Joel Woods photo.
1979 Mack MC/1958 American LaFrance Aerial Ladder. Reserve T36, T16,T1, T5.
Originally delivered with 1958 American LaFrance Series 700 tractor.
History:
- Tractor replaced with a 1979 Mack MC in 1980.
- Placed in service as Truck 5 by May 6, 1980.
- Removed from service as Truck 5 on March 16, 1987.
- Placed in service as Truck 1 on March 16, 1987.
- Refurbished by American LaFrance in 1988. Upgrades included jump seat added on tractor, enclosed cab added over tiller seat, white over read paint job, and new warning devices on tractor.
- Removed from service as Truck 1 on September 21, 1988.
- Placed in service as Truck 16 on September 21, 1988.
- Removed from service as Truck 16 after February 27, 1995.
- Removed from reserve service on _____________.
- Sold at a surplus auction on April 24, 1999.
The apparatus was purchased by a speculative buyer in Beaufort, NC. The truck was spotted sitting in a lot, unsold, three or fourth months later. It was subsequently sold to the Wendell Fire Department in Wake County for $5,000 to $6,000.
The new department spent another $6,660 on refurbishing the ladder, which was repaired in places and tested by Underwriters Laboratories. The 1979 Mack tractor had only 40,000 miles on the odometer. Diamond plate purchased at an EEI auction in Raleigh was added to the trailer. Three months passed before the apparatus was placed in service. WFD spent about $16,000 on the truck.
In 2006, the Wendell Fire Department sold the truck to Civietown Fire Department in Brunswick County. One year later, the tiller was found posted for sale on eBay, with a starting price of $13,000.
Georgia White photo
Courtesy Richard Adelman Collection
Courtesy Raleigh News & Observer
Courtesy Raleigh News & Observer
Jeff Harkey photo
Lee Wilson photos
Morning slide scans. Two views of Raleigh’s second tiller in later years, a 1979 Mack/1958 American LaFrance TDA. Top photo from 1992 by Jeff Harkey, bottom circa early 2000s by Shawn P. Ryan via Andrew Messer Collection[*], operating as Wendell Ladder 116 and adorned with diamond plate purchased at auction when EEI of Raleigh closed shop.
As the story goes, after the truck was sold as surplus on April 24, 1999, it was bought by a speculative buyer in Beaufort. (Legeros saw the thing on Highway 70 around New Bern, as it happens.) The truck was spotted sitting in a lot, unsold, three or fourth months later. It was subsequent sold to Wendell FD in Wake County for $5K or $6K.
Wendell spent another $6,660 on refurbishing the ladder, which was repaired in places and tested by Underwriters Laboratories. The 1979 Mack tractor had only 40K miles on the thing!. It was placed in service three months later. WFD spent about $16,000 on the truck, total.
In 2006, Wendell FD sold the truck to Civietown FD in Brunswick County. One year later, it was posted for sale on eBay, with a starting price of $13,000. Believe it’s still somewhere down that way.
Have fond memories of that truck and Mike’s brief tenure at RFD and doing tiller training at Station 16. See more pics and read more history at https://legeros.com/…/aerials/aerial-1979-mack.shtml
[*] The slide scan from Ryan’s photo has a color cast. Guess it’s a duplicate scan, maybe? Or perhaps age of the slide that’s rendered the colors a bit muted?