Posted by EdC on Monday, January 07, 2002 at 11:20AM :
In Reply to: $10,000 ! SPEACHLESS-response posted by George on Monday, January 07, 2002 at 8:39AM :
George... Thanks for the followup on this! It's amazing how attached them there firefighters get to the old gals (FlatFenders). I guess jumping in & out of the cab of a PW 3 times a day for 40 or 50 years would create some serious bonding. When I bought my FF a year ago I ran into a similar situation. Some of the guys at the station house didn't want to sell it for sentimental reasons, unless it fetched a high enough price to ease their separation pain. The seller coordinator (one of the firefighters that was computer literate) had established very high auction reserve price ($10k). The auction started low, it was in the middle of December (not an optimum time to draw high prices). About a week into the auction the seller let it be known they would seriously consider selling to the highest bidder, irregardless if the reserve was met or not. I became interested at that point and had a spark of hope (at that time it was around $3k) for FF ownership. I ended up being high bid substantially below the $10k reserve, and after dozens of emails before and after the auction ended they decided to sell. Well, my B-4-PW (8k original miles) is very happy with her new owner, ME, and I am thankfull to the bunch of firefighter in Cumberland, Rhode Island, for deciding to retire Fire Engine Brush-44 and make her available to a guy like me. It's really nice to have gotten one from the dept directly, and as you say, garaged her entire life and well maintained, and not one that has been through several agencies and thrashed. She ain't perfect, but she's mine :) The only humorous thing about the whole transaction - it was advertised as having a "bad" second gear. After many discussions with the seller coordinator I finally got ahold of the Fire Chief who had a bit longer history with the truck and he claimed the truck ran exactly as the day they got it (new). His statement regarding the bad transmission was, and I quote " These kids today just can't drive a stick to save their own life". You guessed it, no knowledge of non-synchro tranny's and double clutching :) Thanks again for sharing the info on the Brush Truck and I hope we can all be a little more supportive of one & another on this forum... Please!
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