Driving the Stutz is exhilarating
By Linda Lemmon
Town Crier Editor
WOODSTOCK — Imagine a job that was exhilarating on day one — and still is more than 30 years later.
That’s the joy felt by Phil Mahoney who drives the famous 100-year-old-this-year Stutz fire truck for the Woodstock Volunteer Fire Association (WFVA).
Manufactured in 1925 the Stutz first went to Harrington Park, N.J. and then, in 1937, to William Prym Inc. in Dayville. Mahoney said from the ‘60s to the ‘80s the Stutz sat in a Prym boiler room. When Prym closed the Stutz was donated to WFVA.
Mahoney had joined the MFVA around 1982-83 and started driving the Stutz in the early 1990s. He’s put over a 1,000 miles on it, averaging 100 miles a year with events, fairs, parades, etc. (The odometer says 3,400).
When they got it running in the early ‘90s, he was asked if he’d like to drive it. “I said, ‘Are you kidding? Where else am I going to get a chance to drive a Stutz’?”
In 2001 he tore it down to the bare frame, he said. Every nut and bolt. He took off the fenders and had them repainted. Pin striping and gold leafed went on (it took six books of gold leaf). The gentleman who did the golf leafing was 81 years old and a real craftsman, Mahoney said The tiny, evenly spaced swirls in the gold leaf lines were done by hand. “He did this using his thumb,” Mahoney said. It took a year to take it apart and put it back together.
In 1925 the manufacturer made only two of this particular model.
Part of the exhilaration was ‘You’re up taller than everything else. No windshield, no seatbelts,” he said. It was exhilarating the first time and every time after that. “I’m a little more cautious because it’s 100 years old, but it’s still exhilarating,” he said.
The Stutz — and its white-bearded driver Mahoney — were part of the Hallmark movie “One Royal Christmas.” The Christmas movie was filmed during a blast-furnace hot July a few years ago.
“I was amazed that they would even ask,” he said. “I was a little surprised that they wanted it (the Stutz).” Filming the nighttime Christmas parade was done over two nights, he said. “I have about 15 seconds of fame.” One night the filming ran from 9 p.m. to 1 a.m. and the next time filming was from 1 to 5 a.m. Watching the sun rise that second night was “surreal. It’s 5 a.m. and I’m driving the truck home. And it started raining.” he said. “I was enthralled. I didn’t even take pictures.”
“That was a whole new chapter in my life that I never expected,” he added.
Something to check out the next time you watch “One Royal Christmas” — there’s one shot in the movie where they filmed the Christmas tree in the back of the fire engine and they did not blur out or remove “Woodstock Volunteer Fire Association” from the back of the truck, just above the bumper. “I got goosebumps,” he said, seeing the Woodstock Volunteer Fire Association on the back.
Mahoney and the Stutz get some excitement into the kids. “I love seeing the looks on kids’ faces — how excited they get.” It’s a draw for future firefighters.” There’ve been young man who’ve joined the fire association and they’ve said to me ‘I used to come see you before so (attracting future firefighters) is already happening.” Perhaps they will be the next generation of Stutz drivers.
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caption:
Phil Mahoney at the wheel of the 100-year-old Stutz fire truck. More photos of Mahoney, the Stutz and the Touch-a-Truck event in Woodstock on page 4. Expanded photo array on our FB page Wed. night. Linda Lemmon photo.