Enola E. rolls again; 100-year-old firetruck appears in festival Street Parade

Along with all the other happenings during the Louisiana Shrimp and Petroleum Festival, Enola E. made a rare public appearance.

She's 100 years old, but she was looking sharp.

The Enola E. is a 1922 firetruck that has been restored in great detail by Audie Taquino and fellow members of the Bayou Old Tyme Power Association, an organization devoted to all things old and driven by internal combustion.

The Enola E. carried association members and Mayor Lee Dragna in the festival’s Street Parade down Second Street on Sunday.

But the century-old firetruck has traveled a much longer road, including 17 years of painstaking restoration. The truck’s home in recent years has been the shop at Audie’s Air Conditioning Inc. on Sandra Street.

The truck, Taquino said, was delivered to Morgan City by rail from Elmira, New York, in May 1922. The plaque on its side memorializes the acquisition and bears the name of Mayor M.D. Shannon; aldermen C.A. Bibbons, John Drackett, H.F. Belanger, Hamilton Boudreaux and Frank Price; and Fire Chief J.H. Evans.

Morgan City got its first motorized firetruck in 1914, Taquino said. The truck ended up in the water off the city wharf.

So Morgan City raised money for a replacement by holding a raffle. Enola Egle sold the most tickets, so the 1922 firetruck bears her name.

After the firetruck’s service was done, it was stored in a shed next to the fire station on Federal Avenue. By 2004, the shed had been damaged in a storm, and then-Mayor Tim Tregle and other officials had to figure what to do with the Enola E.

Members of the Bayou Old Tyme Power Association stepped up.

“I talked to the club,” Taquino said. “They were all for it, so we got it.”

And in 2005, the restoration work began.

Taquino estimates that bringing the firetruck back to driving condition cost $23,000 to $25,000. Then-state Sen. Butch Gautreaux helped obtain a $20,000 state grant.

The Enola E. still has its original 750-cubic-inch, 105-horsepower motor, which has both a magneto and a distributor system.

The cylinders were missing and had to be replaced. “I forget where I even found them,” Taquino said.

New valves had to be made.

The original wooden ladder was still around. So was one of the original hose nozzles. A second nozzle came from Breaux Bridge.

The trucks original gas tank leaked, so it was painted to maintain the truck’s look while another tank was installed.

The original hand-cranked siren was missing. Taquino tracked down a replacement on eBay. It was in bad shape and required cleaning and fixing, but it works. And it’s loud.

New rear tires could be located at only one dealer in the country, and they cost $1,100 each. The new rubber cap the ends of the chain-driven rear axle.

The body of the truck was sand-blasted in New Iberia, and Lynn’s Body and Paint Shop fixed up the body and repainted the truck in fire engine red.

Wendel Theriot of Vital Signs redid the lettering on the firetruck.

And the Enola E. was ready for the road again.