Chubb Pathfinder Fire Truck

[Haf-E]

Found this on the web -

www.indianafiretrucks.com/pages/martin/martin_county.html

Former Tanker 2 - 1973 Chubb Pathfinder (British built) - 2300gpm/3500gallon/450foam

This unique apparatus originally served the Port Authority of NY & NJ at Newark International Airport. It was purchased in 2000 for use as a 3500 gallon, 6x6, pump & roll tanker. However, part became very hard to find for this rig and it was retired in 2007.

 

[nick disjunkt]

The New Haven fire department were kind enough to show us round their building and I was intrigued by this veteran, apparently a foam truck. It looks to be at least 40 years old and far older that I'd expect to see in a working fire station.

The front track is much wider then the back, not sure what the reason for that is.

 

[Jason911]

Awesome looking classic rig! I would guess its now a parade queen/show truck, but still its gorgeous. Built back when trucks(and cars) still had a since of style and flair to them.

It would be plausible to think that the tuck originally had duals on the rear axle and was converted over to super singles, hence the wider stance in the front. GM did that to their light-duty pickup trucks for a number of years, but it was done in an effort to reduce the turning radius.

 

[Dr. Cornwallis]

A lot depends on that departments SOPs, as most of the smaller municipalities rotate on a 15-20 year average. Larger cities will wear out a truck in 10 years or less. And a lot of fire trucks wear out from simply sitting/lack of use. They are 99% of the time full of water, loaded and ready to go. At minimum even the smaller trucks have 250 gallons of water on board - thats 2082 pounds of dead weight - to say nothing of the added strain it puts on chassis. And then, they have to be ready to go at a moments notice, no time to wait for engine warm up - just get in and go.

Brushtrucks(wild land or urban interface) are a whole different game - At best, I've seen departments hang onto these relics for up to 30 years, and then someone from within buys them. A volley department I was on had a '66 GMC Carry-all with a 4x4 NAPCO conversion. It sold to a buyer in Texas - with just 7,126 miles on the odometer - for $24,000.00. Another had a 1971 GMC 3/4 w/PTO front winch, 4-speed manual and NO power steering. Had 12,384 miles on it and sold for $9700(with a bent in the middle frame).

The brush truck at the station I work at is an International 4300 with the the VT365 (unfortunately) I'll have to check the model year but I think it's about five years old and it's got around 5k miles on it. It basically sits and gets cranked up on truck day so we can take it out front and wash it. The station down the street has an International Workstar and that's the one I really want (not sure what the power plant is but I'm hoping it's the Cummins ISB) The trucks are well cared for and maintenance is all up to date, not to mention they're garage kept.

Like you were saying, I'm hoping I can purchase it internally and throw a blissmobile on the back. The workmanship blew me away too.


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[zimm]

insurance rates. broken old trucks hurt firefighters and dont make it to fires.