Seeing the results
Published 12:00 am Thursday, June 1, 2023
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The 1928 Ford Model AA fire truck, seen before its restoration and donation one year ago to the village of South Point. (Submitted photo)
Jean Mattis, the widow of David Brubaker, reacts on Sunday upon seeing the inscription, “For David” on the rear of South Point’s 1928 Model AA Ford fire truck. (The Ironton Tribune | Heath Harrison)
South Point Mayor Jeff Gaskin shows the family of the late David Brubaker the restored 1928 Model AA Ford fire truck they donated to the village. The truck, South Point’s first, was sold to Brubaker in 1959 and remained in storage in Tipp City in a barn following his death. (The Ironton Tribune | Heath Harrison)
Mayor Jeff Gaskin rides a 1928 Model AA fire truck, the first used by the Village of South Point, newly restored and making its debut in the 155th Ironton-Lawrence County Memorial Day Parade on Monday. (Larry Rees | For The Ironton Tribune)
This 1929 Model AA fire truck was the first used by South Point’s fire department and had three decades of service to the village. After sitting in storage for more than 60 years with a private collector, it has been restored by the village and is set to make its first outing in the Ironton-Lawrence County Memorial Day Parade on Monday. (The Ironton Tribune | Heath Harrison)
A message on the back of South Point’s fire truck honors David Brubaker, a former village resident, who bought the truck in 1959. His family donated in to the village last year. (The Ironton Tribune | Heath Harrison)
Village workers restored all of the brass on South Point’s 1928 fire truck. (The Ironton Tribune | Heath Harrison)
Mayor Jeff Gaskin and members of the South Point Volunteer Fire Department look over the 1928 Model AA Ford truck on Thursday, in preparation for its entry into Monday’s Ironton-Lawrence County Memorial Day Parade. (The Ironton Tribune | Heath Harrison)
The engine for South Point’s 1928 fire truck was rebuilt by Ron’s Model A, located in Cincinnati, and then assembled by village workers. (The Ironton Tribune | Heath Harrison)
This 1929 Model AA fire truck was the first used by South Point’s fire department and had three decades of service to the village. After sitting in storage for more than 60 years with a private collector, it has been restored by the village and is set to make its first outing in the Ironton-Lawrence County Memorial Day Parade on Monday. (The Ironton Tribune | Heath Harrison)
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Jean Mattis, the widow of David Brubaker, reacts on Sunday upon seeing the inscription, “For David” on the rear of South Point’s 1928 Model AA Ford fire truck. (The Ironton Tribune | Heath Harrison)
Restored SP fire truck unveiled to family before parade in Ironton
SOUTH POINT — The family who donated the village’s first fire truck back to South Point got to see the restoration of the vehicle in its full glory on Sunday.
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The 1928 Ford Model AA fire truck, seen before its restoration and donation one year ago to the village of South Point. (Submitted photo)
Relatives of the late David Brubaker, a former South Point resident, were on hand at a garage at the village’s sewer plant, where Mayor Jeff Gaskin and village workers showed the 1928 Model AA Ford to them.
The truck was in service in the village from 1928-1959, when it was sold to Brubaker, who planned on restoring it. Following Brubaker’s death in the early 1970s, the vehicle sat in storage in barn in Tipp City.
Last year, the family donated it back to South Point, on the condition that it be restored.
And, for the past year, under direction of Mike Jones and Mike Kelley, village workers brought the vehicle back to life to use as a show truck.
Sunday’s visit by the family came on the eve of the truck’s public debut in this year’s Ironton-Lawrence County Memorial Day Parade.
Brubaker’s widow, Jean Mattis, was moved when Gaskin showed her a painted inscription on the rear of the vehicle, reading “For David.”
“And that will always be there,” he told her.
For Monday’s parade, the truck was taken to Ironton on a trailer, to avoid putting it on the wet roads from the previous night, Lou Pyles, with the parade committee, said.
Pyles said the vehicle was a hit with the parade.
Gaskin, who rode in the truck with Kelley, Jones and fire chief Mark Goodall, also said that it proved popular with the crowd and that they received compliments and questions every time they stopped along the route.