Danno

Excellent!

Wow! That's exquisite!

There's a partition wall with sliding windows behind the front seat, Anthony, separating the cab from the jump seats and engine doghouse. It's not as noisy as you'd think.

TOO FUNNY, Brett!

"I Get Around" was about cruising. The 'never gets beat' referred to stoplight racing, a common outgrowth of the parade of 'cool heads' showing off their 'hot cars.' And, yes, 'the same old strip" referred to driving up and down the same cruising scene over and over.

It's not uncommon for towns without deep coffers of cash to convert 'retired' fire apparatus into public works trucks. ISO criteria call for a twenty year service life for first-in fire engines and trucks; after that they can be used as reserves, but generally speaking, reserve apparatus gets replaced by retiring first-line rigs before they are used up. Consider that most fire apparatus is "over built" for reliability and dependability but doesn't accumulate much mileage while in service. That's why most apparatus gets surplussed out to smaller and smaller communities rather than being crushed. There's even a long tradition of many fire agencies "refurbishing" older apparatus into more modern rigs . . . still retaining the original low-mileage chassis but upgrading pumps and equipment to new standards. "Refurbishing" usually includes a newer cab to meet newer ISO standards, etc., but it's still the same old chassis. But many enterprising communities recognize the value of that low-mileage chassis and cab, and have been known to convert the "old" firetruck into a street department workhorse or water department rig, etc., extending the life of their investment and maximizing their return-on-investment. So, yes, you'll see a lot of 'retired' fire apparatus converted to dump trucks and flatbeds and welders and all nature of haulers. The one Chuck found looks to be a nicely restored rig in private hands.

NNNNNNNNNNNICE!

Dry and dirty!

That's way too funny, Ed. A Dry Rain! Yeah, we're good. No excess groundwater inside Casa Baker so far! Our adjacent open land is about 2-3 feet under water, though. More coming tonight . . .

Most rain in a single day in history! Wanna play some basketball out by the picnic ramada?

What did I see on the road today? WATER!

Monsoon in progress. We've had more rain since 2am than ever in history for a single day . . . and there's still 13+ hours to go!! Some people have been complaining that our annual monsoon season has been too dry in past years. We're making up for it now! Gotta get back to the garage and finish up the ark . .

Nice.

Nice, especially for a 'first.'

Outstanding!

Nice. But it looks naked without the mirrors regardless of the reason.

Saturday, September 27, 2014

That's FINE!!!!

When you finally get one, are you going to repaint it, maroon?

No sense in rushing into it.

Nice.

Nice build. I agree, the roof's window line looks wonky.

Gee, Ace. You're older than Robbie Hall. You're not supposed to know any of that stuff! Since you're one of the OLD guys who's into 30s-60s cars, you must be incapable of relevant thought.