By Lydia Woolever
The Philadelphia Inquirer
RADNOR, Pa. — Tucked into the back corner of the Radnor Fire House, behind four colossal fire trucks, hides the little red engine that could.
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 Photos Radnor Fire Company |
There, the fire company’s 1954 Model B75 Mack Fire Truck sits in pristine condition, its cherry-red coat beaming behind a newly lacquered glaze and gold-leaf finishing.
But the Mack was not always nestled so safely. Once, the firemen let it go — for 24 years — but after all the money and hard work they’ve put into its restoration, they’ve made sure that won’t happen again.
Especially if A.J. “Rick” Taddeo has anything to do with it. Taddeo, who joined the company in 1951 and was one of the first engineers to man the Mack, became a volunteer through Radnor’s Schoolboy Firemen program, a collaborative training effort by the fire company and the local school district to train seven high school seniors each year as junior firemen.
“The chief would come over and the boys would yell, ‘Pick me, pick me,’ ” said Taddeo, one of the dozens who supplied the muscle behind the restoration project. “The siren would go off and we’d all come running out.”
Radnor’s Mack was the 11th of 54 fire trucks built in 1954. Only five remain in service. It features a semi-open cab, a 400-gallon water tank, and a six-cylinder engine that roars. It did duty at many significant town fires during its heyday, and aided Johnstown, Pa., flood victims of Hurricane Agnes in 1972.
But by 1973, the department had purchased two new fire engines, and the Mack, now deemed outdated, was sold to the Rockingham Volunteer Fire Department in Bellows Falls, Vt., where it was put into service its first day.
When the Radnor company replaced its fire house in 1997, firefighters celebrated the opening with a parade and a restored 1954 Mack on loan from the Malvern Fire Company. That struck a chord throughout the company, because what, firemen began asking, had happened to their Old Red?
“I always had an interest in the Mack, but didn’t really think about what happened to it, because they usually leave and you don’t know where they go,” said John Statts, a fire company engineer who spearheaded the restoration project.
In fact, the Mack was still in service as the Vermont company’s main engine. By 2002, after years of phone calls to check in on it, the Vermont company retired the truck into reserve status, and Radnor bought back its prize.
The company initially intended a quick, running restoration, but soon found the truck needed more extensive repairs. The company’s board of directors sent volunteers into the community to seek more money. The amount that rolled in not only surprised them — it also allowed the project to evolve into something much bigger.
“Older members who actually drove the truck started saying, ‘If you’re going to do this, you have to do it right,’ ” Statts said.
With the help of local body shops and mechanics, repairs began with the engine and a paint job that turned the yellow truck back to its original red. The Mack Museum in Allentown provided original pictures and design sheets, and the restoration team researched each part for hours to ensure perfection.
In 2004, the firefighters began taking their rejuvenated Mack to local events such as parades and fairs, and its career as a show pony took off.
Since then, the truck has become the little engine that did, taking home various awards, including its most recent acquisition, the Peterson Fire Apparatus Award for fire truck restoration at the Antique Automobile Club of America Meet in Hershey, Pa. The engine was featured in the 2010 March/April issue of Antique Automobile magazine as well.
“I think everyone involved could see the vision and understand that it was going to be something special, and when it all came together, it was,” Statts said. “Now that it’s earned these awards, it proves that their time was well spent.”
“This was our original truck back in 1954 and this is a very prestigious award,” Taddeo said of the Peterson. “Every nut and bolt is the same, and to win this award, you’ve really got to do it all the way.”
The Mack will continue to serve as a piece of history for the fire company and community, and the volunteers are looking forward to a busy summer show schedule.
“This is something that’s going to outlive me and all the original guys,” Statts said. “We’ll be gone, but the truck and its history will still be here.”
As Taddeo leaned beside the truck, which now has bolted to its side a small oval plaque proclaiming it as 2010’s best restored fire engine, he smiled when asked whether collectors had offered to buy it.
“Oh, no, not many,” he said. “They know we’re never selling.”
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