By modifying a commercial tree trimming truck, GMC created the Snorkel, whose articulated boom helped firefighters get a better angle on multiple-story fires. The 1958 GMC Snorkel represents an advance in firefighting equipment.
The earliest firefighting apparatus in the collection is the 1785 Richard Mason Hand Fire "Enjin," which was used in Charleston and operated by 33 slaves. The more modern trucks' red paint is polished to a pristine shine. All but the two of the earliest models are still capable of putting out a fire. These are not replicas or models but actual fire engines. The museum houses a collection of fire engines (or enjins as the earliest ones are called) dating from 1785-1969. When I walked into the main room of the North Charleston and American LaFrance Fire Museum, all I could think was that to three-year-old Charlie, the place would be something like heaven. But there's one vehicle that Charlie places above all others: the fire engine. He thinks trucks are even better - they elicit cheers and squeals. My friend Remy's young son, Charlie, is obsessed with cars. The company continued making the wooden vehicles after the war, but the public preferred the metal trucks Buddy L offered after 1949.A collection of fire trucks going back as far as 1785.
Henry Katz, head of the company on the eve of war, found a plant in Glens Falls, New York, suitable for making Buddy "L" Victory Toys, later fondly called "Woodies" by collectors. During the years of the 1940s when supplies for World War II took most of America's available metal, the company produced toy cars and trucks made of wood. The durability of Buddy L toys led to their success, but their popularity also came from their many moving parts, and in some cases, from intricate features such as hydraulics that actually worked. Company founder Fred Lundahl named the line of toys for his own son, Buddy "L." The outsized cars, fire engines, construction vehicles, delivery trucks, and trains in metal sturdy enough to bear the weight of an adult withstood rough, outdoor play, and many kids clamored for Buddy Ls. In 1921, the Moline Pressed Steel Company of East Moline, Illinois, began making sturdy toy cars and trucks from the heavy-gauge steel it used in the manufacture of automobile parts for Detroit car companies.
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