The completely restored 1960 Mack pumper as Engine Company 87 owned by The Engine 87 Club of Chicago CLICK ON ABOVE IMAGE OF ENGINE 87 AND GO TO ENGINE 87's PHOTO PAGE
On a cold winter’s night back in 1994, seven men, all active members of the fire service sat down to talk. Induced by some libations, the focus quickly turned to “the old days” of firefighting. The way they all remembered it from their youth. The memories that brought them into a career of tradition and honor. “Wouldn’t it be great if we could find an old rig and fix it up to Chicago specs,” asked one of the guys. Of course there was no disagreement. They had all remembered the engines and trucks growing up in their neighborhoods.
While I’m sure this conversation has taken place many times, in many basements before, something was about to happen. Another one of the guys mentioned that there was a Mack pumper, for sale in a yard on the far southwest side of the Chicago area. The pumper, was parked in the lot of Specialty Equipment of Alsip, Il. A fact finding trip by a couple of the guys, found the engine running (after the gas tank was filled), and a body that needed more work than any of us could imagine.
A meeting of the minds was called to determine if this was, indeed doable? “What are they asking?” was the most important question on all our lips. It turns out the rig had just been traded in shortly beforehand by the Skokie Fire Department. It had run as a spare until recently. It was traded in for a new vehicle. Of course none of us even knew what to offer on something like this. Two of the men went into the business office, which was owned by the King brothers, who were in fact fire fans too! After a couple rounds of negotiating, the price of $2750 was agreed upon. Not much of a drop from the asking price of $3000, but a deal is a deal.
We decided to pool our money and brains together and purchase the engine. About one week later, the engine was picked up and taken to Broadview’s firehouse to go over the rig with a fine toothcomb. Broadview was the natural choice because of the extra room, state of the art repair equipment, and the fact that one of the members was the Chief of Broadview. The choice was a no brainer. Luckily a few of the members were more mechanically inclined than others. It was decided most of the mechanical operating components were still usable, and functioning. The focus would be on cosmetics. The enormous amount of rust was an issue. Also, Skokie had ordered the rig with different compartment configurations, and the front bumper was not correct for Chicago. The rear fenders would have to be fabricated from scratch using blue prints from the original Mack order. One of the members had an original purchase order and drawings for the engine. The Skokie rig, a 1960 Mack Thermodyne, was a 1000 GPM pumper. Our idea was to model it as closely to the CFD 1956 Mack as possible. With only subtle differences between model years, this was completely possible. After shopping around the price of body work, we decided to use a shop in Broadview called “The Panik Stop.” Casey was the owner/operator. We explained our dream and our finances. We actually had much more dream than finances, but he agreed to do the work. He told us it would take about one year, start to finish, if he worked on it during his slow periods.
During that year we visited “our baby” numerous times. Always leaving with huge smiles on our faces, and thinking how cool it will be to finally drive it out! One year, and $10,000 later, the rig was done! The only thing left were a few incidentals like the official lettering, getting the correct front bumper, the DX-40 football light, and adding all the equipment. Like all good firemen, being resourceful was the name of the game. Some equipment came from members. Some came from musters, and some was donated from other fans or Fire Departments getting rid of old or antiquated fittings, nozzles, hose, and even an old “street jack” (precurser to the multiversal). The majority of the funding came from selling Illinois Special Event license plates to cover the rest of the work.
A few weeks after the purchase, it was decided to officially charter an owner/member club. All seven investors would be members, with one president. After a unanimous decision, Dennis Alund, a Maywood fireman at the time, was elected president. It was also decided at the same meeting that Ron Heckla, a member of the CFD Communications Division, would be Lieutenant. When asked later how it was decided Heckla would be Lieutenant, one of the members shouted “He called it first!” Tom Gaertner, a Broadview Lieutenant, would be the Engineer. The rest, Lee Madison (CFD, dispatcher), John Tierney (Chief of Broadview F.D.), Mike Mulcahy (FF, Lombard FD) and Bob Ruffalo (FF, Maywood FD) would round off the fireman assigned to Engine 87. The company number was decided at an informal meeting. It was suggested that we use an out of service signature as not to confuse the rig with an active company. We picked an out of service company, who actually had a 1956 Mack pumper. It was also decided to use a company who’s firehouse was still standing. That limited us to only a few choices. 87 won out!
It certainly was a learning experience for all of us. The behind the scenes magic it took to keep that rig running (out of gas at times), was a little challenging. Tom Gaertner holds the record for most empty gas tanks. This usually followed a day, being used by Mulcahy or Ruffalo! Lee Madison was the straight guy who took a lot of abuse. Just like in a real firehouse. John Tierney had a fan club so large, he had to wear sunglasses (even at night) during our functions to help keep him incognito!
We offset operating costs by leasing the engine out to weddings, funerals, parades, and even corporate sponsorship. Engine 87 was hired by the McIlhenny Tabasco Company as an advertisement prop. Engine 87 was also approached and hired by the First Gear company to make a die cast replica. 1250 pieces of Engine 87 models were produced and sold out. The same mold was used by them to make other B model Mack models as well.
If you are thinking about doing what we did, I will give you some advice. Make sure you have help both financially and mechanically. It’s a lot to take on for one person. Everyone in the club contributed time and effort. Someone always knew a way to make it better or mitigate a problem.
There is no way to thank everyone for the help we received both monetarily and otherwise. I would like to acknowledge some people who went the extra mile for us. Thank you: Dennis McGuire Sr. and family, Jack Connors, Ken Little, Fire Buffs of Ill, and the 5-11 Club of Chicago, along with so many other friends.
This page is dedicated to the late FF. Lee Madison E-87 and C.F.D. dispatcher. We will miss you. 3-3-5 L-M.
Respectfully submitted, Ronald Heckla Retired Captain Engine Company 87
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