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+---- Thread: 1963 Ford Galaxie 500 - Fire Chief's Buggy (/showthread.php?tid=1967)
1963 Ford Galaxie 500 - Fire Chief's Buggy - FDSafetyMentor - 03-24-2007
Repost of my ride from photos taken at the 2006 Liberty Lake Muster in Bedford, VA in 2006.
132,000 miles and still running great. Almost all original including the paint. The carpet inside has been replaced but upholstery still original. It has a 289-V8 with 3 speed automatic transmission. All equipment still works. Featured in the book "First to the Flames - A History of Fire Chief Vehicles", by Edward L. Peterson (1999 by Krause Publications).
Now resides in Chesterfield, VA. It is Ex-Carmel (NC) VFD. It was cloned in 1991 by Steve Cloutier the fire chief in Carmel at that time. Fully equipped with Scott cub air-pak, full turnout gear circa 1963 (3/4 boots, fireball gloves, MSA helmet), Civil Defense Geiger counter, explosion meter, Big Beam flashlight and road flasher, Motorola high-band mobile radio and hand held, Federal mechanical siren under the hood, first aid kit and resuscitator, Federal Beacon Ray (4 bulb-quarter turn) and alternating flashers in the headlights and on rear deck.
1963 Ford Galaxie 500 - Fire Chief's Buggy - Guest - 03-25-2007
[quote name='FDSafetyMentor' post='90461' date='Mar 24 2007, 12:11 ']Repost of my ride from photos taken at the 2006 Liberty Lake Muster in Bedford, VA in 2006.
132,000 miles and still running great. Almost all original including the paint. The carpet inside has been replaced but upholstery still original. It has a 289-V8 with 3 speed automatic transmission. All equipment still works. Featured in the book "First to the Flames - A History of Fire Chief Vehicles", by Edward L. Peterson (1999 by Krause Publications).
Now resides in Chesterfield, VA. It is Ex-Carmel (NC) VFD. It was cloned in 1991 by Steve Cloutier the fire chief in Carmel at that time. Fully equipped with Scott cub air-pak, full turnout gear circa 1963 (3/4 boots, fireball gloves, MSA helmet), Civil Defense Geiger counter, explosion meter, Big Beam flashlight and road flasher, Motorola high-band mobile radio and hand held, Federal mechanical siren under the hood, first aid kit and resuscitator, Federal Beacon Ray (4 bulb-quarter turn) and alternating flashers in the headlights and on rear deck.[/quote]
that is one awesome looking chief's car, thanks for the pic !
1963 Ford Galaxie 500 - Fire Chief's Buggy - Guest - 03-29-2007
What a beautiful car <img src='http://www.firepics.net/groupboards/public/style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/fireman.gif' class='bbc_emoticon' alt='
' /> ! Is it difficult to find a fire car antique ? We all see antique apparatus trucks but it seems to me that we don't see this kind of collection . Please excuse my writing , my base language is french . <img src='http://www.firepics.net/groupboards/public/style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/happy.gif' class='bbc_emoticon' alt='^_^' /> J-F O'Neil
1963 Ford Galaxie 500 - Fire Chief's Buggy - photone - 03-30-2007
[quote name='orford' post='92133' date='Mar 29 2007, 05:38 ']What a beautiful car <img src='http://www.firepics.net/groupboards/public/style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/fireman.gif' class='bbc_emoticon' alt='
' /> ! Is it difficult to find a fire car antique ? We all see antique apparatus trucks but it seems to me that we don't see this kind of collection . Please excuse my writing , my base language is french . <img src='http://www.firepics.net/groupboards/public/style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/happy.gif' class='bbc_emoticon' alt='^_^' /> J-F O'Neil[/quote]
Your English is better than that of most of the people I work with <img src='http://www.firepics.net/groupboards/public/style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/biggrin.gif' class='bbc_emoticon' alt='
' /> I've seen this particular car first hand on several occasions...it, in fact, lives not to far from my house, and pictures don't do it justice...it looks even better in person. The car is immaculate!Antique chief's cars (Or 'Buggies' as they''re called in the U.S. fire service) are no where near as common as antique apparatus, but they can be found. Finding one with all or most of it's emergency equipment is the hard part...American localities often strip Fire Department and police cars of all emergency equipment and sell them to members of the general public after they're replaced.
Rob
1963 Ford Galaxie 500 - Fire Chief's Buggy - Citywide 231 - 04-18-2007
All I can say is wow. Do you have any more pics, possibly of the interior?
1963 Ford Galaxie 500 - Fire Chief's Buggy - FDSafetyMentor - 04-22-2007
Doug,
Here are some detail shots of the car. Here's what the rear looks like with goldleaf on the trunk lid and flashers on the rear deck.
1963 Ford Galaxie 500 - Fire Chief's Buggy - FDSafetyMentor - 04-22-2007
The engine compartment with the mechanical siren hiding under the hood.
1963 Ford Galaxie 500 - Fire Chief's Buggy - FDSafetyMentor - 04-22-2007
The front seat with Motorola high band radio. The carpet was replaced in the car about 8 years ago, but everything else is still original including the paint.
1963 Ford Galaxie 500 - Fire Chief's Buggy - FDSafetyMentor - 04-22-2007
The fully equipped trunk with most things a chief would need on arrival: Bunker coat and helmet, 3/4 boots, Fireball gloves, MSA cub-pack with spare bottle, Motorola handi-talki, first aid kit, explosimeter, geiger counter (Cold War era!), resuscitator, Big Beam flashlight and road flasher, chief's axe and of courser the actual radio for the control head in the front seat. The fire extinguisher is about the only thing that is not period correct in the trunk.
1963 Ford Galaxie 500 - Fire Chief's Buggy - FDSafetyMentor - 04-22-2007
And no chief's buggy would be complete without an ever faithful traveling companion named "Sparky" of course.
1963 Ford Galaxie 500 - Fire Chief's Buggy - Citywide 231 - 04-22-2007
Very Impressive, that must really turn heads
1963 Ford Galaxie 500 - Fire Chief's Buggy - FDSafetyMentor - 09-16-2007
In June of 2007 Virginia Governor Tim Kaine stopped by to pose with the chief's car at the Virginia Fallen Firefighters Memorial Service at RIR in Richmond, VA.
1963 Ford Galaxie 500 - Fire Chief's Buggy - FDSafetyMentor - 09-16-2007
Yesterday, the car made the 120 mile trip to Waynesboro, VA for a muster organized by the Old Dominion Historical Fire Society. Look for other pics from that event on the board soon.
1963 Ford Galaxie 500 - Fire Chief's Buggy - FDSafetyMentor - 12-20-2007
The '63 Chief won First Place - Best Appearing Antique Fire Unit at the 2007 Urbanna (VA) Oyster Festival Firefighter's Parade in November. Quite an honor considering all the other classy antique fire rigs that were there that evening. Here's the Galaxie parked in staging next to a 1970 Cadillac ambulance owned by another member of the ODHFS.
1963 Ford Galaxie 500 - Fire Chief's Buggy - FDSafetyMentor - 12-20-2007
A couple of old Ford's ready to lead the Old Dominion Historical Fire Society group through the Chester (VA) Christmas Parade in December 2007.
1963 Ford Galaxie 500 - Fire Chief's Buggy - FDSafetyMentor - 12-20-2007
The final event for the 2007 season was the annual Christmas Parade in Powhatan, VA. The '63 Chief led the way for the antique rigs under gray clouds, cold temperatures and occasional rain.
1963 Ford Galaxie 500 - Fire Chief's Buggy - ilfirebuff - 12-20-2007
Very cool looking cheifs car.
1963 Ford Galaxie 500 - Fire Chief's Buggy - FDSafetyMentor - 10-18-2008
Drove the car from Richmond up to Winchester,VA for a Muster we had in conjunction with the Long Branch Balloon Festival. Rained most of the way up so it was a mess Saturday morning. We had a good turnout and the weather was nice,cool and a little cloudy. Big crowds with lots of interest in the antique apparatus. Here's the Chief next to a Willys brush truck at the muster site.
1963 Ford Galaxie 500 - Fire Chief's Buggy - FDSafetyMentor - 10-18-2008
And this is what you owners can relate to......people helping themselves to whatever they want with little regard for the antique. Yo! Watch the belt buckle! Don't touch!
1963 Ford Galaxie 500 - Fire Chief's Buggy - jwh - 10-21-2008
[quote name='FDSafetyMentor' post='100302' date='Apr 22 2007, 16:06 ']The front seat with Motorola high band radio. The carpet was replaced in the car about 8 years ago, but everything else is still original including the paint.[/quote]
Boy does that picture bring back memories. My first car was a '64 Galaxie 500 - the same setup you have, except in blue. Too Bad they didn't think of molding the steering wheel in the actual color instead of black and then painting it. My blue steering wheeel looked the same as your red one.
It looks great you have a sweet piece of history there.
John in Rochester NY.