My future project a 1003 Thunderbolt

MysteryMachine

Active Member

Jun 21, 2003

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Parkesburg, PA

May 3, 2011

#1

• May 3, 2011

• #1

Most of you probably have no idea what I'm talking about. A Thunderbolt is a old Civil Defense siren. They were also used by fire depts as house sirens. My local fire company has had a Tbolt for years. I was told they got it in '70. It has been there since before I was born of course so it's like a piece of town history. I grew up with it blowing across the street when the fire company got calls. It was basically put out of service years ago. They were having some issues with it and said it cost to much to fix so they stopped using it (they did that a lot for things over there that they didn't want). Well they are working on remodeling the building and the new plans call for it to be removed. I had been talking about wanting it and my dad mentioned that it was on the chopping block so to say. I made some phone calls and as of tonight it's basically mine. I'm getting it for nothing. All I gotta do it get it down. Luckily I'm friends with a guy who can borrow a crane from work or make a stop by someday while working and lower it down for me.

My plans are to restore it and get it back in working order. Then just play with it once in a while. I know it's insane but really how many people have old Civil Defense sirens lol

Here's some pics

 

Black Stampede

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Sep 3, 2002

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Grand Rapids, MI

May 3, 2011

#2

• May 3, 2011

• #2

That looks identical to the one they restored on American Restoration.

 

BlackVert

15 Year Member

Oct 3, 2003

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Bethesda, MD

May 3, 2011

#3

• May 3, 2011

• #3

cool!

 

ProKiller

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Apr 26, 2002

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May 3, 2011

#4

• May 3, 2011

• #4

oh geez...i'm just picturing that mounted to the roof of the Ram.

 

MysteryMachine

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Jun 21, 2003

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Parkesburg, PA

May 3, 2011

#5

• May 3, 2011

• #5

Nah dude it goes in the bed lol

 

MysteryMachine

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Jun 21, 2003

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Parkesburg, PA

May 9, 2011

#6

• May 9, 2011

• #6

After some research I believe the fire company got it in like 1977. They got it when the new building was built which was dedicated in '77




Still trying to figure out when the last time it was blown. They stopped using it and one year at new years they turned it on and blew it then shut it back off.




Productive couple days though. Got both my RCM panels out and got most of the wires traced. Have one major one to pull and some to disconnect from the Tbolt itself and she'll be ready to come down. Can't wait till she's mine and I can open her up and see how she looks




Here is the RCM panels. The one on the left is a RCM1A the one on the right is a RCM3. The 1003 thunderbolts used the added RCM3's to control the hi/low tone

 

Husky44

10 Year Member

Sep 27, 2006

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Tacoma, WA

May 9, 2011

#7

• May 9, 2011

• #7

They had one of those in the town my grandparents lived in, and below it every night at 10 pm for curfew. I was like 3 years old, and it scared the crap out of me. I WANTED to go to bed early so I'd be asleep before it went off. My grandparents started calling it the "cow", in an attempt to make it less scary. There ought to be a law against those things.

 

MysteryMachine

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Jun 21, 2003

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Parkesburg, PA

May 9, 2011

#8

• May 9, 2011

• #8

Husky44 said:

They had one of those in the town my grandparents lived in, and below it every night at 10 pm for curfew. I was like 3 years old, and it scared the crap out of me. I WANTED to go to bed early so I'd be asleep before it went off. My grandparents started calling it the "cow", in an attempt to make it less scary. There ought to be a law against those things.

Click to expand...

Funny you mention the "cow" I just watched this video this morning
YouTube - Cannon Beach "Cow"-Tsunami Warning test

The house I'm looking at is just outside of town but with a field on one side a basically a warehouse on the other so I'm hoping it won't bother too many people

 

MysteryMachine

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Jun 21, 2003

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Parkesburg, PA

May 23, 2011

#9

• May 23, 2011

• #9

Little update on this




Saturday I was able to get the chief to pull the tower out and set it up so I could get up into the motor box (big square box). Holy **** and I do mean that literally. The thing is full of pigeon crap. There is a couple eggs in there and some small birds that were running around in there that were with a pigeon. Not sure if they are "baby" pigeons or not. You can see the one in the pic. It was all but sitting on my foot. It's gonna need a date with a power washer when it comes down. It's basically ready to come down off the poll whenever my friend with the crane can come by

 

BlackVert

15 Year Member

Oct 3, 2003

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Bethesda, MD

May 23, 2011

#10

• May 23, 2011

• #10

here's a 1964 thunderbolt ....

 

MysteryMachine

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Jun 21, 2003

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Parkesburg, PA

May 23, 2011

#11

• May 23, 2011

• #11

BlackVert said:

here's a 1964 thunderbolt ....

Click to expand...

lol


next on your list?

 

BlackVert

15 Year Member

Oct 3, 2003

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Bethesda, MD

May 24, 2011

#12

• May 24, 2011

• #12

i wish ... then we'd both have thunderbolts!

but a co-worker of mine's husband has a 1964 comet with a big block motor, which he might be interested in trading for the mustang.

 

MysteryMachine

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Jun 21, 2003

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Parkesburg, PA

May 24, 2011

#13

• May 24, 2011

• #13

BlackVert said:

i wish ... then we'd both have thunderbolts!

but a co-worker of mine's husband has a 1964 comet with a big block motor, which he might be interested in trading for the mustang.

Click to expand...

After looking at some pics a BB Comet looks like it could be a fun little ride.

 

MysteryMachine

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Jun 21, 2003

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Parkesburg, PA

Aug 23, 2011

#14

• Aug 23, 2011

• #14

Haven't updated this in a long time. I was able to get a buddy of mine who's family owns a towing business to come up and get the big sucker down.

I got it back on like July 24th. Here is a few pics of the removal

This kinda gives you an idea on how big this thing is. This is just the projector horn

The blower motor is a 7.5hp 3 phase so that's gonna require a phase converter or another motor. I'm leaning towards a phase converter in case I ever get another siren. The collecting bug has bit me already.

After the big earthquake today I decided to do the first full length cycle. I can only get Alert to work so far so here is the vid of that



Thunderbolt 1003 Alert Signal - YouTube

 

COBRA90GT

Mustang Master

Sep 22, 2001

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87

HOCKEYTOWN ® , MI

Aug 24, 2011

#15

• Aug 24, 2011

• #15

MysteryMachine said:

...Thunderbolt 1003 Alert Signal - YouTube...

Click to expand...

It works! I had to turn my speakers down.

 

MysteryMachine

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Jun 21, 2003

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Parkesburg, PA

Nov 18, 2011

#16

• Nov 18, 2011

• #16

Update for you guys. I got everything working on it this week. Got a phase converter so I can run the blower motor. Need to hook the blower up to the motor and make sure it will work with a load on it. Still looking for a dual tone chopper for it. It's basically ready to tear apart again and strip and paint it

 

Black95GT_Kid

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May 3, 2005

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Cochranville PA

Nov 21, 2011

#17

• Nov 21, 2011

• #17

kind funny seeing locals on here! good luck with the project can't wait to hear it!!

 

MysteryMachine

Active Member

Jun 21, 2003

1,835

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Parkesburg, PA

Nov 21, 2011

#18

• Nov 21, 2011

• #18

ha ha yeah. You might hear it LOL. I tried to get Cochranville's model 2 but they never returned my email. I asked Longwood about theirs and I'm in the middle of talks with them to get theirs.

It's one like this

Federal Model 2-240 - Growl, Alert, Attack - YouTube


I have talked to a few other people at local fire companies about aquiring their non used sirens but haven't heard anything back