By Christopher W. Sadler
The York County (VA) Department of Fire and Life Safety recently restored its very first fire truck to the way it was when it first served the community of York County in the mid-1950s.
Background
In 1955, a group of local businessmen and citizens formed the York (VA) Volunteer Fire Department. This group raised money from the raffle of a car, a fish fry, and any other means possible. The result of this fund drive was the purchase of a Dodge chassis from Grafton Garage, the local Dodge dealer owned by a member of the forming fire department. The chassis was sent to Howe for the installation of the fire truck body. While the truck was being built, the group worked to find a place to store the truck. The solution was to add a bay onto the side of the Grafton Garage dealership. Once the truck was delivered, the York Volunteer Fire Department was fully operational.
The truck continued to serve our department as we grew into a combination department with 140 career and 40 volunteer members. Eventually newer apparatus made the truck obsolete, and it was retired from service.
When I began my career in 1987, the truck was housed at my station. It barely ran, it had brake problems, and the paint would come off in the water and on the towels after a washing. Occasionally, we would pull it out on the ramp and play with it. It pumped unbelievably strong. Through the years the paint became worse, the chrome wore away, rust started to settle in, the tank began to leak, and the interior deteriorated. Firefighters stopped paying attention to it and all but wrote it off. Despite the urging from field personnel to get rid of the old dilapidated truck, the chief would not let it go. Nobody could understand why–it was a piece of junk!
As I moved up through the ranks and earned more of a say in department operations, I always took the opportunity to push Chief Stephen Kopczynski to do something with this truck. The problem usually came down to funding. It would cost a small fortune to restore this truck. Because the truck was not an operational piece, using county funding to restore the truck would not be fiscally responsible.
This truck was the foundation of our department. There had to be a way to fund its restoration. The chief finally gave in and said that if we could come up with a way that would cost little to no funds from our operating budget, I could restore the truck.
I am pretty mechanically inclined. I used to own a ’67 and a ’68 Mustang that always had me under the hood. I also restored a 1988 Jeep Wrangler for my soon-to-be 16-year-old son, but I had no idea about how to restore a 55-year-old fire truck. An acquaintance referred me to Hal Hartel, president of the Virginia Peninsula Car Club Council. I gave him a call just to bend his ear on the project. I found out that Hartel lives in York County less than two miles from the station that stored the truck. Also, he has a 1928 GMC fire truck of his own! We really hit it off. He rounded up a few of the members of the club and, after a week’s worth of correspondence, we met in August 2007 at the station to see the truck.
Getting the Truck Running
Late that night we had the truck running–running rough, but running nevertheless. We agreed that we would meet at the station on Wednesday evenings to work on the truck.
The project had two goals. First, although the truck could no longer serve as an operational firefighting apparatus, we could use it for prevention activities, honor guard duties, and other public events, as well as have it serve as an icon of department history. Second, involving the citizens and businesses of York County to restore the truck would be a great partnership between the community and our department, just like in 1955 when the truck was purchased.
We had to get the truck inspected so we could get it to the Annual Kiwanis Car and Bike Show to formally announce this restoration project to the local car clubs and media. We worked for about a month to get the lights, brakes, wipers, defroster, and other parts working. Grafton Garage inspected it for us. Several long-time employees of Grafton Garage gathered around the truck and talked of performing work on it “back in the day.” After much work and a few cans of spray chrome, the truck took the “Diamond in the Rough” award at the show.
We continued to work on the truck’s mechanical issues through the end of 2008. Also, during this time we brainstormed on how to finance the project. A member of our County Board of Supervisors heard about the project and contacted Junior Coxton, the owner of a body and paint shop. He agreed to donate the labor and materials to paint the truck. An anonymous donor supplied the gold leaf striping and lettering. Cousin’s Towing and Recovery transported the truck from shop to shop.
The final showing of the truck prior to the start of the actual refurbishment took place in January 2008, at the annual Old Dominion Historical Fire Society meeting at the Chesterfield County Airport. We obtained the use of a low boy tractor trailer from our County Grounds Maintenance Division to transport the truck for the 150-mile round trip. At this meeting, we were able to network with other antique fire truck enthusiasts to learn about restoration methods, vendors for chroming, and the best places to find parts.
Full Restoration
The following Wednesday the full restoration process began. The entire truck was stripped. Everything was removed except for the drive train. One of the biggest projects was the tailboard. It had suffered some damage over the years. It was constructed of a stamped steel plating that is no longer produced. Although the stamped area was not damaged, an unstamped section where it rolls from the step surface to the outfacing edge was pretty banged up. We cut out the damaged section and welded in a new section of steel tubing. You cannot tell that there was ever a ding in it.
Using donated funds, we had the truck completely sandblasted inside and out. We then sent it to Coxton’s for body work and paint. Back at the station, some of the light bezels were cleaned up and polished. All of the handrails, brackets, and pump caps had to be completely rechromed. The siren was badly damaged and had to be sent out for complete refurbishment and chroming as well. Again, all of this was made possible through donated funds.
Once the truck came back from Coxton’s, the reassembly process began. It took months to get things even remotely back together. But slowly the truck came back to life. The biggest changed occurred with the installation of the gold leaf striping and lettering. Almost all of the electrical wiring was replaced. The original wiring had the braded insulation that had dry rotted over the years. If you touched it or moved it, the insulation would crumble off, exposing the bare wire.
The interior was also a mess. Through the car club network, a local resident who has been doing custom interiors in antique and hot rod cars for years heard about our project. As a thank-you for our department having responded to his house to care for his wife on a number of occasions, he redid the interior of the truck for us. It now looks like the day it was delivered in 1955.
Back in Service
Finally, in December 2008, the truck was placed back in service. Although it will not fight another fire, it will live on to provide many years of service to the citizens, businesses, and visitors of York County. So far it has been used to deliver Santa to the annual Christmas celebration in Yorktown and has attended several public events such as the Virginia State Fire Chiefs Association Mid-Winter Conference in Virginia Beach. But the most fitting way it has served so far is to carry the flag-draped casket of Harvey Gains this past July, one of the founding members of the department. The truck that carried him on his first call more than 55 years ago also carried him on his last.
The final cost of this project was as follows:
Mechanical…………………………..$1,000
Sandblasting…………………………$2,500
Paint/Body Work…………………….$6,000
Gold Leaf……………………………$3,000
Chrome………………………………$4,000
Towing……………………………….$300
Electrical……………………………..$500
Miscellaneous………………………..$2,000
Other donated parts and supplies…….$500
Total Cost……………………………..$19,800
Cost to the County…………………..$0
Volunteer Hours…………………………1,193
Athough this project was very personal to me, it also became personal to the many volunteers and businesses of our community. I encourage other departments to solicit their community to assist with similar projects and programs.
As firefighters, we often hear the phrase “I could never do what you do.” Although this is sometimes true, these same people could possibly help us do what we do. They can contribute in other ways. The members of the car club are now auxiliary members of our department. They continue to assist with working on the truck as well as displays of the truck, public education events, and other nonemergency department functions.
Christopher W. Sadler is a battalion chief in the Technical Services and Special Operations Battalion of York County Fire and Life Safety in Yorktown, Virginia.
