lafd55
Member
Worst Ambulance and Fire Truck Thread:
- Thread starter vc859
- Start date
lafd55
Member
They had Q grilles on their '80s Seagrave RMs but still had electrical sirens.CHIEFOPS said:
Last edited by a moderator:
I don't remember Qs on FDNY Apparatus unless they were semi-flush mounted, I seem to remember 28s until they stopped ordering them in the early 80s. As I recall, they went from 28s to Motorola Systems 90 sirens to PA300s.
Here's a link to a great site with photos of current and older FDNY equipment. I started looking for photos of a truck with a Q, and the first I found was 1996 Engine 8...I'm sure there are others, although it seems not lots of them. I found at least one NYPD ESU truck with a Q. I found at least one more with a Federal P660 (1998 ESU Truck 6)...I thought that was pretty interesting that they used that siren that long after they were removed from service (or so I thought). There were a few other ESU trucks with smaller bumper mounted chrome mechanical sirens, but I have no idea what make/model they are.
Any NYPD vehicles after, say, 1980, seen with mechanical sirens were installed by a member of that squad who as previously noted made sure to remove it whenever the vehicle went to the service shop. the Pulsator and standard 28 were prevalent.
Current ESU Trucks (the large heavy rescues) come from the factory/dealer with either a Timber Wolf or Screaming Eagle mechanical siren, I forget which.
Current ESU Trucks (the large heavy rescues) come from the factory/dealer with either a Timber Wolf or Screaming Eagle mechanical siren, I forget which.
lafd55
Member
Well not every company decides to install a Q or another variant of a mechanical siren. And it's not like they can go to the shops and have them installed.Tristar said:
rettoded said:
Something is really wrong with this picture. What I see is a Super Chief, but what I hear sounds more like one of the FDNY 28s. A Super Chief has a very deep pitched roar to it when it rolls over: a bit deeper than Federal C sirens. That ain't no Super Chief we're hearing! :hopeless:
RyanZ71
Member
RyanZ71 said:Whatever it is it is music to my ears
Certainly! Any good sized motor siren sounds better than any electronic siren produced...even the EQ2B. That siren sounded quite a bit like the Eagle sirens, which resemble Super Chiefs but much smaller. But the siren on that truck definitely looks like the Super Chief.
I'm no expert when it comes to identifying siren models by sound, but the siren on Rescue 1 didn't sound like a Super-Chief to me, either. With that said, my opinion is based on the Super-Chief sirens I hear on Emergency. So, my comparison is flawed for two reasons: The fact that the siren sounds on Emergency were dubbed in post-production, and the fact that the sirens we allegedly heard on Emergency are from the early 1970s, and the one on FDNY Rescue 1 is no more than a couple of years old...maybe the characteristics of the Super-Chief model have changed over time.
Tristar said:
Well, the sound of the Super Chief hasn't changed since they started building them in 1954. The only things that have changed in B&M sirens over the years are things like the differences in coaster clutches and the types/makes of the motors. But that deep-throated roar of a Super Chief is unmistakeable.
The Super Chief sounds that you've heard on Emergency! weren't dubbed in. They're the few that weren't. The specific time I heard the actual Super Chief on Emergency! was in an episode where a guy had an MI on a golf course. The responding ambulance was one of Snyder's Cadillac ambulances that had a roof-mounted Super Chief with a pair of CP25 speakers. It surprised me when the ambulance was leaving the "scene" when they actually racked-off on the Super Chief. They did that a time or two on Adam-12 when some of the old original "G unit" ambulances responded.
Since the posted pictures of the Rescue aren't close up, I'd bet that that's an Eagle on that truck and not a Super Chief. Just from the distance, the siren looks like a Super Chief, whose front end is open. The Eagle resembles the S.C. but has a screen-type grille over the front with an Eagle emblem attached. Unless that truck has more than one siren, that sure isn't a Super Chief we're hearing.
Skip Goulet said:
I would agree with you, except if you look at the links rettoded posted above, you can see that the siren doesn't have the screen in front of it, and it does have the center cone. In addition, the B&M website has a photo of Rescue 1 (one of the other links), showing the Super-Chief mounted on the bumper.
In addition, go to the B&M site http://www.siro-driftsirens.com/downloads.html ...there are sound files of their sirens. They do not sound like the old ones on Emergency or Adam 12...they're much higher pitched. Maybe a call to B&M would get us the answer.
Last edited by a moderator:
Tristar said:
Hmmm. I just listened to that sound bite, and that's definitely not a Super Chief sound....much too high pitched. Wonder if Kevin's got his sounds mixed up. I'll get in touch and see what's going on.
lafd55
Member
lafd55 said:
No argument here, that's definitely a Super Chief......and a very nice one at that!
SomeBloke
Member
August Arborists
Member
Kinda gives a whole new meaning to the term "Ladder truck".
That wrecker behind it is bad azz though.
That wrecker behind it is bad azz though.
August Arborists said:
The wrecker is in case the idiot driving the little car forgets about the ladder extending so far in front and runs into someone. Talk about rear guard.....! :duh:
SomeBloke
Member
SomeBloke said:
That little Fiat is nice, but it looks like there's almost no place for the driver.
DefianceEngineCompany
Member
DefianceEngineCompany said:
I love that rescue, despite the unusual look. But you could almost go camping on that huge bumper. I notice a CP100 type speaker just to the right of the Q. I wonder what electronic siren it has.
DLuccia
Member
DefianceEngineCompany said:
I could have swear Ive seen that ladder at the chiefs show at the big e
lotsofbars
Member
Firefly Berlin said:
Looks more like a Luverne to me but I could be wrong.
Skip Goulet said:
I was going to say! It's so extremely 80's down to the paint scheme, Streethawk, huge side warning lights/lack of side warning and boxy everything. It has a certain charm that never looked "good" but must have been quite the truck in its day.
Travelin Man
Member
lotsofbars said:
That's an HME 1871 4x4 cab and chassis with Rosenbauer bodywork and a Metz aerial. Although the Metz is a very niche market aerial in the US (there are only about 35 or so in service), it's by far one of the most technologically advanced aerials in the world. Although its limited compartmentation and ladder storage wouldn't meet our needs at work, it would be a great vehicle for our VFD. We demo'd one a couple of years ago and loved it.
The top vehicle in the same post is the ALF Condor chassis. Not particularly attractive, but makes for a rig with a very short wheelbase and good maneuverability.
tsquale
Lifetime VIP Donor
How about this miserable set-up, courtesy of Woodbury, MN...
[Broken External Image]:https://sphotos-b-mia.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-prn2/q71/s720x720/1186042_624718584235804_842900154_n.jpg
[Broken External Image]:https://sphotos-b-mia.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-prn2/q71/s720x720/1186042_624718584235804_842900154_n.jpg
tsquale said:
I can't believe you don't like this one, Tony. It's a '70s Wayne Care-O-Van. The photo doesn't do the rig justice. They were really quite nice and was one of Wayne's early answers to the modular type ambulances. Easterling Funeral Home in Odessa had a pair of them that they got c.1974 right after they re-entered the ambulance business. The funeral home had been Rix Funeral Home (where I worked from '63-to '67). Rix exited the ambulance business in 1967, along with Chapel of the Roses and Hubbard-Kelly.
A private service, Baker Ambulance, opened in 1965 and was the sole ambulance provider until they shut down suddenly and unexpectedly in 1974. With Baker's sudden departure the fire dept took over as an EMS operation; but they only had three ambulances to start with, so the Easterlings who had bought out Rix got back into it with the two Care-O-Vans. They were replaced with two nice coach-type ambulances: a '76 hightop Superior Cadillac and a hybrid '73 Cotner/Bevington Oldsmobile Seville hightop ambulance. The Seville started "life" as a short-wheel-based combination. The Easterlings took it to Summers Coach in Duncanville, TX, who were building ambulances on Suburban and van platforms. Summers totally "rebuilt" the Oldsmobile by adding one of their standard Type II hightop roofs to the Olds and repainted the car ambulance colors. Quite an oddity. Summers actually did that twice. Jim Green Ambulance Service in Oklahoma saw pictures of the Easterling Olds and took their Seville to Summers for the same sort of rebuild. Strange looking critters, the two, short-wheel-based hightop ambulances. :yes:
I don't care for this design either...although beauty is in the eye of the beholder, this is ugly! I think it's a case of a marketing gimmick...it isn't much larger than a standard type 2, so why not make it wider (a standard type 3)? Can this thing even have the box remounted on a new chassis when needed?
Wigwam700
Member
the stupid thing on the right, they never had any emergency lights and I hated that as a kid! It was from the cartoon Emergency + 4
rettoded
Member
Engine company for the earlier shown Nash Metro ladder?
Reliant Robin Fire Engine
BBC video of this apparatus and it's creator.
Tristar said:
Wayne built these vans just prior to the introduction of full-sized Type III ambulances. Like I said above, this picture doesn't do the rig justice. They were very nice, and very roomy. If you think it was ugly, how about the wide-bodied Type II ambulances that Superior built between '73 and '75 on Chevy and Dodge platforms. Each van was widened a foot on each side and slightly lengthened. We bought a '73 Chevy model in 1987 that we really liked. The one problem we had that we could never get corrected was a problem in the fuel system. Periodically it would act like it was running out of gas and even shut down completely. We would have to remove the "tin can" inline fuel filter and replace it and then it'd be just fine. And what drained out of the line was black. We thought that it was trash of some sort in the tank, but we had the tank pulled and cleaned and that still made no difference. But we manged to keep it in service until 1991 when we shut down the service.
rettoded said:
Engine company for the earlier shown Nash Metro ladder?
Reliant Robin Fire Engine
BBC video of this apparatus and it's creator.
No motor! Just pedals! :haha:
Wailer said:
If I remember correctly, and it's been more than 30 yrs since I've seen the Easterling trucks....theirs had a Twinsonic over the cab and a 184 on the hightop.
In the early '70s Summers Coach in Duncanville, TX "built" two unusual ambulances. Both were Cotner/Bevington lowtop Seville combinations. The Seville was the short-wheel-based version. Summers put their standard hightop roof such as went on their Type II van ambulances and hightop Suburbans. The one built for Easterling Funeral Home I've seen up close. Tried to post a link and it didn't work. Try going to Professional Car Society - Official Website of the Professional Car Society, Inc. - Powered by vBulletin and look for the thread entitled "Merry Oldmobiles". Correction: once on the website, go to Forums, then "General Discussion; then look for the thread.
Last edited by a moderator: