Morgan City's 1922 firetruck comes back to life

Morgan City businessman Audie Taquino and his friends in the Bayou Old Time Engine and Power Association brought a piece of Morgan City history back to life Saturday.
For the past 15 years, the group has been working to restore the City of Morgan City’s second-ever motorized firetruck, a 1922 American LaFrance Type 75 Fire Engine.
Taquino was asked by then-Morgan City Mayor Tim Tregle in May 2005 if he was interested in restoring the truck, because the tin shed the fire truck was in behind L.F. Kihneman Fire Station on Federal Avenue was to be torn down.
At the time he took possession of the vehicle, it was in pieces. It hadn’t run in years.
“Somebody had torn all the engine down and left it all in pieces,” Taquino said Saturday at his air conditioning business garage where the vehicle has sat since May 2005.
Morgan City Fire Chief Alvin Cockerham said that others had tried to repair the vehicle in the past but were unable to.
However, the Bayou Old Time Engine and Power Association, made up of members from southeast Louisiana, took on the challenge and have been working on the project since.
Before starting this project, the group typically spent its time restoring antique engines.
“This is the first time we took on a project like this to restore something like this,” Taquino said of the complete restoration.
The project to restore the truck, named the “Enola E” after Enola Egle, has taken 15 years. Just repainting the truck took about six years.
As for the hardest part of the restoration?
“Between the two bumpers,” Taquino laughed. “Every nut, bolt has pretty much been replaced. The engine was totally rebuilt. We had to manufacture valves and springs for it.”
The group has spent over $20,000 in restoring the truck, utilizing a $20,000 grant that was secured by then state Sen. Butch Gautreaux as well as some out of pocket expenses by club members and donations.
After the engine was restored by a club member from New Iberia, it was run at the Patterson Cypress Sawmill Festival a few years ago, but until Saturday, the truck had not been started.
Club member J.B. Castagnos of Donaldsonville, who was working often on the truck Saturday, said securing the parts are one of the hardest parts of the process,
“If you know mechanics, usually you can figure it out, but sometimes getting parts can be hard,” he said, adding sometimes parts have to be made.
“But it’s all usually doable,” Castagnos said.
Cockerham, one of the attendees at Saturday’s event, said the truck holds a special place for him, being that he is a fireman.
“I never thought I’d get to see it, but it sure looks good,” he said.
Once repairs are complete, Cockerham said the city is thinking about placing the truck somewhere like the Morgan City Municipal Auditorium where visitors can see it. It also may be used on special occasions or in parades like it was in years’ past before falling into disrepair.
Castagnos said it is rewarding to get the truck running.
“Projects like this drag on, and it’s hard to get the whole group together,” he said. “Everybody’s busy, but I’m happy to see it run.”
Taquino said he had no doubt the fire truck would start Saturday.
“With this group of guys, they’d make a rock run,” Taquino laughed.