Excerpts from the herald-review.com:
Gary Workman retired from the fire service in 2018. An 80-year-old fire truck was handed down to him from his father who was also a firefighter. The senior Workman found the vehicle in Hamilton, Illinois, in 1970. The truck sat idle for the next 15 years, with an occasional parade route through the years. His son wanted to restore the truck, but needed the time.
Now the 1933 Chevy fire truck with a six-cylinder 207 engine looks as good as it did in its heyday. Workman is unaware of the total cost of refurbishing the old fire truck. The project took more than two years to complete.
As a retired firefighter, he appreciates the older pieces of equipment, including the squirrel tail hose that wraps around the front of the truck.
Safety for the firefighters was not a priority back in the day. The back of the truck was open with railings allowing the firefighters to hold on as they traveled to fires. Seat belts and mechanical brakes weren’t installed. The truck’s interior, in the front and back, was opened up to the Midwestern elements.
