Risen from the ashes

Filled with historical fire equipment from 1930s fire extinguishers to 1970s firefighting equipment to hundreds of toy fire trucks, to over 1,000 different fire department uniform patches, the home and yard are a treasure trove of firefighting memorabilia.

There are also scores of Dalmatian statues, as Mr. Shimits and his wife, Mary, are the proud parents of two Dalmatian pups, Ember and Sammy, which they jokingly refer to as their “spotted children.”

But it is when you pull up the garage door of the out building, marked “Solon Fire Department,” with letters that Mr. Shimits said he “scurried up and retrieved before they tore down the old Solon Fire Station #2“ that holds the real magic.

Inside is a completely restored 1920 Model TT Prospect Fire Truck.

The vehicle was lovingly restored by Mr. Shimits, his brother, Jeff, their dad, Phil, and good friend Jim Krupar, over the past two-and-a- half years. His and Mary’s children and grandchildren have enjoyed watching the vehicle literally come back to life since the pandemic.

“I originally saw the 1920 fire truck about five years ago. I thought that it was a little too expensive, so I waited,” said Mr. Shimits.

Then, unfortunately, the vehicle, originally part of the Pandora, Ohio Fire Department, was damaged in a garage fire.

“It was completely burned up,” said Mr. Shimits, who eventually purchased it after the fire. “I essentially had to make over every inch of it.”

He used a factory photo of the truck that he found when it was first built, and from that black-and-white print, painstakingly restored every surface of the vehicle.

Sandblasting the metal parts, finding chrome pieces through Facebook restoration groups, driving to different locations to retrieve the proper hoses, tanks, tires and a ladder from the year it was built, Mr. Shimits even hired a specialist to restore the gold lettering on the vehicle.

The result is a shiny red, sparkling chrome, gold-leaf lettered fire beauty.

“I guess you could call it a little ‘phoenix,’” said Mr. Shimits. “It was literally brought out of the ashes.”

Mr. Shimits used his own funds, about $30,000, to restore the fire truck. He also had the help of Solon area businesses such as Jon’s Garage, Solon Auto Body and Tom’s Shoe Repair. He said that he has contacted the Pandora Fire Department, near Findlay, to see if it is interested in buying the fire engine from him.

All he wants is to retrieve what he has put into it, to keep it from being a financial loss.

He also wants to make sure it is kept safe, and in its current form, for the future.

Restoring the truck was truly a labor of love for Mr. Shimits, who retired from the Solon Fire Department in 2016 after 25 years of service.

Not one to sit still, Mr. Shimits keeps himself busy as the Ward 6 Councilman and president of the Solon Historical Society,

“I need to always be doing something, working on something,” he said. “So I invite my brother and Jim over and we tinker with things. My wife calls it ‘old man day care.’”

Don’t laugh.

“Old man day care” just took a burned-out piece of “junk” and turned it into a shining piece of American fire truck history.

The truck will be featured March 30 - April 1 at the Piston Power Show at the Cleveland IX Center. Mr. Shimits hopes some Solonites will come to the show and see his “baby” in its glory.

He won’t be driving it there, however.

The Model TT only goes about 30 mph.

“I will be trailering it back and forth,” said Mr. Shimits, “in a friend’s big trailer.”

He hopes to eventually trailer it to its final resting place, back to Pandora, where it was first put to use fighting fires a century ago.

And what will Mr. Shimits and his “old man day care” contingent be up to next?

“Don’t tell Mary, but there is another vehicle I am looking at….” said the hands-on historian with a smile.