From workhorse to racehorse, original 1940’s model Possum Trot Fire Truck finds new life as showpiece

truck2POSSUM TROT – It’s been said that one man’s trash is another man’s treasure. That could certainly be the case made for an old fire truck once belonging to a local department that was saved, re-vamped and now has a whole new purpose in life.

Former Possum-Trot Sharpe Fire Chief and current department member Clete Collins remembers the day he got a call from a gentleman in Lexington, Ill. The caller asked Collins if he happened to remember a certain 1949 International fire truck formerly owned by the department. Collins reply was of course “yes,” bringing back a flood of fond memories of the department’s humble beginnings.

The Possum Trot- Sharpe Fire Department was founded nearly 40 years ago, in 1976. “We had absolutely nothing to start with but a dream,” Collins recalls.  “Some of us went door to door soliciting money,” hoping to secure enough funds to purchase a fire truck.

“In short order we had collected over $2,000,” Collins recalls. With those funds, the department purchased its first piece of equipment, a 1946 Army surplus fire truck from another area fire department. “That piece of apparatus was less than dependable to say the least – so we knew we needed a ‘backup truck.’ It was at that time Collins said the department learned of a small truck for sale in a little community located west of Paducah.

“We decided we needed to go investigate and when we arrived and contacted the person in charge, he took us over to an abandoned store.” It was there Collins said, around the back and in standing in weeds measuring waist high, that the group discovered the 1949 International KB-6 with a 6 cylinder engine, four-speed straight shift transmission and 500 gallon booster tank.

“We paid the man $300 and sent a wrecker for it,” Collins recalls of their first steps to owning their ‘new to them’ truck. “I did a valve job, rebuilt the carburetor, put fresh gas in the fuel tank, changed the oil and oil filter, installed a new battery and fired it up.” After some rather serious pump and valve work – members of the department drove the truck to a local body shop, striped off everything they didn’t want and painted everything else.

kb6
This 1949 KB-6 illustrates what the truck would have looked like when used by the Possum trot Fire Department in the 1970’s.

Collins notes what was first intended to be the department’s “backup,” quickly became its “first due” engine. It remained in service for eight years until 1983 when it was replaced with a more modern 1971 cab over Ford-Alexis 750 GPM Pumper with a 750 gallon booster tank.

Now more than 32 years later, a random phone call has served as a reminder that fire trucks, much like firefighters, never really retire. The new owner of the truck reached out to find members of the PTSFD, asking if they would like to see how the truck is being utilized today.

Collins said he was more than eager to catch a glimpse of days gone by. “I told him I remembered it very well and have often wondered what happened to it. He asked if I would like to see pictures of what it looked like and I immediately said ‘Yes!”

Collins says the present owner of the truck is Scott Murphy. He maintains the truck will not be painted – adding that he likes it just the way it is. “He said he only removed the vinyl letters so he could replace them with painted ones,” Collins said.
“They look exactly like the lettering we put on but it is aged to look original. Murphy intends to use the truck as a traveling showpiece throughout the Lexington, Ill. area and beyond if things go as planned.

Today, the truck is powered by a 454 Chevrolet engine with aluminum heads topped off with fuel injection and a blower. The engine produces a little over 1100 HP which is slightly more powerful than the original 95 HP it had.

Collins said Murphy admits he has not yet timed his new ‘toy’ but said he expects to see just how quickly Big Red can make it down the quarter-mile. “Even though he isn’t going to race the truck he told me that when you have a toy like this, ‘you just have to know what it’s capable of.'”

Collins notes that using a racing formula, Murphy has calculated that his truck should be capable of a top speed in excess of 140 mph. Collins laughs and says while today the truck wouldn’t be of much use for carrying hose, it would surely decrease response times.

To the best of his recollection, Collins believes the department sold the truck for $500.