City officials in the small Meade County town have decided to merge onto the information super-highway and auction a vintage fire truck on eBay.
Anthony Lee, the assistant fire chief, hopes the online auction will bring the city money quicker than the traditional method of sealed bids.
"I see it going from this site," he said.
Purchased in 1958, the truck was the city's first. It's predecessor came from a grant from American Civil Defense.
The truck remained in use until two years ago, when both the funding and space needed to keep it around ran out.
"We've got nowhere left to store it," Lee said.
Lee said if they could, they'd keep it around to use in functions such as parades and county fairs.
"We'd probably keep it if we had the money and the room," he said.
The city has updated its fleet a few times since '58. They now have enough equipment to cover all the calls coming in to the station.
Lee noted they probably have more than enough, actually.
"We only had 124 calls last year," he said. "Most of those were emergency assistance. There were only two responses to structure fires, which Lee said was "a lot. We usually don't have any."
He says the city got all the use out of it they needed.
"The old truck did its purpose," he said. "It's pumped its life away."
The city is confident someone will recognize the character and quality of the machine and want to scoop it up, and with numerous bids already made and more than 300 views on Ebay, they may just be right.
The high bid was $2,025, with less than two days left in the auction.
"It's had a life just like everyone has had when they're 50 years old," Lee said. "Somebody out there's a collector."
