One of my first clear vehicular memories was visiting the fire station in town as a little kid. Being that I grew up and currently live in the same small town, may of the faces have changed but the places remain the same. That first visit to the fire house was marked by the presence of one thing….a forest/brush fire fighting 1970s 4WD Chevy dually truck with a tubular steel exoskeleton on it. It saw that thing and never forgot it. Amazingly, the truck was in service until only a couple years ago when it was finally retired. It bet the sucker was 40 years old when it was turned over. I wanted it….until I saw this deuce and a half and now I want IT.
This is a 1963 model year truck and it was built by the time folks at Studebaker. It is a short wheelbase truck and it runs the Continental multi-fuel engine so that means cruising around on old oil, transmission fluid, or whatever other flammable liquid you can conjure up is fine. The truck has a huge version of that exoskeleton that I remember seeing on the Chevy as a kid used to knock branches and other stuff out of the way as the truck plodded through the woods to the scene of a brush fire or other event. It looks straight out of Mad Max and I flipping love it.
The front and rear springs are beefed, undoubtedly because of the additional weight of the water tank (especially when full) and the pumps and hoses that were on the truck at one point and have since been removed. This one has air assisted power steering, it is six wheel drive, packs a winch that is probably rated in the 10-ton range, and the top speed is probably about 50mph. That being said, you could drive it through a row of buildings with the brakes on and not scratch the paint. The dents in the side of the roof are interesting and were probably caused by woodland excursions of days gone by.
The entire truck was stripped to the chassis and converted into a fire fighting rig in 1990 in Memphis. This thing is still basically factory fresh! Am I just an overgrown child (don’t answer that) or does this big, lumbering monster rule?
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CLICK HERE for the eBay ad that'll give you all the dirt on this classic deuce and a half fire truck
That is just amazing!
Brian, if you buy that, I will rattle-can it for you.
You know how people mod their rigs with exo-cages and bull-bars and call them “zombie survival vehicles.” Trucks like this belong in a bigger, better class, a class more respectable than the stupid zombie fad.
This is something almost straight out of Jurassic Park: The Lost World. It should be called a “dinosaur hunting vehicle”.
He is right!
It’s mine………and it is cool!!! And very drivable. It’s 6 x 6…….not available at your local dealer, lol. You’re definitely king of the road in this bad boy! Ohhh, and you’ll drive right over those thin wall tubed out, bejewelled “pretenders” out there. But they do make good trash can lids afterwards. Made in the Good Ole USA, GBA!!! Hey, it’s best offer, shoot from the hip dude!
Get it while the price hasn’t sky rocketed. The EPA has just made the liquidation and sale of military vehicles (from the military) illegal. Call your congressman while they are home on break.