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The Maxim's on the SPAAMFAA web site are part of the John Patina estate sale. The S model tractor is still available. If you want it Mike make them an offer. They are looking to move them out.

Start hitting the flea markets like Hershey and the Spring Melt. Of all of the ones to look for this is the most common. Give us a price range you are willing to go and we'll keep our eye out for you. If all else fails take the one you got from Cal to an engraver and have an accurate replica made. That might turn out to be cheaper. If Cal's is not close enough do a rubbing of a real one and an engraver can work from that.

I'll be there with the 52. Going up tomorrow.

Damn Randy; how did Ben get the picture you sent Vlad so he would know who to look for at the airport?

The air horns are fakes; added later with a small electric compressor. I think the roto-ray was a lot more popular in PA and points south back in the day than they were in New England. My 75A from Richmond, VA was factory equipped with one. I'm surprised it's still there though given it's value. Yep; I lived that as well. Started as a call guy in 68; on the job 71 to 2003. I had the good fortune to work in a place that valued safety and training. Even when I started we were years ahead of what I was used to in MA. Poor training and lack of discipline cost three good men their lives. I vowed to never forget that and to make sure none of my folks would ever suffer the same fate. Death and injury is part of the job, but no one should die because the organization failed them by not giving them the best training, leadership, and equipment available. Anyone who has the courage to step aboard a fire truck and do the job deserves nothing less. We ran over 100,000 calls a year, with about 70k of that ems calls. (1 million population; 400 square miles, 1500 members, currently 37 stations) We are aggressive, but have never lost a member(yet). Had my share of close calls, but of all the things I did on the job, I am most proud of the fact that I never lost a member. Did we make mistakes? Hell yes! Everybody does, but most of the time good training and experience prevailed to let everyone go home the next day.

I assume it is really underpowered with the small gas engine. If you want to increase the power you might look for a EN510 Thermodyne 6 to re-power it with. It is a Mack engine, E models used it so it would be period correct, the rear end would work with it, and it would put out a lot more HP.

We used it to "spark" an interest in the fire service. Did a lot of training and standbys. I can only recall using it on one fire; a large dairy barn back when such items were still in the area. After I left the area the truck was "loaned" to the fire academy when Ed McCormick was running the show. I have no idea how it came back to town or where it came from other than somewhere in PA. The aluminum deck was added since I last saw it, and the bell was still on it as well. I'm surprised it is still sitting as the A models are quite sought after by collectors. The 505A and the 75A both use the ENF510A Thermodyne six cylinder. The others use a flat head six with quite a bit less power.

Here are a couple of pictures of the 45A that is sitting behind the Ashland, MA HQ station. CN 45A1011 Anyone who went to the Mass State Fire Fighting Academy in the seventies may remember the piece as they used it for a few years as well.

Yes that is the station. Don't know if you ever noticed the RR tracks that run right beside it. They were used to serve the coal yard and it is where the members were standing when the explosion killed them. When I was on the job I thought about this incident a lot since it was totally preventable. The members who were killed were standing behind the tanks, a major no-no, and they had just showed up without being requested. Some proper training or discipline would have prevented the deaths. In our business you cannot replace proper training if you want to come out the other end unscathed and this incident reinforced that for me throughout my career.

That occurred in 1961. A coal yard caught fire and exposed the three horizontal oil tanks at the end of the coal sheds. The tanks eventually exploded killing three Ashland firefighters; Chief Hubie Moran, Lt. Norm Barry, and FF Norm Reebenacker. Additionally, several severe injuries occurred. My Dad was on the way to the incident when the explosion occurred and most certainly would have been killed along with the other members had he arrived sooner. At the time the department was all call firefighters, but the town was in the process of hiring it's first career force. All three of the deceased had been hired as some of the first career personnel. The Mack in the picture was indeed the same truck. The "new" Framingham station located on Rte. 9 in Framingham Center is actually located on the scene of the fire.

Obviously, I would love to own it, but the 75A will always be the first love and the one I'll keep as long as I do this hobby. I did PM her, but as of now no response. I have spoken to a couple of jakes in Ashland that did not have a clue about the truck. It has been gone well over 30 years, so there is not much chance any of the current lads remember it. Next time I'm up there I'll try again to see if it might have come back home. They do have a 45A sitting out back under a carport that we acquired for the auxiliary FD (teens, too young to be call guys) from somewhere in PA in the late sixties. It's pretty rough, had the diamond deck "modernized" with aluminum, and is slowly rusting away.

Believe it or not this is the first fire truck that I have memories of riding on, at age 4, when my Dad got a call while he was babysitting yours truly and he took me along. We still had the engine when I joined the department in the late sixties. It appears the poster is not coming back to the forum, so I was wondering if anyone recognizes where the picture she posted was taken. It looks like a fire service repair facility to me. This is the only picture I have of the rig. it was originally a Polaroid, so the quality is not too good. My is Dad posing for someone with the truck, probably in the early sixties. This is also the same truck that crushed him against another truck, breaking his pelvis, while loading hose.

Good for you. Thanks for hanging in there. See you in Cherry Hill this week?

Take the old shoes to a shop to have them relined. The wheel cylinders are available for several sources; Amazon, Rock Auto, and Find It Parts among others. Take the old ones off, get the part numbers, and you can match them. If they are NLA they can be relined by any shop that does restoration work such as White Post Restorations. Where was the truck from originally?

Very rare truck and quite expensive if it is restored. The trucks were made by REO for Mack, so I would do some research into REO's to find out what engine will work. Want to sell it by any chance?

I have been told the ex-Northampton rig is sitting in the town shops being turned into a plow truck.

Thanks. We got it apart and figured out what was going on. Basically, the clutch discs would not stop spinning even though the pedal was depressed and the discs had free space between them, so it was impossible to shift. The throw out bearing could not push the discs far enough to get ample clearance, nor did it go far enough to activate the clutch brake. There is a washer that the discs sit on that provides adjustment by increasing or decreasing it's thickness. You must dis-assemble the clutch, place the right thickness washer in it, and re-assemble.

Thanks, Will do. I hope the health thing is nothing serious. (and if the Red Sox keep doing sh.t like they did last night I'll be in the cardiac unit anyways) 1969; She and six other girls rented a place on Brick Kiln Rd. for the summer. She worked at the sub shack at Zacks. How's that for a throw back? Ah, the carefree summers of youth.

Have you checked with Matt Pfahl? He advertises on this site.

Post a picture of the pump panel style you are looking for. I'm pretty sure it is not related to the pump size, but more likely is styled to meet the number of gauges that the purchaser specified. Check out Eckart's book and you will see most Mack pump panel plates are rectangular, regardless of pump capacity. The LS95 is not all that common compared to the LS85, with 351 being built, but there a few out there.

File this in the "life is strange" category. I never had to work on one of these, but in the past two weeks I have dealt with two of them. Basically, they are multi- disc clutches that run inside a cage bolted to the flywheel. If anyone ever looks up this thread to get info. feel free to PM me to pick my feeble brain on what I learned.

I still use a 6' aluminum straight edge my Dad bought there, who knows when, with the hand written price in magic marker on it before UPC's were invented.. Probably half of the fishing gear I own came from there as well.

Was the truck driver in the first picture trying to get a better view of the D6D's under carriage?

No bags at Spags!

Yep; but in a large dept. you are likely to have a combination of details and OT folks who have never worked together before at a given location. Makes it tough to keep a cohesive team together. My ex dept. is in the process of returning to tillers for the first time in 20 years. They are speccing out 4 to replace the rear mounts that are presently being used. It could be an interesting experiment since they will have 4 tillers, 6 towers, and 4 rear mounts in front line service. Getting the right staff in place when details and OT are used extensively could turn out to be problematic. I'm sure they'll make it work and I'm happy to see the return of "real" ladder trucks.