Despite hailing from north of Boston, this former firefighting rig from the town of Wenham, Massachusetts, has survived in surprisingly sound condition. It’s certainly helped by the fact that the mileage is incredibly low at just 19,000, but this is hardly surprising considering how many former fire department trucks appear with next to no miles on the clock. This particular truck features a 6.2L diesel engine paired to a manual transmission and is listed here on craigslist for $15,000.
While I always enjoy these firefighting artifacts and the crazy low miles they typically feature, I also have to laugh that a small town in the sleepy suburbs of north Boston felt they needed an “Attack” rig in the local fleet. Perhaps that word means something different to a local fire department, but I picture an “Attack” squad as being part of a crew that rips into the tree line to stop a wildfire from spreading to the town below, a scenario that is highly unlikely in New England. The seller notes this truck comes with lots of specialized equipment including a parts generator, 200 gallon water tank, and pump.
The interior presents well, certainly looking like it belongs to a low-mileage truck. Still, the dash is cracked, which is surprising considering that most vintage vehicles from this part of the world are likely to have some rust but the dash plastics usually survive given they aren’t bombarded by intense sunlight. The bench seat appears to be in good shape but overall, the interior looks like it would benefit from a professional detailing to present like the sub-20,000 mile truck that it is.
Unlike many former town-owned vehicles, this GMC hasn’t been stripped of all of its firefighting regalia. The brush guards, flashing lights, and PTO are all still accounted for, and I’ll bet there’s a working siren still attached as well. The seller notes there is some rust in the bed and in the toolboxes, but it sounds like the frame and the rest of the body are intact. The combination of a 6.2L diesel, four-wheel-drive, and a stick is likely hard to repeat, especially with 19,000 miles.
It looks like the sun ATTACKED that dashboard. A lot of damage can be mitigated w/ the use of some simple items when a vehicle is new … dash pads, seat covers, etc. I don’t know why more people don’t use these.
I put a seat cover on my Matrix driver’s seat as soon as I got it… it’s usually just me in the car although I haul around a special-needs / group home buddy “Johnny” on the weekends… sideline job for extra $.
I was dating a smart-alecky gal a few years ago and she was a few years younger than me. Ok, she was like 16 years younger. She saw my seat cover and asked why I had it and asked if I was incontinent. I told her that no, I wasn’t incontinent yet but Johnny was and he sits in her spot. That shut her up for a little while.
Lots of idle time with what it was used for. That’s much harder on the engine than if it had highway miles. 6.2L GM diesels we’re not the best quality compared to later GM diesels.
Yes!!! How many hours on this thing?? That is rescue vehicle time issue.. Some idle for 16 hrs a day without moving an inch~~
Awesome you buy this thing on GSA auctions or public surplus auctions for $5k and try to flip it to a unsuspecting buyer for $15k , go for it take advantage of the stupid high car prices for long as you can. I hope you sell it before the market crashes
Troy, I think you are right about that. I’m pretty sure I saw this on Municbid a few weeks back. I didn’t look closely enough at it to know that it only had low mileage.
New skid system, new light bar, rear warning lights, about 7-9 k to upgrade. That’s only if the bed is not rusted apart. Looks like they added on a lot of extras probably exceeding the weight limits. Body rust is a lot like cancer. As other person indicated 5k would be a good deal.
The aftermarket bodies were generally poorly built and if it came from the company they n Central Mass it probably sat outside for 2 years before getting painted and put on
It’s obvious the author has zero fire fighting experience
This type of equipment is called a fast attack mini pumper and is designed to make a quick initial attack on specific types of fires