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bulldogboy

Pedigreed Bulldog
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Posts posted by bulldogboy

  1. That classic looks pretty solid, hope that someone buys and restores it. I know of two similar trucks in New England still owned by fire departments, one in North Adams, MA and one in Nashua, NH.

    bulldogboy

  2. RWE253:

    That's a great picture and story of this truck. On page 24 of Harvey Eckart's book, "Mack Fire Apparatus, A Pictorial History" there is a photo of what I believe is this truck. The photo was

    taken in 1974 in Cross Anchor, SC. Do you know how this truck came to be in SC after its service in Lakewood? Glad to see that this truck has been saved.

    bulldogboy

  3. I would think that if Ford wanted out of the medium duty truck market, the breakup of the "Blue Diamond" partnership would have been a good excuse to leave the business. That Ford is willing to invest in new

    tooling at Avon Lake to produce F-650 and F-750 chassis says that they must want to stay in this segment. Of course, stranger things have happened over the years, e.g. the HN80.

    A public works department near me is buying F-250, F-550, and F-650s with CNG conversions; they even have a Transit Connect running on CNG.

    bulldogboy

  4. fxfymn:

    Air horns and a Roto-Ray on a Mack 45A, that's unusual. I also like the Weber grill on the front bumper; good for rehab at a long incident. That's a nice truck; I can't believe that AFD hasn't

    restored it for parade duty.

    As to 1960s firefighting, that's the way things were done in those days. My career started with riding the back step, semi-cab Macks, unlined rubber coats, etc. and finished with RIT teams,

    enclosed cabs with seatbelts, the National Fire Academy, etc. Like everything else in life, firefighting changed a lot over the years but we still have to remember, honor, and learn from the past.

    bulldogboy

  5. fxfymn:

    The "new" Framingham station located on Rte. 9 in Framingham Center is actually located on the scene of the fire.

    That's the station on Route 9 opposite Framingham State University? My son went to FSU and his dorm was across Rte. 9 from this station. That was quite a story about your father. Just goes

    to show you how timing is everything; a few minutes one way or the other can change a lifetime. Thanks for the info.

    bulldogboy

  6. Back in the mid - '60s there was an explosion at an oil company in Framingham, MA resulting in three LODDs. I believe that two, if not all three, were from the Ashland Fire Department. The "Boston Globe"

    ran a photo of the funeral, one of the three trucks carrying the caskets was an "L" model Mack. I'm guessing that this was the Ashland Mack. I kept that photo along with other Mack photos from the '60s

    but, of course, I lost them years ago.

    bulldogboy

  7. Quite a few of these Macks, and Dodges, became fire tankers after their military service was over. While they may not be the optimum fire tanker, they probably work for a small department

    that cannot afford anything fancier (those departments do exist).

    bulldogboy

  8. B-21s had Hall-Scott motors rather than the standard Mack engines. They also had bigger pumps, 1500 GPM and up (rather unusual for that era). They are pretty distinctive in that they have a longer hood to accommodate

    the larger H-S motor. There has been one for sale on E-bay every so often. It is out in Barre, MA; not sure if it has been sold.

    bulldogboy

  9. Wow, about a month too late. I know of two Mack "85L"s that were sold last month. Not sure if they are "LS" or "LF" but both are 750 GPM. One is a semi-cab, solid truck but needs cosmetic work

    and some mechanical work to get back on the road. The other is an open cab listed on E-bay; it is in excellent condition, ready for the next parade. Will let you know if we see anything.

    bulldogboy

  10. The department that I worked for had all straight aerial ladders. One time we had to borrow a tiller from a neighboring department. My department had to find the few drivers who had driven a tiller

    back in the '50s and '60s. I had a chance to drive the tiller and, let me tell you, it takes a LOT of practice. The hardest part for me was to realize that you were at the mercy of the tractor

    driver, he set the speed and you had better keep up with him. Every time that I looked for the brake pedal, it wasn't there. It is imperative that the two drivers practice with each other; it is not a

    job in which you put two guys together and say, "have at it, boys". We did not have the tiller long enough to get a lot of practice on it.

    bulldogboy

    • Like 1
  11. I think that the one thing that all of us on this forum agree with is; we would all like to see Mack be what it once was, an independent, successful medium and heavy truck builder. However, reality is that this probably is

    not going to happen. What would have happened to Mack if Volvo had not stepped in to buy it? More than likely it would have gone out of business. Is that a better scenario that what currently exists? As to another

    company (Cummins, Oshkosh) buying Mack, do you think that Volvo would sell to another company thus creating a serious competitor to the Volvo brand? As to a government bailout, like Chrysler and GM, I don't

    think that many people on this forum would like that. My sense in reading these forums is that almost everyone wants government to butt out of our daily lives and let us do our thing free of regulations. I assume that

    this also includes regulation of the trucking industry that the government did away with years ago. As I have said before, I know nothing about nothing, these are just my opinions and if Mack ever came back as an

    independent company, there would not be anyone happier than me. BTW, I like those Coca-Cola Macks.

    bulldogboy

    • Like 1
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