I haven't checked back here in a while and was surprised to see the response to my post. Sorry if I ruffled anyone's feathers.
As much as I think old (fire)trucks are really cool I just can't see having one around just for one or two or three drives a year, unless you have some sort of connection to firefighting, or are a fire department. Maybe it's because I don't agree with having a vehicle you're unwilling or afraid to drive because it's too nice or rare. How many people spend way too much money on a project then get paranoid about driving it.
I guess nothing stops you from taking your firetruck out for a spin, just to go for a ride. and John you actually got yours to do some work... and then really got the firetruck bug.
I guess in my mind it's better it gets used for something than not at all or worse gets scrapped. The pizza guy at least tried to keep it looking as close to a working truck as possible.
(BTW - John the Victoria department has something that is really up your alley.. they have restored one of their horsedrawn pumpers...check out the 2 pictures at the bottom of this page...
http://www.victoriafirehistorical.ca/index.htm
