1947 Mack Type 85 Fire Truck
This 1947 Mack Type 85 fire truck was donated to the Texas Transportation Museum in San Antonio in April 2013. It was originally ordered, along with an identical unit, by the St. Louis Fire Department in May 1947 and delivered in October the same year. It cost $14,500.00 in 1947, the equivalent of $148.000.00 in today's money. After it was retired from active fire fighting duties, it was acquired by the Falstaff beer brewing company, which was based in St. Louis, and used as a promotional vehicle in parades and other events. It ended up at the Pearl Brewery in San Antonio and was put into storage around 1990. Beer production ended at the large complex in 2001. The 23 acre property was acquired by Silver Ventures and is being transformed into a shining example of inner city rejuvenation, mixing the old and the new in dynamic and attractive ways that has captured the imagination of the city. In 2013 Pearl donated the fire truck to the Texas Transportation Museum, which happens to have started at the brewery in 1964. TTM intends to restore the unit to working condition.
1947 Mack Fire Truck at Texas Transportation Museum, April 2013
Restoring the vehicle will be much easier thanks to a plethora of information provided by the Mack Trucks Historical Museum - see link on the right - including an absolutely invaluable "Mack Type 85 Maintenance Book." This along with the other information, such as factory pictures of the vehicle's twin ordered by the St. Louis Fire department at the same time as the one we now have, puts TTM in a really good position to get the vehicle back into service sooner rather than later.
Information supplied by the Mack Trucks History Museum
Factory pictures of identical 1947 Mack Type 85 fire truck ordered by the
St. Louis fire department at the same time as the one donated to the Texas Transportation Museum in April 2013
Images of the 1947 Mack Fire Truck as found at Pearl in April 2013
