Hello from newbie outside New Orleans, LA

[James R Diefenthal]

I am almost finished a complete restoration of a 1918 American LaFrance fire engine. It is a pumper (600 gallons/minute) and a 4 cylinder, 70 hp. model 10 that was used by the New Orleans Fire Department until 1950's. My family was in the scrap metal business from 1900 to 2006 and we bought 3 fire engines for scrapping in the mid 1950s. We saved one to ride occaionally during Mardi Gras and used parts from the other two.

Hurrican Katrina flooded it and it sat for five years with salt water still in the engine, etc.. It was a massive job to rebuild after leaving it for so long but I was undergoing chemo therapy for cancer during the hurricane and lost my home, office and was looted 3 times.

Needless to say I had other problems pressing me, but I finally started the rebuild about 2 years ago. It now almost ready for to hit the road and is running better than ever. I was fortunate to locate a mechanic/welder/former racer to do the rebuild in my shop. He is 70 years old but in great shape and had all the skills needed to accomplish this miracle.

The last remaining piece of the restoration is to add power assist steering since the truck was always very difficult to drive. We had to use the strongest truck driver we had to drive in the parades. Of course, we just broke in to the parade routes by bribing a policeman with lots of beads which he usually gave to the kids nearby waiting for the parade to start.

I will post some photos of the before, during and after when I roll it out the the garage I built for it in my warehouse. This project has gotten me more interested in doing other restorations or maybe some total builds from scratch and thus the interest in this forum.

If anyone else has an interest in Fire apparatus or is in the area of New Orleans, please stop by or contact me through this forum...

Jim Diefenthal