An Antique's Heroic Journey: Truck 16 at the Pentagon on September 11th

Learn how this beautiful antique fire truck, manufactured in Allentown, Pennsylvania, in 1955 did something no other truck could do. It happened at the pentagon following the September 11th Attacks. This Mack model B-85 was a ladder truck and was of course the classic red. It was built with an extendable ladder that reached 85 feet into the air, mounted at the center of the body.

Like any classy red vehicle from the 1950s – it was, of course, a convertible! And to offset it’s bright red color, the truck had silver chrome bumpers, shiny silver chrome sirens, an old-fashioned signal bell mounted at the left front, and red lights all around. It is the kind of rig you could easily imagine dashing to the rescue with a Dalmatian in the center seat, lights flashing, sirens blaring, with firefighters hanging off the back.