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That is a Maxim S model, built from the early 70's to the end of Maxim in the 80's. Most departments had gone to cab forward designs by then, but the fire service is bound by tradition and some departments still stuck with the conventional cabs. Maxim was a big user of Waukesha engines, and I'm sure that is what was in this from the factory. Conversion to a 6-71 was very common. The "computer" is for the mathematically challenged operator who did not know fire ground hydraulics. Hose pressures vary by size, length and gallons per minute of flow. This did the math to account for those variables to let the operator know what the pump pressure should be for each hose line. Since it was little more than a series of numbers on a series of wheels that you lined up it did not work for all layouts, just for the most common ones. As for open cabs; tradition, tradition, tradition. The fire service is living proof of the saying "One hundred years of tradition unbridled by progress". When apparatus was horse drawn it was open, so early motorized stuff was open, so later stuff was open, and so on. I have heard a lot of so called reasons for open cabs as Chevy41 says, but none of them really add up. They were great on a warm summer evening or a pleasant fall or spring day, but they sucked in wet weather or when it was cold or very hot, etc. which was most of the time. You cannot get your fun meter to read low enough to express how uncomfortable it was to get back in an open cab in 34 degree rainy weather after it sat on the scene for a couple of hours. The race riots of the late 60's were the final death knell for most open cabs when uninvited bricks started arriving in the cab while responding to incidents. There were a lot of hastily assembled plywood roofs on them in those days. The back step buzzer was there mostly to let the officer know that everyone was on board since you could not see them. They also used it when backing so the members wouldn't have to get off of the back step to spot the rig. What it didn't do was tell you when a member had fallen off, which is why back step riding is now, thankfully, a thing of the past. And yes, we did ride back there by ourselves a lot.

According to the literature that was near the Diamond Reo camper at the Winchester show the real sales pitch was to farmers and others who needed a medium duty truck for regular work, but still wanted to have a recreational vehicle. It was a predecessor to the quick change type bodies you see on so many local delivery trucks that leave one body at the warehouse to be filled while they use the other to make deliveries. I thought it was a brilliant marketing strategy since the chances are that the owner would wear out the chassis long before the RV and thus need to buy from Diamond Reo again to ensure compatibility.

Find the local SPAAMFAA chapter and ask if any of the members have experience with an Aerialscope. This, or was, a very common truck and the chances of finding someone who is an experienced operator is pretty good. He/she should be able to help you out with what's what on the truck.

This is killing me; makes me home sick for New England.

And you should be able to sell the 673 for a reasonable sum since parts are getting so hard to find for those.

If you can catch the episode of Fantomworks on Velocity that shows them doing a Type 75 fire truck you can see how they added power steering to that unit using a pump driven off of the generator. They supposedly purchased a "kit" from someone, but it was basically a cobbled together set of used parts. I drove fire trucks with air assist steering and I always found them to be an adventure since the steering seemed to be about two seconds behind what I expected. Turn the wheel, wait, then the front wheels turn. I'm sure it wasn't that long, but it sure seemed like it.

Beautiful paint work. These prove that trucks are like woman; the basic package underneath it all may be the same, but the final make up is what makes them hot.

An 85 would be 750, 95 - 1000, 125 - 1250. Mack used model designations for the L's based on pump size and then provided an engine based on pump size.

One way to prime a reluctant diesel is to run it on WD-40 until it picks up a prime. Spray oil-based (deep blue can, not light green water-based) WD-40 into the intake. It will run without doing harm like ether will. I'm not familiar with Mack diesels, but I don't think you need to crack an injector to get the prime pump to work. Generally you crack an injector line to allow the air to escape while you crank the engine. The primer should fill the filters and allow the engine to "self-prime" by picking up fuel from the filters and forcing the air through the injectors until fuel is delivered. If all of the injector lines are empty it can take a while.

Congrats Tim. Is that the one you told me about last year? It looks like there is room for a sleeper as well?

Been married 44 years..way too late for that. For her 50th I bought her a Mercedes SL560, her dream car. I'm still using the credit for that every time I buy a truck, or a tool, or a tractor, etc.

Old trucks are like old men; full of creaks, rattles and knocks. Does the knock vary with engine rpm's? Is everything tied down tight enough not to thump? I'd buy it at that price, or less if you can negotiate, sell the body for scrap, clean it up, and either do an in-frame or run it until it breaks. Being a fire truck guy I don't advocate cutting up fire stuff, but there are a ton of low mileage CF's out there with good engines in the $3-5K range.

The one thing the show did for me was make it possible to show the DW that when I'm in the garagemahal I am actually doing something productive, not just screwing off and hiding. I have done almost the same things to the 52, so I guess I saved her $40K. Yeah, that's my story and I'm sticking to it.

Anybody else catch the episode where they repair the Type 75 for an IL FD? The shop repairs the brakes, rebuilds the pump, adds power steering and re-wires the truck. I always thought this show had the least made up drama of all of the shows of this genre, but now I'm not so sure of that. There were lots of declaration's of how engine parts were "probably the last on earth" etc. It was an ENF510 and I have a complete engine in my garage, hardly impossible to find parts for. And they made a big deal about jacking it up to re-align the rear axle; something most of us do without even thinking about it. The final work looked great, but it makes me wonder why any FD would take a truck to a car shop half a country away to have work done that any competent local truck repair shop could have done. Total bill: North of $40K

You may be correct, but the star is from "Star House Movers". I wonder what episode of HGTV that was on?

Dave, Thanks so much for taking the time to share all of these wonderful pictures with us. What a treat to be able to see all of the Macks that have served all over our country. Carl

Ditto

Looks like an R and an RD had a one night stand and that is what came out of it.

Send me a PM and I can hook you up to visit a couple of private fire truck collections in the area. I am headed to ME on the 25th to go get a friends new project with him, but I should be back by the 27th.

Give up on buying anything with wheels and start buying real estate if that is your criteria. The only people who make money are the ones who do the restorations and a few very deep pockets. I figure on losing 70% of what I spend if I do a restoration. All I tell my wife is that is cheaper than a girl friend.

When visiting Flagstaff, AZ recently I got to watch a BNSF train come by with a train load of nothing but MRAP's. I assume they were headed back to Camp Pendleton from the middle east. There had to be at least two hundred or more on board the train. I wish I had been quick enough to get a phone video.

Poster board works pretty well too. The key to any of them is to get them to "stand up" like a dog's vet collar, not lie flat on the tire. PM sent about the badges. Thanks.

Traffic in this area is legendary, so plan on avoiding rush hour as much as possible if you venture outside of the city. OBTW "evening" rush hour can begin as early as 1:00 pm in the summer and is generally getting tight by 3 every day. i.e. I live about 40 miles south and it was not out of the norm for my commute to take 2 to 3 hours in the evening. The best traffic info is on WTOP, 107.7, or Waze.

And heavy enough to make it do a wheely!

Save the Maxim badges. If you don't want them I do.