When I got out of the bathroom, I couldn’t help notice that Eddie had promptly leapt into action casually leafing through a phone book trying to find the fire department’s number to no avail. “Just call 911!” I yelled as I headed out the door to a burning Peugeot that was probably just trying to commit automotive suicide because it was just a POS car. I grabbed a garden hose and tried my best with a garden hose’s useless stream of water to keep the flames from getting to the old mohair interior which I knew would burn like the sun if the fire got to it.
After about five minutes, I could hear sirens going back and forth on the street my dead-end street ran off of. You could literally hear them turning around and going back the way they just came more than once. Maybe it was living in a new development that got the fire trucks mixed up as to where they were going (no GPS, cell phones or any of that stuff back then), all I knew is they weren’t going here and the fire was getting stronger finally hitting the interior and my hose wasn’t doing too much. Luckily I caught and stopped Eddie from removing the gas cap as he somehow thought that would be a good thing. “I thought you were supposed to vent the tank in the case of fire,” he said. I didn’t explain.
I finally heard a lone siren blaring down my long street to my house which, of course, was the last one. By now the interior was engulfed and the fire seemed to create its own wind and burned like a cutting torch. Closer and closer it got and I started to feel a sense of relief as the siren turned into my driveway. Help is here and I’m outta here I thought as I turned and saw a single fireman in full battle gear getting out of a red Mazda RX-7 coupe with a rotating red emergency light blinking away on the roof. As he authoritatively grabbed the hose from me and pushed me back he said, without any recognizable authority in his tone, “The truck should be here soon. . .”
The fire had won and had not injured anyone as a couple of trucks finally pulled up to the house and everybody was very interested in seeing the smoking burnt shell of a rusted-out old Peugeot. When everybody’s curiosity was filled, they got back in the trucks and left like they were out on a lark. Only the RX-7 guy was left and I had to ask him a question, “Is that a real fire vehicle?” to which he replied chortling, “Hell no, I’m a volunteer fireman and this is my car. Pretty cool, huh?” It was, but not what I was expecting. All I came away with was that you never know what might show up at a fire in a small town with a volunteer fire department.
When I first saw this lovely 2006 Harley-Davidson V-Rod tribute to the Mount Mourne Volunteer Fire Department in Mount Mourne, North Carolina, I started having flashbacks to that tale I just laid on you. As Yogi Berra said, “It’s déjà vu all over again.” My mind has replaced the RX-7 for this fire fighting V-Rod just because it’s a lot cooler and easier to ride with full gear than the tiny RX-7. And, as far as tribute bikes go, this one isn’t trying to be a full hook and ladder of crap, just a neat bike to honor the volunteers. Like something a fire chief should ride to lead the trucks to a fire. How cool would that be?
I’m just glad we have a V-Rod to showcase for a change as they are a rare bird in the Harley world. Other than at rallies, I’ve never seen a V-Rod on the street and there’s probably a lot of silly reasons why, but even at rallies it’s rare to see one customized. Maybe the owners are just too busy goosing that liquid-cooled 115hp Revolution engine every chance they get and hate custom bike build downtime. Not the guy that owns this one, though. Andy Anders of Goldsboro, North Carolina, is the guy behind this tribute bike and he’s ready to show his pride in the local fire department without resorting to OCC tribute bike tricks.
Although the V-Rod’s pretty stock, there are some nice bits Andy added like the saddlebags and huge rear fender that’s more scooterish than not with an all encompassing rear fender that keeps you from even seeing the wide 240 rear tire from the back. Hey, I’m not being dismissive as installing bags and changing fenders and all the stuff that goes with it is a lot of work. Maybe it’s just because a V-Rod looks so natural with bags that it doesn’t seem so radical, but it is. Remember, the V-Rod was Willie G’s vision of a drag bike, not a bagger.
Andy hit the Harley-Davidson P&A catalog for a bunch of nice stuff to make it dazzle a bit more like fire trucks that are pretty lavished in chrome themselves so it’s not out of line. It even looks like he took into consideration giving a lift to a fellow fire fighter as he’s got a passenger back rest on there too. Very considerate. He didn’t cover it in lights or even have a siren on it, but had Scott’s Auto Body lay on a clean two-tone red and white paintjob with traditional fire truck gold leaf graphics. The only obvious concession to fire fighting equipment on the bike is the Red Head gas cock shut-off spanners mounted to the front of the right bag. That’s it.
But, as you can see in the photos, he did scarf up a lot of fire fighting equipment to surround it with at the Charlotte Easyriders Show where Jack Cofano found this beauty of a V-Rod. From pick axes to fire fighting apparel and even a full-sized stuffed toy Dalmatian, it gives the gist of what this bike is all about. It’s a thoughtful tribute to those first responders that are ready to give whatever they have to keeping the public safe. That’s about as good a reason as you could ever have to build a custom bike and it’s probably the most famous and well known motorcycle in the small town of Mount Monroe, North Carolina. Andy Anders ─ mission accomplished sir.