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Welcome to the zoo. Great truck, and even though you know the history write to the Mack Museum with the chassis number to get delivery pictures and owner's manual, etc. for the price of a small donation. Did you know that the C model was designed and produced by Ahrens-Fox before Mack bought out the line as part of the Beck company purchase. It was the only fire truck Mack ever built that was not based on a regular production truck.

It was a bit of a culture shock when I experienced my first significant snow after I moved to VA from MA. In MA everything that could swing a blade was used; down here only dumps, a few farm tractors, and the occasional grader using the regular mold board. They never used mixers, trash trucks, or anything else and still don't. That is why VA is a religious state when it snows; "God put it there and he'll take it away."

I saw this on the Firehouse site. http://www.firehouse.com/news/11221760/report-trucker-who-struck-killed-ariz-trooper-was-looking-at-porn The headline says it all.

It has that marking, but that company is ladder only and they say they never owned the rig. My speculation is that a company member owned it and painted it with their markings. I think that is the same person who I believe chemically stripped the truck and did a very poor paint job on it. The paint is coming off in sheets, most probably because of the stripper not being properly neutralized.

"Guard those Mack Logo pump caps---they are worth quite a bit of money." Having those, the chemical tanks, and the moto-meter is what made me want the rig so badly. You just can't find those items unless you have the patience of Job and the money of Astor. In addition to the wheel I am also looking for the correct extinguishers and the soda re-charge buckets. Any and all leads are appreciated.

I bet you could do the same thing a 1000 times and never get the loader to stay on it's wheels long enough to go over the goose neck. I can't believe it didn't tip over before it got that far. This is definitely one of those where God said "You;today" to the driver. God bless him and his family.

I have been working on this deal for awhile now and it has been killing me to not share it with everyone here, but I finally closed the deal yesterday and brought home a 1925 AB3A chain drive fire chassis number 411835 originally delivered to Bloomingdale, NJ on August 31, 1925. As you can see in the photos it still has the original chemical tanks and 99% of the other original items that are so often missing. The bell and moto-meter are missing in the pictures, but the previous owner says he has them and I should get them in the next couple of weeks. it has been in storage for the last several years and the engine is partially disassembled. Just like my friend's AB the intake manifold is cracked and the water tubes that supply the heads are extensively corroded, so both will be headed to a shop for repairs shortly. After they get back I hope to get it to run long enough to assess the condition of the running gear and pump.The paint is basically shot and there is some rust damage from where it apparently sat outside or in a very leaky building. I plan on doing a complete restoration of the truck. I'm pretty sure it will keep me amused for at least the next couple of years. I am looking for a wheel for the truck as one of the existing wheels has quite a bit of rust damage if anyone knows where one is located.

Congrats; Ya know medical science has determined what causes this, just ask your Doc about it. And as for the snipping; just keep in mind what you get to do to prove it worked.

There has been a very nice E model for sale in NJ for quite awhile. Check in the older SPAAMFAA ads. $80,000.00

They only built 8 N models. I know at least one was cut up to make it back into a delivery truck.

Troubleshooting 101; look for something simple. Chances are the timing did not suddenly change and the injectors didn't crap out (and if they did it would run like crap when it did start). The battery can, and often does, deteriorate quickly, so low starting voltage resulting in low crank speeds is a possibility. The other thing I would look at is the fuel since pre-heating the fuel solves the issue. Did you buy fuel just before this began? Did the vendor change to cold weather formulation when this started? If so, low crank speed could be the culprit again due to the fuels lower volatility. Is the fuel or the filter waxed up? Did someone put high viscosity oil in the crankcase? A quick check might be to try starting it on WD-40 to see if it will run on a alternate fuel. If it starts I'd suspect a fuel issue; no start= low crank speed. The bottom line is to look at what changed from when it ran right to where it is now.

Thanks; great article.

Congrats! Did you see the listing for the Ohio auction that has several F models in it in the Trucks For Sale listings?

Plugged in as in engine block heater or battery booster?

Don't you wonder why the auction company doesn't post pictures? Sounds like it is a collectors dispersal sale. Anybody here recognize the list of trucks?

Saw this listing in Hemmings: http://www.hemmings.com/classifieds/carsforsale/mack/unspecified/1604838.html Not much information in the ad, but the picture looks pretty good.

Start at scrap price and go up from there. If the truck is in reasonable overall condition it should go for 3-5K, but since it is a "one of" for you it is worth whatever you are willing to pay to bring it home. My guess is you are looking at 5-8 hundred bucks to get it flat bedded home. If you get the truck send the chassis number to the Mack Museum to get an owner's manual that will help you out with all of the systems. Brake parts are commonly available.

Try hitting them with a mix of 90% acetone and 10% automatic transmission fluid as a penetrant.

Amen. To me this is like owning a boat; you buy what you want and when you do you know you will never make money on it, but you will enjoy it for a lot of years. There is no "blue book" for what we do.

I have tried to contact him several times about that B model sedan cab. No luck. And as Jim said he prices well above what the trucks sell for in the real world. The ALF is nice enough, but no one wants a ladder truck because they are hard to store and move around so it really lowers their value. About $4k is probably a good starting point.

He is in Salisbury, right on 95. Nice guy, but, in my experience, really hard to contact unless you go visit him.

And most department's specified their own colors as well. If you are doing a total re-paint I would pick a red you like that is widely available and go with it. There is no "wrong" color for fire apparatus.

So when it was for sale it was not by the RVFD?

Send an e-mail to seagrave66@aol.com; he will know.

Ken; I would use standard 110v wiring running it in conduit if you do not have a wall to hide it in. 30A RV plugs are available at Lowes/HD. RV's use an inverter to convert 110 to 12v DC to run lights, water pump, fridge, LP leak detector, battery charger, etc. Give me a call this afternoon at home and I can help you out