This was one area that working for the largest county in the nation had advantages. Especially if like me, you liked to drive, a LOT!!!
Even in the "urban areas" of the county it was most often from 80 to 150 miles a day. And when I was working the "outlying areas" it could easily and often be around 300 or more miles a day.
When I became a field officer in 1983 the trucks then were mostly late '70's to 1982 Chevy 1/2 ton to 3/4 ton cab and chassis with metal cage boxes welded on to the bodies.
There were also three late '70's Datsun standard cab trucks. NOBODY liked to drive the Datsun's, they had been an attempt by the county to have some 'economical' trucks that might get better then the 6 to 8 MPG the larger trucks got. Problem was that the standard cab Datsun's didn't have enough room behind the bench seat for the gigantic radio units that were the norm in the early 1980's. So with the radio box behind it the seat, it became just slightly over vertical in feeling and a metal frame bar from the seat back pounded across your back and shoulder blades. VERY uncomfortable to say the least! Add to that that the weight of the all metal cages was so much that the standard Datsun rear shocks couldn't hold up the cages. So the county maintenance crews put what felt like no suspension at the back end, think "hard tail" on a chopper that has no shocks at all! It was like having a pogo stick in the back if you were driving on the freeways with their expansion joints or were driving on bad roads. Just plain hurt after a full day of driving.
Almost all the trucks had cab air conditioning, but these stripped down trucks seldom had even am radios except for the Datsun's.
My first assigned truck was a then new, Chevy S-10 standard cab truck. They'd grafted a set of Datsun cages to the back and the truck was a V-6 with a 4 speed manual transmission. I was one of the very few people in the department that could drive a stick shift so I was offered and took the truck. Compared to the full size trucks it was a little hot rod that handled like a sports car with all the weight of the cages on the back. Still had a too stiff rear suspension but it at least did actually absorb some bounce instead of just bounce higher like the Datsun's did. Back in 'the day' before it became so populated with people moving to the area, it was nothing to be literally flying down the highway at 70 or 80 MPH. My very first day as an ACO with my very first truck just for me and I'm at the car wash we all used on Waterman and as the blower is going up over the truck the operator had forgotten to set it to a tall truck and the blower rolled up the windshield over the top of the cab and it tears off the revolving amber warning light all the trucks had as it passes over. I got my first experience at filling out accident forms to that day!
I'd say the very worst truck of them all was a mid '80's Dodge 6 cylinder with standard transmission. By now I was assigned to the valley all the time and the department was expanding in areas and staff. We had two shifts, Sunday to Wednesday and Wednesday to Saturday, four- ten hour shifts. The S-10 had been regulated to a spare for mileage and I was assigned one of the two new Dodge 1/2 tons to share with another ACO. Since at this time there weren't enough trucks for everyone to have their own units, everybody had to share trucks for a while. It was full sized 1/2 ton and they'd again put a set of Datsun cages on this one also. It was another attempt at 'economy', that also didn't work! Even with the supposedly lighter weight of the smaller cages, the Dodge was a totally gutless, powerless, piece of you know what! It was sooooo slow it could be a hazard getting on the freeway. And going up to the mountains as I had to do on several occasions was down to second gear with the motor screaming to go 25 miles per hour! I drove it on my shift and Diane drove it on her shift. We rode together on Wednesdays if we were both at work until the Program Manager found out everybody was having too much fun riding together on Wednesdays.
As the years passed the county finally realized that they'd get more money back on their investments at auction and resale if they'd spring for a few more options when they ordered them from fleet sales. So with the 1989 models we started to get cloth seats (so much nicer then the hot vinyl seat covers), AM and FM radios, and even a few like the 1991 Ford I got, had cruise control. That 1991 Ford 3/4 ton was I'd say my favorite truck out of 25 years. Dual gas tanks and 13 MPG it had a great range over the single tanked 6 to 8 MPG 1980's Chevy's.
In the early days you'd get a truck while yours was in for service with no 'outside' radio at all so I'd bring a small AM/FM radio and hang it on the gun rack in those trucks. Now with the Ford, AM/FM stereo was sooooo nice. But I'd discovered audio books by then so I wanted to take those with me and listen on those long drives.
After several trial and error experiments with different portable battery powered radio/cassette players, I created what I called a "Radio Box". I took a relatively inexpensive plastic tool box and on the back side of it I installed an mid priced auto AM/FM cassette deck, decent sounding car speakers, and on the front side that became the backside when finished, I quickly learned I needed to cool it so I put a switched 12 volt cooling fan to draw cool air through and keep the radio from getting too hot. It was all wired in to a 12 volt power cord and cigarette lighter plug. Although I seldom used it for the radio part, I always installed a powered radio antenna on it too. Relatively compact it would be held in place on the passenger side of the seat by the seat belt going through the tool boxes handle.
That was the way it was for several years. I made about a dozen Radio Boxes over the time, some for friends too. I also tried to find the 'perfect' one in what I wanted to sound good. The biggest or "ultimate" radio box was fairly large box with a CB radio at the bottom, a 6 band equalizer in the middle, and a AM/FM, Cassette player on top. Two large 6 by 9 three way speakers in a kind of cat's eye arrangement on the box. I wound up putting a piece of of wood on the bottom to help stabilize the whole thing because it was a bit heavy and top heavy also. But it sounded so good!
If I had to trade trucks for a few days, as long as the next truck had a lighter plug adapter, I was fine.
Over the years the trucks got nicer, the gas mileage got better. You practically lived in the things with on-call and over time it was often more like 60 hours a week in the summertime, they were your office, your transportation to calls and then to the animal shelters, thousand of miles a month. Reliability and comfort were really important as far as I was concerned! And others felt that way too. I just wished they'd had gotten extended cab trucks. Many area agencies got them when they started to become popular. The people that had them loved the extra space in the cab. The county did start to get a few of that style but only right before we left the county so I never got to do more than drive one a couple of times.
Started out almost everything was Chevy, then for years it was Dodge, then Fords for about two years, then back to Chevy and Dodge both with just before we left the county some Fords again. For years it was always "low Bid" won as far as the brand, later since the department started to be billed directly for the trucks it became whatever was available in the county that mixed the brands up a bit.
My last ACO field truck was a 2000 Ford 3/4 ton truck. My Last truck at all was a 2000 Chevy 1 ton pick up when I was a supervisor. And that fancy AM/FM, Cassette, CD player from the last radio box was put into the dash of this truck. But since 2003 Stacy and I had been listening to XM Satellite Radio at home and work. So I had my XM radio plugged into the truck radio with the cassette adapter. Best sounding set up by far! The sound, the choices, music, news, old radio shows, audio books and the biggest thing was (is) the fact that wherever you where it sounded just as good, never went back to regular radio!
The supervisors wanted people to be able to tow trailers also. That was why in the late 1990's all the trucks were at least 3/4 ton sized. To be able to tow the horse and stock trailers the department had. In the early 2000's the department sprung for a tow able lift bed trailer for large dead livestock or loads that, especially with dead livestock, be dumped at the rendering plant on arrival. It also had a 6,000 which installed on the front to help pull up any large deads. Through most of the years there had a been a designated truck for dead pick ups. With a built in which and a lift gate, I remember seeing it going down the road with horse hooves sticking out the top.
The towable tilt bed dead trailer was a much better idea, after the bugs were worked out! The early winches didn't have the power to pull up a dead anything larger than a sheep, I know I was the one trying to load a dead horse! A heavier winch was installed then it was great for large things like a horse, except the only one car sized battery didn't have the juice to work more than a few minutes before going dead. Nobody had thought about hooking it up to the towing truck to keep it charged up. Ultimately they did though, and then it was kind of overkill. The maintenance yards were concerned of a possible fire if the wiring overheated while the winch was being used. So a giant plug with large diameter wiring was installed on all supervisor trucks only, to keep it charged and ready when used. Then it all worked great.
In early 2003 the department got a small 24 foot tow hauler trailer as it's emergency "Command Post". The toy hauler was picked for its flexibility of hauling 'things' as well as providing a place for staff to eat and sleep if needed. A small shower/toilet combo bathroom, fold down benches/beds, stove, fridge, air conditioning and with a generator for out in the boondocks situations. Since I had RV's I towed it on several occasions it was used. Even though the truck I was assigned was a one ton Chevy, it didn't have the engine to adequately tow this somewhat lightweight trailer. In the fires of September 2003 I could barely make it up the mountain towing it. Just too heavy and the engine too small!
Oh well. I guess enough for now! Tad
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