Trailer Diva

Well after buying the truck came the daunting task of trying to get it down to mom and dads. This proved to be quite the daunting task. Neither me or my dad have a truck with enough ass to get the job done so it was going to involve trying to borrow a truck that was gonna pull a REALLY heavy truck. My friend Dan stepped up huge and let us borrow his Chevy SS so with that taken care of it was time to find a trailer.

That proved a little more daunting of a task than it should have been. Tried asking around an nobody had one so I decided to just rent one from Uhaul. That was an adventure in itself. First they wouldn't rent one to me for a '32 chevy truck (notice I didn't tell them firetruck) because their book didn't list a 32 and they needed the weight. So I hung up and called back and told them I had a '42. They biggest trailer they have is good for a 133 inch wheel base and 79.25 inches wide. The firetruck (I need to come up with a name for her) has 132 inch wheel base and is 78 inches wide. Damn this is gonna be close. So I make the uhaul reservation and wait for the confirmation call.

I scheduled the rental for a Friday, I wait until about 4 Thursday afternoon and hadn't heard from Uhaul so I called them. Even though Slinger Wi has 2 uhaul places they tell me I'm going to have to go to a different town to get it and that one isn't open until noon on Friday. Fantastic, so much for getting an early start. So I call and make arraingments with the owner of the truck and tell him we'll be at his place about 1. Here's my first stroke of luck, on a whim I called the actual Uhaul place to make sure they had the trailer I needed. Good thing I did because he was told the rental was for saturday and he is closed on Fridays. He did cut me a break and come open the shop on Friday morning for me on his way to the airport. Had I not called him I would have been SOL and super pissed but it worked out.

Moving Friday rolls around and dad and I were "Up with the sun and gone with the wind" to head north to Wisconsin. We timed it just right and snuck through Chicago just ahead of the rush. Get to the Uhaul place about an hour ahead of schedule. Called the guy and he came out earlier than we had agreed on and got us on our way quickly. I'm not a big fan of Uhaul but I am a fan of that guy and his customer service.

Got the trailer and it's off to the Franz house to pick up the truck. I had forgotten to call and tell them we were gonna be earlier than expected so of course nobody was home. So we sit and we wait. About a half hour went by and Mr Franz pulls up in his golf cart. Apparently he was building a duck pond. He unlocks the garage and the load goes suprisingly smooth. Dad drove the truck right on the trailer with no issues. It was tight but it fit no problem. We get her all loaded and tied down and Mr Franz asks if we are in a hurry or if we were hungry. Figuring we were still ahead of schedule we opted for lunch.

Get back from lunch about 1 and we are off. First thing I notice is it's heavier than I thought ti would be but no big deal. Dan's truck is handling it like a champ. Went great up until I get out of town. At that point we find out how long of a trip it is going to be. As I reached 45mph the trailer started to whip side to side. In hindsight we should have backed the truck on the trailer but we didn't think about it at the time. We just decided to go 40 all the way home. Right through Milwaukee during rush hour and down the 2 lane Illinois 47. Boy did we make some friends.

Stopped in Yorkville for gas and to show it to some of my family and we were off again. The journey finally ended at my parents house about 10pm. Took us about 9 hours but we made it. It actually fits the motto of our Half Fast Fire Co, "We may not be fast, but we ain't slow, we are Half Fast"

The truck is right now at mom and dads, the hillclimb is a little over a week away and we have quite a bit of work to do before then. Need to change fluids and a tune up and install a gas tank. Also have to jump through some BMV hoops to try to get it titled. Should be a fun week before the hillclimb.

If anyone is in the Kentland area Next week (9/27-10/1) drop by for a beer and help me turn some wrenches.

And so it begins

Wow it's been a busy summer, full of work, baseball, concerts etc, etc.

Some of you may know that my dad, sons and I go to the Newport Antique Auto Hillclimb every year and every year we dream of having something to participate instead of just spectate. Well we are dreaming no more. I am the proud new owner of a 1932 Chevy Firetruck.

This actually fulfills two dreams of mine, I've always wanted to own a firetruck. A couple of months ago my dad found a 42 Mack for sale and I decided if not now, when? That truck ended up being a pile of junk so I kept looking and found this one. It was owned by the Venerable Fire Museum in Slinger, Wi. I called the guy and he told me what he thought he had. The truck had been donated to the museum and they didn't have room for it. After talking to him I knew I had to find a way to get up there as soon as possible because the truck wouldn't last long. It was in suprisingly great shape and the price was in my opinion very low for what the truck was.

The next Sunday they were having an open house at the museum and the railroad just happened to cooperate for once so me, the boys, Dawn and my dad made the 5 hour trip to Slinger to see the truck. Got there and it was better than the guy had described so I decided to buy the truck. Here's where the first snag happened.

He explained that somebody else had looked at the truck earlier in the day and was off to get money and a trailer. He was conflicted because I was the first to call on it, but the other guy was first to commit to the sale. It just so happened I had cash money in my pocket and had driven farther to look at it so I won out.

So begins what should be a great father, son, grandsons adventure. It's gonna take some blood, some sweat, probably some tears and some cash to get it to where I want, but I have lots of time and can't wait to get started on her.