Antique Mack Fire Trucks

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The Palm Springs Fire Department had a very special Mack fire truck that was in service for 50 years. Palm Springs Fire Number 2 is a 1940 Mack Type 95S, the first and only 95 Series Mack built that year.

"It was one of the most advanced apparatus they had ever designed in 1940. In fact, the standard stood for a lot of years," explained Mike Sheaffer the truck's current owner.

The truck has always stayed in Palm Springs, changing hands from the fire department, the Shriners, and the local high school. When Sheaffer acquired the truck two years ago, it had not run in 20 years and was stripped and rusty. 

"I just wanted it for yard art at first but then when we ran the VIN number and Mack sent us all the information we thought, 'OK we kind of need to get it back up to what it used to be,'" Sheaffer said.

Sheaffer tried to keep the truck as original as possible, although everything on the front is from a 1946 Mack. The truck lacks a pump and a tank, and the fenders were not originally painted red.  "It was completely white, originally. Fenders, everything. It had white wall tires even. As soon as I can find white wall tires again, I'll put them on," he said.

Another Mack in town is a 1953 Mack 405A that the owner originally bought to use for parts on his other Mack. "There were 68 of them built. I own two of them, the first one being an open cab only 22 digits off on the VIN number from this one," explains Bill Horton.When he got it, this truck was a mess, but all the body parts were original and they had minimal damage, so he decided to restore it. "Couldn't see cutting it up and throwing it away. It was too much history, you know, too valuable," Horton said. 

The original engine had only 17,000 miles on it. "Somebody had worked on the engine and stuff like that so I actually drove it for the first year with the original engine in it," said Horton. However, it was hard to keep up with other antique fire trucks with newer engines so he put in a newer engine and a new drive train.

"This has two transmissions underneath it, so I have six speeds. So I can drive down the freeway at 80 miles an hour. I don't because the rest of the truck is still a 1953," Horton said with a laugh.


Author:Barbara Brooks - FDNNTV.com