Model A club aids resotration of vintage fire truck

A caravan of Model A Fords — on its way to a Sunday picnic in Bristol — stopped at the Meredith Fire Station yesterday morning to aid in the ongoing restoration of the town's first motorized piece of fire apparatus, a 1928 Ford AA open-cab truck. Members of the Wamesit Engine Company were on hand to show off their pride-and-joy to members of the Lakes Region Model A Club. And to accept a donation from the vintage car buffs.

The truck — built by the Howe Fire Equipment Company of Anderson, Indiana — served the town from 1929 through the mid-1960s, when it was retired and sold to a summer resident, who moved it to Connecticut. Engine company members located the truck in a barn in 2004, purchased and set about restoring it.

"To much," was volunteer firefighter Steve Grant's answer when asked to quantify the company's financial commitment to the project. "We are trying to raise $25,000," he said, "but we have put more than that into it".

Some restoration work remains — a ladder has yet to be returned to its rightful place along the driver's side of the truck and company members are still trying to locate a large soda canister that will fit into the box between the front seat and the rear hose box — but the casual observer would never notice. Most of job was done by restoration expert Howard Town of Dorchester, NH, with Meredith resident Sandy Ambrose re-creating the golf-leaf lettering.

The volunteer Wamesit Engine Company has existed in town from the day the very first piece of apparatus — a "handtub" water pumper now on display at the Irving station in front of The Chase House — was delivered. The pumper was manufactured by the Wamesit Co. of Mass. and the locals decided to keep the name. Today, every member of the Meredith Fire Department — including Chief Chuck Palm, the only full-time paid employee — is still a member of the Wamesit association.

Grant said Wamesit owns the 1928 Model AA independent of the official town fire department, and also provides its members with equipment and supplies "we don't want to go to the taxpayers for".

The Ford Motor Company manufactured about 15-million Model A vehicles from 1928 through 1931.

The town's first motorized truck was purchased when a group of local business owners joined forces and pooled their money. Once it was relocated in that Connecticut barn, its restoration is also being paid for by generous donations from local businesses and residents. More information about the project is available by calling the station at 279-6061. The Wamesit Engine Company's mailing address is P. O. Box 494, Meredith, NH 03253.

Grant said the four-cylinder, gravity fed engine that powers the vintage truck runs great — it still only has 2,298 miles on it — and to prove it he pulled it out onto a busy Daniel Webster Highway — right in front of the Model A caravan — and headed north toward the truck's temporary home. Firefighters expect to garage the apparatus on the lower floor of the main station before long.