Posted by bruce in CO on Sunday, November 30, 2003 at 8:53PM :
I haven't used up any bandwidth for a while, so here's a great story of a great truck:
One of our closest neighbors along our road, Gene, (who happens to have a nice WC12) just bought this '43 WF-32 1 1/2 ton fire truck from another neighbor, Dr Fish, an older gentleman who is in the process of cleaning up decades-worth of collected items and old iron from his property. After two days of fuel line and battery work and a few parts runs to town, it made it up the road and up a long steep driveway to its new home under its own power in spite of a nasty transmission knock.
Dr. Fish bought this truck from the local fire department (Northeast Teller County Fire Protection District) in 1984 and its been sitting on his property since then. I am currently a volunteer on that department and will be hitting up any remaining older veterans for some addtional info/stories.
The truck is in fantastic shape down to most all of the fire accessories and everything electric works. However, water was allowed to freeze in the pump cracking the main case and with a gentle test of the PTO, the pump seems to be locked up.
Gene is not into computers, but knows that I frequent this Forum. He is interested in getting his hands on any manuals, first for the '43 WF-32 1 1/2 ton, and second any good information on the pumping componants manufactured by Peter Pirsch & Sons of Kenosha Wisconsin. I did a quick google search for this company and spent only about 1/2 hour so far looking at links to individual old trucks, but haven't found too much yet. Can anyone help out or point us to some fire apparatus websites.
Thanx for any info, Bruce
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