Vintage Fire Truck Added To Route 66 Fire Station

Tulsa has a new, Route 66, roadside attraction decades in the making.

The Tulsa Fire Department installed a 1950 truck outside its Station 66 and anyone driving into Tulsa on Route 66 from the east can't miss it. The work took more than 3 years of work by volunteers, who rebuilt the truck that was junked about 15 years ago.

"And I was just admiring just how old the truck was, and it came from Tulsa," said Lt. Nick Swinston with Tulsa Fire.

Swinston, Chief Mike Mallory, and others were involved in getting the truck back into Tulsa's fleet after it was sold to the Depew Fire Department in 1967.

The truck features a distinctive nozzle called a deck gun used when the truck was stationed near downtown Tulsa.

That feature was recreated in Pixar's 2006 film Cars for the character "Red" after movie producers saw it along Route 66. Everything was restored to a vintage state so it can serve as an art piece and selfie stop for travelers along the highway.

"The lights, the wood decking in the back, and we kind of made it childproof," said Swinston.

Lt Swinston said he was after the truck for 15 years, just hoping it could serve the department once again. Now that it's in place along Route 66, at Station 66 they figure more people will be posing for pictures here.

The department plans to dress the truck up with lights and reindeer at Christmas and visitors will be able to get their Route 66 passport stamped as well.