Detroit Fire Dept pic
- Thread starter Mndlm
- Start date
Captain4164
Member
"Hey, whatta ya think the Chief will do if I turn this knob all the way to make that thing work?"
crescentstar69
Member
justavillain
Member
With all of Detroit's recent financial issues, they may be going back to those items on the next batch of fire apparatus.
AuroraBorealis
Member
The possible captions abound. Obviously there was no OSHA back then mandating hearing protection!
"Turn her on up there, Clem!"
"Turn her on up there, Clem!"
Captain4164 said:
Cute, Nick! Years ago when I worked at Rix Funeral Home, one of the engineers at a radio station called us, saying that they'd like to get a tape recording of the Q on our Pontiac ambulance. So my partner Bill and I went over to the station. The engineer came out with a looooong bit of cable with a Mic on the end. He walked up to the ambulance and held the mic, right up in front of the Q. Bill told him that he needed to step back and bit, but the guy said he was fine. So Bill stepped on the button and ran the Q up to peak and held it for a few seconds. The guy snarled at Bill, shook his head, and walked away, growling, "Damn! I'll never do that again."
ryan
Member
Somewhere a long time ago, a guy lost a bet that he could hold a Q siren when someone applied 160 start up amps of 12 volts.
Phillyrube
Member
JazzDad said:
I almost missed this one! Years ago we bought a nice old '61 Olds ambulance from a small town near Lubbock. It came with a Federal 77GB doubletone siren on top. First time we ran in that unit we almost got run over because that siren just wasn't moving traffic. So the following Saturday afternoon and friend and I spent the day removing the 77G and replacing it with a Q siren that had come off my '63 Pontiac. Since I had spent all day working on the siren exchange, I didn't think to tell my roommate Jack, who was also my partner on the ambulance, that we had changed out the siren that day. Jack had congenital hearing problems, so wore hearing aids in both ears. That night at the local races we had a guy hurt, so we loaded him up and Jack climbed in back to attend. If he cranked up his hearing aids he could hear to take blood pressure with no problem. So I'm driving slowly coming out the back gate of the race track with the ambulance all lit up. I'm taking time to give Jack a chance to get the b.p. But suddenly a guy in a pickup pulls right in front of me, so I roll the Q over to get him out of the way. Jack's fingers go to his ears and he hollers, "G.D. that thing is loud!" A friend of our who was riding with us that night gets a funny look on his face and whispers, "What's his problem?" I explain to him about the hearing aids and that I had forgotten to tell Jack about the siren change. Boy did I get an earful from Jack later that night! :yes:
One thing I should qualify: The reason the 77GB couldn't be heard well is because it sat behind the beacon, almost over the patient's head. But putting the Q in its place made the difference, and we never had a patient gripe about the extra overhead noise!
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cbpdogboy
Member
Mndlm said:
Canadian Walt McCall who is one of the publishers for the PCS magazine has a couple of neat books out on old ambulances. One of the ambulances featured in both books is a '37 Cadillac ambulance that was donated to the DFD by their then-Commissioner Paxton Mendelsson. That car was rebuilt in '51 with an all new body, and I understand it remained in service until the mid-60s or so.
Wigwam700
Member
Skip Goulet said:
Skip can you clear some room in your PM box, tried tovsend you something and it said your box was full.
Todd
Wigwam700 said:Skip can you clear some room in your PM box, tried tovsend you something and it said your box was full.
Todd
Inbox has been cleared.
Tristar said:
You'd get no argument with me on that, Matthew, but we'd never seen a Super Chief up close at that time. But we had run an S8B Siro-Drift on our '63 Consort. In 1977 we bought our first high top Olds ambulance, and it came with a Super Chief.
Captain4164
Member
JennyCop
Member
badge22
Member