altered or cut-up. They're sooo fantastic when they're fixed up, nothing is like driving an antique fire truck down the road, gettin' waves and grins the whole way.
ON-THE-OTHER-HAND, There are still many more fire trucks out there than people who want them. I'd love to see every retired truck go to a collector, but the truth is, I'd much rather see a truck modified, and used for SOMETHING, than sit in a field and rust into nothing, until nobody wants it for ANYTHING.
Guy here in St. Louis bought a '40s F*RD and turned it into an ice-cream truck, comeplete with fold-down ladder/serving counter, a caliope, and a window-unit air conditioner running on an inverter/generator. Got a good laugh when I asked him how the flat-head 8 was running. . . .
They took it out and put in a SMALL-BLOCK CHEVY!!!
-Michael
