TEC Equipment restoring 1943 Mack firetruck

The service bays at TEC Equipment’s flagship Portland, Ore., dealership are packed with trucks from various OEMs, but one unit sitting across from the paint booth and next to the breakroom stands out.

The 1943 Mack firetruck, a show pony of the Portland Fire Department, is currently undergoing restoration at the 110,000 sq.-ft. dealership.

TEC – Portland, a Mack and Volvo Certified Uptime Center, employs 25 service technicians across two shifts and is charged with resurrecting a truck that was placed in service before many of them were born.

“The truck was actually in really good shape when they brought it in, considering its age,” Jason Gildenmeister, TEC – Portland director of fixed operations, says of the now tomato red unit that has largely been dismantled.

The ’43 Mack is mostly used by the Portland FD for parades and special occasions, which Gildenmeister says had added some priority for completing the project.

“It has to be done before Labor Day,” he says, noting plans are for the truck to be included in a local parade. Currently, he says, the truck — which receives service intermittently as time in the shop allows — is on schedule for completion by mid-August.

TEC Equipment was founded in 1976 as a single used truck dealership in Portland. In 2000, the company became a Mack dealer and has since expanded to 26 rooftops all along the West Coast. Chris Thompson, TEC – Portland’s new truck sales manager, says the company plans to add two more locations in the coming year — one Redmond, Ore., and one in Dixon, Calif. TEC also will take over an existing Mack dealership in San Diego.