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I Bought A Firetruck

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Re: I Bought A Firetruck

#171

Post by dsfasfasf »

UnoriginalGuy wrote: post #75
baby wrote: post #71

I want a plane.

Something tells me that if you got yourself a plane and then posted about it here, you'd get treated a lot more nicely than the OP. The world has become a cynical and mean place. The guy bought a freaking working fire engine, and all people can do is whine endlessly about how impractical and wasteful it is... But yet these same people wouldn't say the same about an aircraft, race car, or similar. Even though those ar…

I want a jet fighter. I wonder if I could get a relatively new one. All weapons would have to be removed of course. It would be the sports car of the air. I would need to get a billion dollars first though so that I could afford top notch maintenance. This would be my expensive toy. Instead of a yacht the new "in" thing could be buying a sport jet.

In reality, I like the idea more then the reality of it. If I really had a billion dollars I would simply buy a porsche and use all my free time to do research.

Re: I Bought A Firetruck

#172

Post by elithrar »

alan_cx wrote: post #72
Swizec wrote: post #48

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As a European I don't understand the american fascination with impractically fhuge cars for every day commuting. Okay I get it, you want a big car for that roadtrip or vacation. Understandable, I do too. But for everyday stuff? My hatchback does perfectly fine around town ... hell, it does perfectly well on most vacations and long drives too.

Im a European, well British anyway.... Something occurred to me today regarding Americans and big huge stupid cars... I was watching the NASCAR earlier and there was a throwaway comment about some driver's sponsors being "local". By local they mean 60 miles away. Now to a Brit, maybe other Europeans, 60 miles feels like anything but "local". So, I get the impression that we don't understand the sort of scale of trave…

> Now to a Brit, maybe other Europeans, 60 miles feels like anything but "local". So, I get the impression that we don't understand the sort of scale of travel there is in the US. Which kinda begins to explain this fascination with big large cars with big lazy engines. These cars fit American geography and scale. I think it also explain what oil seems that bit more important to the Americans.

I would daresay it's more cultural than geographical, or at least it's an isolated case. Distances here in Australia are even larger, yet SUVs/4WDs don't outpace the small-medium car sector in year-over-year growth.

Re: I Bought A Firetruck

#173

Post by jchrisa »

carlob wrote: post #21

Is there some sort of crazy game of one-upmanship in the USA as to who can drive the most impractical gas guzzler? First it was stretch limos, then Hummers, then Hummer stretch limos. I wonder if we're gonna see stretch limo fire trucks… Edit (since I'm being downvoted): The story is cool, I just find the fact that he's driving it daily to work completely retarded. What the hell I consider driving a car to work to be…

I sold my car and got the Humvee of bikes, it can carry two loads of firewood, or two kids, or a kid and the plants we got at the garden store. Most of America is batshit crazy but in Portland, Oregon the no-car lifestyle is catching on. Hopefully other cities too.

Bike photo! https://mobile.twitter.com/jchris/status/312728928919896064

Re: I Bought A Firetruck

#174

Post by uogecko »

bcl wrote: post #15
pmorici wrote: post #9

"Even though it's 31 years old and technically qualifies as an antique" What makes something technically and antique? I was under the impression that 50+ years was measure of antiqueness but I can't remember why I think that.

Depends on the state you live in. In Montana it qualifies for special license plates when a vehicle is 30 years old. https://doj.mt.gov/driving/license-plates/#antiqueplates Although by driving it to work he probably violates the 'general transportation' provision.

The problem with antique registration in Montana (and this wasn't made clear on the state website) is that you can only drive an antique to and from parades and/or car shows. I had originally planned to register it with antique plates because it's more affordable than a standard registration. That was a deal breaker though.

Re: I Bought A Firetruck

#175

Post by uogecko »

tmoertel wrote: post #157
carlob wrote: post #21

Is there some sort of crazy game of one-upmanship in the USA as to who can drive the most impractical gas guzzler? First it was stretch limos, then Hummers, then Hummer stretch limos. I wonder if we're gonna see stretch limo fire trucks… Edit (since I'm being downvoted): The story is cool, I just find the fact that he's driving it daily to work completely retarded. What the hell I consider driving a car to work to be…

> Is there some sort of crazy game of one-upmanship in the USA as to who can drive the most impractical gas guzzler? Not at all. It’s just that in the USA, things are on a different scale, and it makes sense to have larger vehicles. For example, a couple of years ago on eBay I bought a second-hand carrier battle group. Now, if you’re not from the USA, I can already hear you objecting that “it’s impractical” to drive…

This made me laugh out loud - thank you!

Re: I Bought A Firetruck

#176

Post by mark_l_watson »

ChuckMcM wrote: post #25
smoyer wrote: post #17

Someone got their childhood dream! Mine was shattered when I found out that my dad didn't drive trains (An electrical engineer is apparently not the same thing). Since then, I've ridden on many trains, but I haven't driven one (yet).

We did this http://wplives.org/ral.html with our kids, yes they let you actually drive the locomotive around, it was freakin' awesome!

Thanks for that link! I just forward it to my wife and a bunch of friends we sometimes travel with. Thanks!

Re: I Bought A Firetruck

#177

Post by duck »

systemtrigger wrote: post #153
ChuckMcM wrote: post #13

I've always thought that an old firetruck would make a much better RV conversion platform than an old bus. The reasoning is that a firetruck (especially a pumper truck) has a suspension that is designed to carry much more weight than a bus so you would not be as constrained in what you could build on top of it. Jay Leno did an excellent column about how amazing fire trucks are in terms of durability. The OP said that…

Some friends of mine turned a 1963 firetruck into a 2:1 scale VW bus: http://walterthebus.org . The suspension was a key reason they went with a firetruck. A bus foundation would not have supported the 330 gallon water tank used in the onboard misting system.

Okay, that is just crazy cool.

Re: I Bought A Firetruck

#178

Post by uogecko »

SoftwareMaven wrote: post #61
mikeash wrote: post #53

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What makes the truck more unsafe around children than e.g. a Ford Explorer or similar?

If nothing else, the fact that it would attract children, whereas I've seen few kids who are interested in playing on (versus in ) the Ford Explorer. It also would have far worse visibility than a Ford Explorer. That said, I don't think it is an argument for whether he should be "allowed" to have the truck or not. If there was evidence that people with large truck always hurt kids, perhaps; but I don't think that evi…

These are good points - pollution, eye sore, blind spots, etc. I try to be really careful with it and be aware of my surroundings as much as possible. As far as the neighbors are concerned, I weighed purchasing the fire truck that I'd always wanted against possibly pissing off the neighbors. The rest of that story is history.

Re: I Bought A Firetruck

#179

Post by uogecko »

Gravityloss wrote: post #115
newbie12 wrote: post #41

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'd be pissed to be his neighbor. The firetruck spews dirty exhaust, is unsafe if there are kids running around, and definitely is an eyesore. Even though there's no HOA he is probably running afoul of city or county zoning rules...you shouldn't be able to park large work trucks in residential neighborhoods.

I'd be glad, wouldn't it be cool? Probably he also shows it to neighbours. And you could tell everyone "I live two houses from the firetruck".

I joke that their proximity to my firetruck should reduce the cost of their home owners insurance. They should be thanking me :)

Re: I Bought A Firetruck

#180

Post by uogecko »

ben0x539 wrote: post #51

My nightmare scenario here would be being parked somewhere near where a fire breaks out, and then having to tell people that no, I can't actually help them.

Or passing an emergency and getting flagged down. I'm hoping that nothing like that ever happens.
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