1933 Suburbanite
Bill Blunden
The engine was purchased in May 1933 by the Village of Carthage NY. This engine along with a city service ladder truck was purchased from the Seagrave Company for $11,300.
The Seagrave, a 750 g.p.m. pump was numbered "2" as the departments front run pumper was a 1920 American LaFrance.
This 1933 Seagrave was the workhorse of the Carthage Fire Dept for 36 years. As a kid, Bill remembers riding on the engine with his father who was Chief of the department. Once the engine was sold it remained forgotten for the next 20 years.
The engine was in service until the fall of 1969 when it was taken out of service and put into storage. On January 10, 1972 the engine was sold in auction to a gentleman in Syracuse, NY for the sum of $261.83. The truck was sold at least two more times with one owner doing a partial restoration to the body. Interestingly, the wheels remain the original paint with gold leafing although they are in very poor condition.
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Bill started his search by writing to the gentleman who originally purchased the engine with no response. Over the next years he continued to inquire about the engine and attended many of the SPAAMFAA conventions in Syracuse hoping to see the truck again. Finally, Bill was given the name of the gentleman who was the current owner and wrote to him with no response. Then out of the blue one day last spring, Bill received a phone call from owner. Bill explained that he had been looking for the engine for the past 25 years, and mentioned that if he ever wanted to sell it, he would be interested in the purchase. Bill took a trip to owners home a few weeks later and within 1 month had purchased the vehicle and trucked it "back home" to Carthage NY. The motor was frozen and the paint was starting to fail. Bill hopes to get it running again and then begin the restoration process including painting it a proper Seagrave red.
