By Bill Adams
Some older Raisin Squad members can be downright miserable. Regardless of the subject at morning coffee, there’s always a select few white hairs that’ll negatively jump on it. These geezers’ glasses are never half-full. They’re always half-empty. For those familiar with the ventriloquist Jeff Dunham, his character Walter would fit right in at the firehouse kitchen table. I think every fire department has a couple Walters.
The other morning, we were jabbering about a local fire company’s new pumper. The sled had every warning light on it known to mankind. There was so much chrome and bright stuff on it, drivers probably had to wear sunglasses when driving it at night. The wrinkled raisins started right in: “That’s dumb. No it ain’t; its stupid. Yep, its damn ugly looking.”
Ugly?
Ugly can mean unattractive, hideous, unsightly, repulsive, and revolting. I said those descriptions are inappropriate to describe a fire truck that some department shelled out a million bucks for – especially if the only thing you don’t like are the warning lights. They jumped all over me like it was my fault.
Trying to take the heat off the department that owned the rig, I mentioned being ugly should only pertain to the whole rig. That started a discussion about all the “unattractive” fire trucks we’ve seen over the years. “Yeah, you oughta write about them instead of that stupid stuff we don’t understand.” We started compiling a list and I asked a couple dealers and manufacturers still in the business if they wanted to comment. Unfortunately, most claimed their competitor’s rigs were unappealing. Common sense and the threat of the editor’s red pen influenced shortening my list to rigs of manufacturers no longer in business.
The Top Three
I showed some photos to a few squad members and we narrowed the list down to three that could qualify as ugly. Photo No. 1 from the collection of Harvey Eckart is a 1942 American La France 65-foot ladder truck that must have run into something real big. The original front end was replaced with one that appears to be from a Mack conventional cab and chassis. The Mack Bulldog ornament was no doubt humiliated at its new ride. As unlikable as the rig may look, it does have some redeeming values for a rig that age. The cut-off saw, portable generator, cord reel, and portable lights are readily accessible on the running board. It looks like the removable ladder pipe is stored behind the manual stabilizer jack. You can’t use the pipe unless the jack’s down – at least on this side. One white hair said “Its got real ground ladders, them wooden truss type.”
HME-Ahrens Fox’s Ed Boring scanned and forwarded photo No. 2 from the Club Bid website.
Fire apparatus historian Walt McCall said it looks like a Superior on a Volvo. John Witt, owner of Safetek Profire Emergency Vehicles Ltd. and Superior Emergency Vehicles Ltd. said the former Superior Fire Apparatus Company pioneered the Top Mount Enclosed (TME) pump operator’s panel in Canada. The squad’s resident complainer moaned and groaned about all the glass that had to be cleaned. One of the more sane and rational geezers said, “The flat nose high cab might look ugly, but you can’t beat the driver’s visibility out of it.”
Tom Shand provided photo No. 3, a factory delivery photograph of a 1982 “Compac” pumper from the defunct Continental Fire Trucks, Inc. I believe the chassis was or contained parts and pieces from an International Harvester with a front facia fabricated by Continental. It also looks like it hit something big and unmovable like the ladder truck in photo 1 did. Although it has a four-door cab, the Squad said the front end makes it ugly.
Paint Colors
One of the geezers popped off about the Compac’s faded looking paint color: “Well, at least it don’t have that stupid black and red paint job.” In 1974, that particular white hair had a conniption fit when the department got its first rig painted white-over-red. He’s still not over it claiming, “Fire trucks should be painted red – end of story.” He was depressed all week.
Bed Liners
The following week the black-over-red color controversy changed to fire trucks being all blacked out – no chrome, nothing bright or shiny. World War III started at the coffee table. I’m not fond of the black-out option so I tried defending departments that opt to do so. It didn’t work. Multiple raisin comments included: “Why spend thousands of dollars for a Q and paint it black? Ya can’t tell if it’s the fire department or the police SWAT team coming down the street. It’s cheap looking. Can’t they afford chrome? It makes the rig look angry. It’ll scare little kids. If the good Lord wanted black on fire trucks, he wouldn’t have made chrome, brass and stainless steel. Nobody has pride in their rigs anymore.”
The last comment was way out of line. Pride is in the eyes of the owner – not the critic. One classic comment was made: “Why spend big bucks for a fire truck and cover it up with a damn bed liner? It looks like the hind end of a pick-up truck coming down the street.”
Later, I asked a couple dealers and apparatus manufacturers if they wanted to comment on the black-out option. As expected, nobody wanted to go on record for fear of offending past, present, and potential customers. That was a sound and financially wise decision. Paraphrasing some of their alluded to comments:
- What happened to the proud, bright looking, and regal fire apparatus happily coming to the aid of the community?
- It’s probably best to cover up some of those angry angular looking grilles and bumpers.
- It’s disheartening to put so much time and effort into fit and finish, only to have the customer alter it with graphics and your so-called bed liner.
- This new tactical look everyone is after cheapens the fire service and could cause a schism between the fire service and the greater community. Law enforcement started it with an angry looking and unapproachable weekend-warrior motif. Now the firefighters want their day in the sun.
- What do you want coming to your aid – a shiny clean, regal, and dignified looking emergency vehicle or a mean looking armored car look-alike?
- The fire service is a not a paramilitary organization; it shouldn’t look like one.
- Black versus chrome is a misguided effort to look more economical to the taxpayer (One OEM said it could cost $6,000-$10,000 to fully black-out a pumper!)
***
I think the Raisin Squad will be saying more about blacked-out and ugly looking fire trucks. Oh well – my mother once said, “everyone is entitled to their own opinion no matter how wrong or insignificant it may be.” Wisely, no one said anything derogatory about displaying our national flag on their apparatus.
BILL ADAMS is a member of the Fire Apparatus & Emergency Equipment Editorial Advisory Board, a former fire apparatus salesman, and a past chief of the East Rochester (NY) Fire Department. He has 50 years of experience in the volunteer fire service.
