In 1983 the Mack company was facing enormous pressure on different fronts. They had new corporate ownership and in a drive to determine which of their divisions were profitable, it was determined that the Fire Apparatus Division based out of the Macungie PA plant was not going to continue building complete fire apparatus. There was also need for the huge Macungie plant to assemble other vehicles, and the decision was made to cease sales and manufacturing of complete fire apparatus. The company decided to continue chassis productions of the CF and MC and R chassis for fire apparatus application until 1989, but the era of wholly Mack produced apparatus was over.
Much of this is a result of a run of rusting out apparatus produced in the late 1970's and early 1980's. Bad steel and poor body quality led many US fire departments to upstart E\-One with their aluminum bodies and a re-energized Pierce Mfg Co out of Wisconsin. Many of the traditional Mack customers went elsewhere and the traditional commercial truck-orientated Mack sales organization was never able to compete effectively with the dedicated fire apparatus sales forces of E\-One and Pierce.
In mid 1983 the Westbury Fire District on Long Island placed an order for what would become the last complete Mack fire apparatus. The unit was produced in the spring of 1984 and was a 4 door cab CF-600 chassis with a 1500 GPM Waterous 2 stage fire pump and a 600 gallon booster tank and carries serial number CF688-F15-1067. The unit served the very busy Westbury Fire Department from 1984 until earlier this year when it was replaced with a KME custom fire pumper. The unit has no crosslays, 2 booster reels over the pump panel, a front intake, and all the hose comes off the rear. There is a 3 inlet deck gun mounted on the cab roof and an additional booster reel in the rear compartment. The body is made of galveneal treated steel and is in excellent condition. All of the Westbury units from that era had a set of strobes mounted at the rear corners of the 4 door cab. The rig also had polished aluminum wheels, fairly uncommon for the 1980's. On the sides of the extended front bumper they mounted Bulldogs on short poles to guide the drivers.
I bought the unit this week from Westbury and brought it home to Lancaster PA yesterday, less than 60 miles from its place of manufacture. Its in remarkably good condition, mostly original, just a few additional decals added from when it was new, and no rust on the body and a very small spot of corrosion on the cab floor.
A great piece of history for all Mack lovers. If you ask me they never made a better piece of apparatus than the CF Mack!
Much of this is a result of a run of rusting out apparatus produced in the late 1970's and early 1980's. Bad steel and poor body quality led many US fire departments to upstart E\-One with their aluminum bodies and a re-energized Pierce Mfg Co out of Wisconsin. Many of the traditional Mack customers went elsewhere and the traditional commercial truck-orientated Mack sales organization was never able to compete effectively with the dedicated fire apparatus sales forces of E\-One and Pierce.
In mid 1983 the Westbury Fire District on Long Island placed an order for what would become the last complete Mack fire apparatus. The unit was produced in the spring of 1984 and was a 4 door cab CF-600 chassis with a 1500 GPM Waterous 2 stage fire pump and a 600 gallon booster tank and carries serial number CF688-F15-1067. The unit served the very busy Westbury Fire Department from 1984 until earlier this year when it was replaced with a KME custom fire pumper. The unit has no crosslays, 2 booster reels over the pump panel, a front intake, and all the hose comes off the rear. There is a 3 inlet deck gun mounted on the cab roof and an additional booster reel in the rear compartment. The body is made of galveneal treated steel and is in excellent condition. All of the Westbury units from that era had a set of strobes mounted at the rear corners of the 4 door cab. The rig also had polished aluminum wheels, fairly uncommon for the 1980's. On the sides of the extended front bumper they mounted Bulldogs on short poles to guide the drivers.
I bought the unit this week from Westbury and brought it home to Lancaster PA yesterday, less than 60 miles from its place of manufacture. Its in remarkably good condition, mostly original, just a few additional decals added from when it was new, and no rust on the body and a very small spot of corrosion on the cab floor.
A great piece of history for all Mack lovers. If you ask me they never made a better piece of apparatus than the CF Mack!
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