Doug,
Great truck! Being a stovebolt, AND being a Central (I'm from St. Louis), it's especially terrific!
The good/bad news is that it's set up for a "Squirrel-tail" suction. The original hard-suction sleeve was a 20 or 25-foot 4.5" black hose, that was connected to the pump on one side, then wrapped around the front of the truck to the other side, where it had either a barrel-strainer for drafting, or a double-female connection for connecting to a hydrant. Squirrel tails are awesome, and were a St. Louis specialty, but they are very hard to find now, and expensive to have made. It's too bad, because they look REALLY cool.
Of course, if you don't plan on pumping the truck any time soon, it's no big deal - and, you can always just find two standard 10-foot hard suctions, connect 'em, and lay 'em in the brackets.
Wood ladders can still be found, typically around $100 per section. Just a booger to get 'em home! Be sure to measure your ladder hangers to be sure the ladder won't foul on the rungs (typical fire ladders run 12-inches between rungs).
We're refurbishing a 1948 Central custom in our shop right now. They're proving to have been a pretty beefy builder. Interestingly, our '48 uses slightly modified Chevy truck headlight buckets like are on your truck - go figure.
I've got a '41 Chevy like yours, been through it, so don't hesitate to contact me if you have questions. I love talking fire trucks! (can you tell?).
Congratulations on your new baby! You're bound to have lots of fun with it.
-Michael
