International R-185 Fire Pumper - Hill City, South Dakota - Fire Fighting Vehicles on Waymarking.com

This International R-185 Fire Pumper can be found on display in front of the of Naked Winery, near Highway 385, in the town of Hill City (South Dakota) USA.

Hill City is the oldest existing city in Pennington County, South Dakota, USA. The population was 948 at the 2010 census. Hill City is located 26 miles (42 km) southwest of Rapid City on State Highway 16 and on U.S. Route 385 that connects Deadwood to Hot Springs. Hill City is known as the "Heart of the Hills" which is derived from its close proximity to both the geographical center of the Black Hills, and the local tourist destinations.

According to our research, the truck was built by International Harvester Company (IH) of Chicago (Illinois) USA, between 1952 to 1965. It is possible, that it was bought by the Van Pelt Fire Apparatus Company, than retrofitted as a fire truck...

The merger of McCormick Harvesting Machine Company and the Deering Harvester Company in 1902 resulted in the formation of the International Harvester Company (IH) of Chicago, Illinois, which over the next three-quarters of a century evolved to become a diversified manufacturer of farming equipment, construction equipment, gas turbines, trucks, buses, and related components. During World War II, International Harvester produced the M-series of military trucks that served the Marine Corps and the U.S. Navy as weapons carriers, cargo transporters and light artillery movement.
International Harvester fell on hard times during the poor agricultural economy in the early to mid-1980s and the effects of a long strike with the UAW over proposed work rule changes. IH's new CEO, Donald Lennox, directed the management organization to begin exiting many of its IH's historical business sectors in an effort to survive. Some of the sales of profitable business endeavors were executed to raise cash for short-term survival, while other divisions were sold due to lack of immediate profitability.
After the Agricultural Division sale in 1985, all that remained of IH was the Truck and Engine Divisions. The company changed its name in 1986 to Navistar International Corporation. (The International Harvester name and IH logo were assets of the Agricultural Division and consequently were part of the sale to Tenneco; the IH name and logo are still in use, having been incorporated into the Case IH brand name). In the early 1980s, IH developed a series of reliable large-displacement V8 diesel engines that were sold as an option for heavy-duty Ford 3/4-ton and 1-ton pickup trucks.
Navistar still uses the "International" brand in its diesel engine and truck product lines, and the brand name continues on in product lines of Navistar International's International Truck and Engine Corporation subsidiary.

Regarding the International R-185, it replaced the L-185. The L-185 was an odd model designation. It was theoretically the Roadliner tractor model in the L180-series, and yet it was obviously part of the heavy-duty L-series and bore little resemblance to the L-180 Standard and Loadstar models. With its 42000 lb GCW rating, the L-185 was basically a replacement for tractor versions of the KB-8, with the engine increased from 361 to 372 ci and from 126 to 144 hp. The L-185 was roughly comparable to the GMC HCR-620 (40,000 lb GCW, 360 ci, 150 hp), and the Ford F-8 (337 ci, 145 hp).
When the updated R-185 came out in 1953, the only significant styling change was the use of three vertical bars in the upper grille instead of the seven of the L-series. Mechanically the trucks were almost unchanged. In 1955 engine refinements boosted the output of the RD-372 engine to 165 hp. In 1956 the 175-hp RD-406 was made optional in the R-185 model. In 1959 the 18500 lb rear axle that was standard in the R-190 series was made optional in the R-185. With that and the optional 7000 lb front axle, the maximum GVW rating was increased to 25,500 lb in 1961 and the GCW went up to 50,000 lb. In 1964 the R-185 and all R-series heavy trucks were fitted with large rectangular turn signals on the tops of the fenders. Also that year the RD-450 engine became available in the R-185 tractor and, in mid-year, the RD-501 was added. In 1965 higher compression ratios boosted engine power to 193-hp for the RD-406, 199-hp for the RD-450, and 215-hp for the RD-501. At the same time the Allison 6-speed automatic was made available.

Source: Wikipedia & so on.

One intriguing thing about the truck are the inscriptions on the truck's doors. It says:

VERMONT FIRE
PROT. DIST.

Any idea?

Address:

23851 Hwy 385
Hill City, SD 57745
USA

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