January 2003, The East Lake Antique Truck Committee purchased a 64' American LaFrance fire truck from Cedar Hammock Fire Dept. in Sarasota.  This is our second Antique Truck.  A 61' American LaFrance was purchased 5 years ago by East Lake Fire Rescue and has been used as a fire prevention tool and Santa truck.  The 61' is a twelve cylinder gas engine with an unsynchronized standard transmission and has begun to give us problems over the last year.  The 64' was  purchased primarily for its Detroit Diesel engine,  Allison automatic transmission and power assist steering.  Our hope is to re-power our existing 61' with these "new" used parts.  This will require a good deal of money and time to complete before our 2003 open house in October.  We are currently accepting donations and taking bids for the conversion process.  Our goal is to revitalize our 61' American LaFrance which has proved to be an invaluable asset to the department and community.  The Committee is still deciding what to do with the rest of the truck once the conversion is complete.  We are currently leaning towards selling the individual parts from this truck.