The Car Guy: Local Man's '58 Fire Truck is a Treasure

Here is my last report on that was held at in late August. Unfortunately, this will also be my last post as your Car Guy, at least for now. I will, however, still be around in other capacities, so stay tuned...

Try to imagine the look on a three-year-old boy’s face the first time he lays eyes on a fire truck. It has bright and shiny red paint, gold leaf lettering and a ton of equipment and hoses. Try to imagine the fun that could be had with a truck like that.

Randy Yardumian of Hellertown owns a truck just like that.

Actually, he took a ride on this very truck when he was three years old, and after speaking to Randy his sentimental attachment to it is still clear.

The truck Randy owns was delivered to the Bryn Athyn Fire Company in Montgomery County on March 19, 1959. Randy’s dad--who was a firefighter for the company--was 17 years old at the time. Randy’s dad also learned how to drive a fire truck on this particular rig.

When Randy was three years old he was allowed to ride along on the truck, which was an experience he would never forget. In 1978, Bryn Athyn sold the fire truck and it was all but a memory--until the phone rang with some good news, that is.

The old pumper had turned up for sale in a small community in southern New Jersey. Randy jumped at the opportunity to go see the old truck again, and after seeing it, he and his dad actually purchased it. The rest, as they say, is history. And there is a lot of history that goes along with this particular vehicle.

For example, in the photos that accompany this story, you will see a picture of Randy and his bride standing with the truck on their wedding day.

The truck itself is a bit of a rarity, since there weren’t many of them made. The Four Wheel Drive Auto Company manufactured this Model F-725 and equipped it with a 500 gallon water tank. Feeding the hose was a 750 GPM pump. Clearly, this thing was made to hook directly to a line of water, such as a hydrant.

This big truck needs a big engine in order to get it from A to B, so it was manufactured with a 544 cubic inch Waukesha engine and connected to a five speed manual transmission. The manufacturer name suggests that this truck is a four-wheel drive, and the name doesn’t lie. There is no doubt about how many wheels are turning on the pavement--four wheels spin constantly.

This truck served and protected two different communities for many years, and though ours was not one of them, I’m proud to know that this truck now resides in Hellertown. Thanks for sharing its unique story with us, Randy. And thanks for sharing these great photos with us as well.