Thanks for the updates Keith. So was the reinforcing band solely to keep the barrel from separating from the foregrip?
I'm glad you got the Buick running, hopefully you can get it smoothed out.
You have some fortunate kids, I would still love to have a birthday party with your truck.

Don't be a stranger, we've all gone through too much together not to keep your FTE family apprised of what's going on. Also, posting more pictures of our truck makes it easier for us truck **** addicts.

 

Thanks Joe. To answer your question, the foregrip was riveted and was weak in that area so thats why the band was added. Are you curious as to what a Thompson goes for?? You will be shocked to find out. Although they made over a million of them, only 2400 are in private hands. Here is just one of a hand full for sale. At that price they are not flying off the shelves!!

Savage Thompson M1 Submachine Gun : Machine Guns at GunBroker.com


I'll be sure to post some more pics of the truck especially of next weekend's party. I hate to say it by the truck hasn't been used a lot lately. Sometimes 2 weeks go by before we make it out to the warehouse and take the old gal for a spin. She starts right up and drives great. I know its not good to let her sit that long and usually do a weekly ride.

I forgot to mention that I wrote an article for a fire truck enthusiasts magazine about the rigs used on the Chicago Fire Patrol. If anyone is interested in checking it out, PM me with your email address and I'll send a PDF file of it. I wish they were able to do it in full color.

 

Holy cow!!!! I didn't realize they were that pricey. Are there any special government hoops you have to go through to own one?

Looking forward to the pictures.

 

Joe, you have to pay a $200 fee and have a background check done. Gov't approval takes a few months.

 

My brother has a real '26 Thompson . Had the opportunity of a life time Oct '13 to shoot it .Brother Don said it was my B-day / Xmas present . 100 rounds in 15 secs. FULL auto . What a trip !!!! We went shooting at his private range for 3 1/2 hours. Weapons shot were .45 acp . 22 match rifle , .217 , 9 MM pistol , my .257 Roberts sniper rifle .Don's .257 . .2 - 30.06 deer rifles . and many more.. Had some exploding targets ( they were way fun ) .After this joyful afternoon I stopped & visited w/ Mom in the nursing home . Hrs. later I was still jacked up from a shooting spree . Mom asked me what I had done that afternoon . I said went shooting with brothers Don & Jim . had to mention I even shot Don machine gun . Mom was eating dinner at the time with 2 ladies sitting across from her . The ladies facial expressions when I said " Machine gun " were priceless . I'll never forget it .

 

Sounds like an awesome day Denny!! I had a similar day. A friend was a class 3 dealer and we went out to a private ranch in the everglades and shot a bunch of cool machine guns. Including a M60, M16, MK760, MP5, Suppressed UZI, German MP40 and others. This was in 89' and I still have the video which I should post on Youtube.

 

I have a 1903 Springfield and an M1 Garand both in .06.
Found an M1 carbine for $600 but it was an off shore
knock off so didn't buy it. So still looking for a 45 ACP,
M1 carbine and a Tommy for my collection. And yes
that Tommy is spendy. I may well have to settle for
a knock off with it.

So Keith if ya take the truck out every two weeks
than we expect new pic's every two weeks.
As they say pic's or it didn't happen. Glad ya got
the pic posting working for ya.

Now ya have got me checking with my broker and
internet window shopping for guns again. Good thing
I am single and the boys can't yet tell me how to
spend our money.

 

Rich, it looks like you have a nice collection there. I had a pretty nice WW2 weapon collection too but everything had to go so I had the funds to do the fire truck. I have no regrets and I didn't have to get a loan to finish the truck. I was tempted at one point but I stuck it out and now I don't owe anything. she is bought and paid for!!

I will try and post more pics in the future.

One thing about guns ... they usually hold their value!!

 

Woohooo on the Buick!


Having a firetruck to crawl around on and take a ride in has got to be every young mans ultimate birthday. Very cool.


I've always wanted a Thompson as well. Good luck with it
Bobby

 

So are ya driving the Buick around yet Keith?
Haven't heard from you in a while. Hope all is well.
If it wasn't for bad luck ya would prolly not have
any at all.

 

At one time we had a client - gun magazine - that purchased the"FED FIREARMS LIC DEALER LIST" - it had every legal dealer in the US and what type of weapons they sold from hand guns to bazooka's. That list is open to the public you just have to go to a fed office that has access to it. We use to convert it and code the types of firearms each sold to a searchable data base. The FBI and DEA guys found out we had it and would come to the office to use it as it was much faster than the Govt version. The list is out there so if you really want to find a dealer in Thompson machine guns try and get access. Have fun

 

Hi Rich,

Sorry I haven't been to the site lately. Still super busy! I had some more bad luck. A couple of roof leaks & and my year & a half old fridge went on the fritz a few days before Thanksgiving plus we had company from California staying with us for the past 10 days. Funny you should mention the Buick. We drove it the past 2 days. Its still running pretty rough and badly needs a carb rebuild. I've been trying to find someone local and have some leads to check into. I have an out of state recommendation for someone who specializes in Rochester Quadrajet carbs. He does some nice work but I would not rather ship it out. Here is a link to his site:

Everyday Performance Rebuilt Rochester Quadrajet Carburetor Positraction Axle Store


We also took the fire truck for a ride today. The siren bearings are noisy again. I replaced 2 of the 3 not long ago and that probably was a mistake. I should of done all 3 but when I ordered them I thought there was only 2. I will try to get it straightened out this week because we have a big event on The 7th. The event is the Toys in the Sun Run. It is to raise money and toys for underprivileged kids. They have 30,000 motorcycles in a big procession from a Casino to a County park. They shut down the roads & highways for a few hours. We will be near the front of the pack with other fire trucks and classic cars. It should be fun! The only down side is that you have to be in place 3 hours before it starts and that time would be 7am. Here is a youtube link to past events (they show the fire truck briefly in the beginning - we didn't do the run just the show:


And lastly, some pic's from Gavin's 8th B-Day party!

 

Thanks Dave! I see a couple for sale on the net but I'm a few years away from being able to buy one!!

 

8 year old's Birthday party with a "GIRL"??
She must be a relative. At 8 my boys wouldn't
have even considered that. They didn't see Girls
as "Suger an Spice" and like that then. But now
at 13 and 15 it's a new ball game.

That carb is not that hard to do Keith. Give it a shot.
At worst you would mess it up and have to have a pro
fix it anyway. Or have the satisfaction of fixing it your
own self. And save a few bucks. At most it would only
cost ya another kit for the pro to redo it.

Heck Bud, fly me and the boys down and I will fix
it for ya. A week with the boys in Orlando would be
great just before I have to go for surgery.
I could even fix your roof. It don't get better than that.
I can warranty the carb, but not the roof.

 

Yes Rich, girls were invited too LOL! I'll leave the carb rebuild to professionals!! Good luck with your surgery.

And now for more bad news... there will be no event this morning!! Yesterday I went out to give the truck a look over. I checked all the fluids and pulled the siren belt off. I brought my creeper with to check out the underside, something I had not done in months because I knew I was going to be doing a lot of driving. To my disgust, I noticed fluid dripping from my right wheel hub area!! Those damn wheel cylinders again. I am at a loss of words at the frustration I am feeling. The wheel cylinders have been rebuilt twice already!! They have a lifetime warranty. These brakes have been a nightmare since day one! Thursday we will be pulling the wheels, removing the cylinders and off they go in the mail back to the company. I wish I could buy new ones!! My boys were disappointed to say the least. I guess there is always next year!!