Thats a good one Joe. She's a pretty smart cookie and won't fall for that !!


I really do want both!!

 

Take her on a nice vacation or buy her nice jewelry.

 

Yeah, mine's to smart to get anything past....although she did marry me; everyone has their moments of insanity.

As well as you are doing with this truck, I would bet that in time she would be all for restoring the 49. It sounds like it will be there for a while, so you can wait until the time is right. Ilya is right, I'm sure you could get support from folk here....he is also right about the vacation and jewelry, it just might take a couple of installments.

 

Ilya. thanks for the offer. The museum right now is trying to raise $50k to help pay for a 1928 ALF they bought a few months ago from a museum not far from me. So they won't have any funds to fix up anything for a while.

Joe, you are right that truck will be there for a long time. I just hate to see it sitting there deteriorating.

Here is the link to the museum if you want to check it out. The museum paid $70k for a 100K truck.

Fire Museum of Greater Chicago

 

Keith,

I think a pair of trucks would be the way to go, just like bookends. The wife doesn't really mean no. He mouth might be saying no but her eyes say yes (well, ok, so here eyes are probably saying "I'll kill that goofy, no good, truck loving son-of-a-gun if he brings that home) but you never really can tell.

Bobby

 

Bookends .... I like that Bobby

When my wife saw the truck for the first time she said we should of bought a boat, its the same size and we'll get more use out of it!!

 

I am sitting here at the fire house thinking about the amazing journey I have been on. It started over 25 years when my Aunt gave me my grandfather’s captains badge and a couple of photos of him. I started researching his career on the Fire Patrol, which led me to write a book about the Patrol and now owning the very rig that he actually used! I have met so many nice people along the way, including FTE members whose advice and encouragement have helped me immensely. One part of the journey included meeting Ron DiRenzo, a former patrol member who worked for my grandfather. (I made a post about this a few years ago) I contacted Ron and interviewed him for my book. We became fast friends and I was able to connect him to the past as he did for me when he told me stories about my grandfather, who had passed when I was 12. I was able to reunite Ron with my rig, the very rig he drove many miles, 50 years ago. In February of 2009, Ron was coming for a visit to see the rig for the first time in 50 years. I contacted all the local news media to see if they were interested in doing a story about a man and his fire truck reunited after 50 years. Channel 4 called and said they were interested. They came out, interviewed and filmed Ron driving the rig. They even did a live feed on location and allocated a full 3 minutes of prime time to tell the story. Ron was so happy and I will never forget that look on his face when he was behind the wheel again. I just wanted to share that story and show a few pics.

 

What you did and continue to do truly amazes me. You're a true hero, not because you're a fireman, but because you were inspired by your family's history and chose to preserve in ways that some of us only imagine.

I can't wait to see your truck finished and take its first ride with the sirens and lights down the street.

 

Amen to that brother!
Be sure to take lots of video. You will have grown men all over the country giggling like little school girls. Those that worked the truck in tears. You da Man!

 

Wow guys thanks!! Ilya thats one of the nicest things that has been said about my project. I really, really appreciate your kind words.

The welder showed up this morning and extended the frame 8". He did a nice job. He caught my attention when he said the truck was on fire!! Some of the plastic and paper covering the engine compartment went up which I put out by hand. I was hoping he would have time to use his plasma cutter on my 1/8" steel diamond plate. We still had more tweaking to do with the template and he couldn't wait around. Here are the pics:

 

That looks nice!

Have you thought about renting a plasma cutter from a construction equipment place? They're not that expensive to rent.

 

Never thought of it. Not sure what he is going to charge but it shouldn't be much.

 

Thats a great bit about your friend Ron.
You can probably get the same news station back out once the truck is complete, maybe even get Ron back in the picture for a follow up. What a fantastic public interest "feel Good" story.

Your build is truly inspiring on many different levels; your family connection, the fire patrol history, fire trucks in general (who doesn't love them), and old trucks in general, especially special purpose built trucks.
The rest of us just think we have hurdles on our builds, you have mountains to conquer on yours.

As always keep up the good work. This is a fantastic thread to follow
Bobby

 

Thanks for the kind words Bobby!! Here is the written story about Ron:
“Ron Direnzo stepped back in time 50 years Friday. All thanks to Miami-Dade Fire Lieutenant Keith Seafield. The two men are separated in age by nearly 40 years but they are bonded by the Chicago Fire Insurance Patrol and on old fire truck. Ron Direnzo worked for the Patrol in the mid-50's. One of his captains was Michael Kinsch, Seafield's grandfather. Seafield bought one of the patrol's old units -- #5 -- and Friday he gave Direnzo a chance to sit in the driver's seat one more time. "It's really something. looking at this thing and I drove this thing over 50 years ago," Direnzo said. "My God, we went to a lot of fires, lot of time behind the wheel, responding to fires."

The Chicago Fire Insurance Patrol operated in the late 1800's to 1959. Insurance companies pooled money from customer's premiums to operate the insurance patrol, which worked to salvage property before it was destroyed by fire. The Patrol also assisted the Chicago Fire Department on calls.

Direnzo worked for the patrol for 6 years until it disbanded in 1959. He then served 30 years with the Chicago Fire Department, finishing his career as a battalion chief.
When Direnzo saw the truck for the first time in 50 years Friday, he said it took him straight back to his mid-20's. "I remember it as it was," Direnzo said. "It was a beautiful rig, I mean shiny, just gorgeous."

The truck sits behind a home in Southwest Ranches. Seafield bought the truck from the Fire Museum of Greater Chicago for $800. It was the only original fire truck still working. He is working to restore it to it's original look. The truck still has the original lights, interior and siren. The siren operates by friction caused when a fireman pulls on a rope inside the cab. Seafield plans to add a silver bell on front of the truck and the sheet metal plating covering the engine.

Seafield said it's a labor of love to restore this truck to it's original glory. But he feels a responsibility to his grandfather, Direnzo and the brotherhood of firefighters to bring a piece of history back to life. "This is a connection to my grandfather who passed in 1975, when I was real small, so it's sort of a tangible link to him," Seafield said.

Seafield even wrote a book about the history of the Chicago Fire Insurance Patrol and that's how he met Direnzo. The 79-year-old contributed stories and pictures to the book and the two men developed a bond. A bond solidified when Seafield let Direnzo hop in the front seat for another turn at the wheel. "I wanted him to get a chance to drive it again," he said. "It's not too often that a guy gets a chance to be reunited with his fire truck after 50 years. It's a neat story."

The stories of old fires and old friends flowed out of Ron Direnzo Friday. But nothing gave him the thrill of sitting inside the cab one more time. "He's given me an excellent look into the past as far as i'm concerned," Direnzo said. "How many people can go way back to their youth and say this is what I did when. I've been behind that wheel many many miles." Friday, he got to drive a few more.”<?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-comfficeffice" /><o></o>

 

Hey Keith,

Great story, thanks for sharing!