The Decision

During a fire truck's years of service, many modifications are made to either enhance its capability, increase its appearance or repair damaged portions of the apparatus. Any time a fire truck restoration is contemplated, the first thing that needs to be determined is what version of the vehicle you are trying to return it back to. In our case, the Maxim had multiple changes of all of the types mentioned. While the truck did get various equipment additions and paint color changes, the biggest change was the repairs to the rusted areas around the rear wheels. Unfortunately, those repairs did not completely address all of the rust issues with the body compartment floors and side walls so the problem worsened. That area is now so bad, keeping the original body would entail a complete refabrication of the compartments. Swapping the body from similar truck that is in better condition could potentially be cheaper an/or easier but the truck would lose some of its originality. This brings us to our big decision. Do we keep the original body and become fire apparatus builders or do we source another Maxim of the same vintage for a body swap? While we do not have access to the exact same body, we do have access to one that is very close. East Longmeadow's former Engine 3, a 1976 Maxim F Model has been parted out but the body remains intact. It does have surface rust but the compartments are pretty much intact. The truck has a 750 gallon poly tank compared to our 500 gallon steel tank so while the length is the same, the height is about 4" -6" higher. Decision time.

The East Longmeadow Engine 3's donor body as it presently sits.

And to visualize what the different body would look like (after painting of course!) on our truck...