A vintage homecoming

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Larry Cabral, left, and Crawford Slason, both of Watertown, with the 1934 fire engine they restored. The fire engine used to belong to the Naugatuck Fire Department and Cabral bought it years ago in an auction for $551. –RA ARCHIVE
Larry Cabral, left, and Crawford Slason, both of Watertown, with the 1934 fire engine they restored. The fire engine used to belong to the Naugatuck Fire Department and Cabral bought it years ago in an auction for $551. –RA ARCHIVE

NAUGATUCK — Larry Cabral of Watertown purchased a 1934 fire engine from the Borough of Naugatuck for $551 years ago in an auction.

When he bought it, the vehicle didn’t have an engine and amounted to not much more than an old chunk of metal.

Since then, he and his friend, Crawford Slason of Watertown, have put several man hours into the truck’s restoration and about $5,000 in parts. On Sunday, they showed off the engine for the first time during the first Wenchmen Built It-Drive It Classic Car Show on Old Firehouse Road.

Parked across the street from the Naugatuck Fire Department headquarters, the cherry red fire engine glistened in the sun and looked magnificent as people of all ages admired its beauty.

On the front seat was a picture of the late Ed Hayward sitting on the truck. Hayward was a firefighter and mechanic for the Naugatuck Fire Department. Hayward was the uncle to Cabral’s wife.

Hayward’s son, Jackie Hayward, attended Sunday’s event with his family.

“It was really nice to see the truck with his picture,” Hayward said. “They’ve done a great job restoring it.”

The truck was one of 130 classic vehicles that lined either side of Old Firehouse Road from its intersections with Maple Street and Rubber Avenue. More than 1,000 spectators walked down the middle admiring the automobiles. Many of them ate at nearby restaurants, said Al Pistarelli, one of the event organizers.

“This is great for the community and for the businesses down here,” he said.

The event was organized by the Wrenchmen, a group of local car enthusiasts who hope to make it an annual show. The chief organizers were Pistarelli, Wrenchmen President Jim Sorrentino and Wrenchmen Vice President Butch Lafo. Gary Johnson and James McCowan, the owners of J&M Automotive in Naugatuck, were sponsors.

“We felt it was important to bring the community together,” said Dave DeCarlo of J&M Automotive. “The townspeople of Naugatuck came down and it was a great day.”