Back in April, satirical car reviewer Mr. Regular of YouTube’s Regular Car Reviews went for a cruise in a Ford Explorer Police Interceptor Utility, noting along the way the strange mannerisms with which the general public responded to the presence of an authority figure, or at least the vehicle of such a figure. As of Monday, Mr. Regular has another emergency vehicle under his belt, as he was offered the chance to drive a 1982 Hahn HCP-10 Pumper Truck, which serves with a fire company in Barnesville, PA. His experience with the truck was split into a pair of videos, one of which was an unedited point-of-view drive, and the other, a full review, encapsulating his thoughts on the vehicle.
In the POV video, also embedded below, a walkthrough of the operating experience is shown in detail. A truck of this type isn’t turned on with a simple turn of a key; it is brought to life with a combination of knobs, switches, and buttons. The battery dial must be turned, the ignition manually switched on, and two start buttons—one for each battery and starter motor—must be pressed in stereo to start up this truck. Things don’t get much simpler with the truck rolling, either.
“There’s a lot of steering input,” remarks Mr. Regular on the slow, heavy power steering of the Hahn, “this is a lot of responsibility […] you do not know how much this feels like I’m on a high chair.”
“Remember that RV I drove? It’s harder to drive than that. It’s hard to stay in my lane; it’s hard to know where my lane ends.”
We highly recommend watching his full review, which offers a more refined take on the drive as a whole, in addition to his signature injections of scatalogical or similar humor. If you don’t have time or interest, though, his parting words are nevertheless worth sharing.
“There is a very giddy sense of childhood joy about driving a fire truck, to know that you are a welcome sight. A fire truck is the best part of someone’s worst day.”
All Mr. Regular needs now is some time behind the wheel of an ambulance… or, if that’s not available, a flight for life helicopter would do the trick.
