This past June a lifelong dream of mine was realized when I drove home a 1968 Young Crusader from the Kenilworth Fire District in Tonawanda, NY. Having loved the look of the Crusader (a look that you either love or hate) since seeing Ardsley, NY's in the early 80's at a parade I knew at age 5 I would eventually own one (product of a mis-spent youth). Growing up ( or so they called it ) and becoming more educated about fire apparatus I found myself even more enthralled by the design nuances of the Crusader- the things incorporated into a design that was truly built for a firefighter in mind. The rest is history, and shop number 68-243 is proudly owned and maintained by me (with a little help from my cadre of mechanic friends).
Life stories aside, years before I purchased my engine, I had run into a good friend and apparatus historian and happened to mention the fact that I loved the rigs- a week later he showed up while I was on shift with a manilla envelope that I had since forgotten about. A few weeks back while rifleing through some paperwork I found it- 'ya know that feeling when you find a twenty in a pair of old jeans? I found 13 of 'em.
We'll start it out with the obvious-
Life stories aside, years before I purchased my engine, I had run into a good friend and apparatus historian and happened to mention the fact that I loved the rigs- a week later he showed up while I was on shift with a manilla envelope that I had since forgotten about. A few weeks back while rifleing through some paperwork I found it- 'ya know that feeling when you find a twenty in a pair of old jeans? I found 13 of 'em.
We'll start it out with the obvious-
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