Re: ACA Hurricane 130 siren
Posted: Fri Jul 10, 2020 2:47 pm
Wow, interesting find! You are right that it does look kind of like a Hurricane MK1. It seems like if they do have it, it has been moved around the yard a few times. Considering that it's mostly made of fiberglass, I'm guessing they haven't been able to scrap it and so they have just kept it laying around for a while if that is in fact the old siren. I'm guessing the blower is already long gone too but I could be wrong.ｎａｈＩＤｅｅ wrote: ↑Fri Jul 10, 2020 2:39 am
Here's something I found on the 2013 satellite image, it has a somewhat similar shape to that of a Hurricane 130 and is also around six feet in length. It could entirely be something else but I guess we'll have to wait and hear from the owners of the lot themselves.
A few weeks ago someone else did try calling the place and they were told it's probably not open to the public right now. I already tried messaging them on FB since they don't have an e-mail address, so once I get the chance I think I'm going to call them and offer them some cash (like a few hundred) if they have the old siren. I might just find out if they have an e-mail address I could send pictures of the other Hurricane to, that way they could take a look around the yard and let me know.Ohio_Man wrote: Asking nicely also gets you very far. I got a 3 minute meetup with the mayor of Deer Park after asking about preserving their siren. He gave me the number for the city manager and he said It was mine for the low low price of if you can get it down.
To quote crazy Eddie Antar "You can steal more with a smile than a gun."
Most scrapyards have some stuff they will never scrap. Manhole covers, railroad tracks, things that are someone else's property. It wouldn't surprise me if they were hesitant to scrap something that is/was federal property. If they can't sell scrap,trade it. Or give them more than what it costs scrap value. If it's historical (which it is) you can use that angle till it bends straight.
Not to mention that due to covid steel demand is down, as is the rest of the economy and they may be able to be persuaded to sell the siren since they're probably being flooded with scrappers dumping stuff trying to make a quick buck like at the 3 yards near my place (Cohen Iron and metal, David hirschberg and garden street)
Sirens also aren't much scrap value wise, especially supercharged ones. A used car weighs about 3,000lbs, and a thunderbolt (can't find hurricane weight) is around a third of that.
There's a reason most old sirens are left standing. Cincinnati still has a lot of roof mounted SD 10's and Thunderbolts, because the cost of removing them is more than the cost of scrapping them.
Funny story, the manager of Deer Park told me that someone asked about scrapping their sterling and never got back to him after promising to do so. Probably because the cost of getting a crane and crew to remove and transport the thing would cost more than it would pay.
The siren weighs 300lbs, and with a scrap motor value at .28 cents a pound now, that's only 84 dollars, and that's being generous.
I'd pick up the hurricane while scrap is cheap. Tell them a story. throw some facts, stats and stacks on the table. It's already down so that's a time saver right there.
Also, I don't think a Hurricane siren head would have much, if any scrap value. The only metal worth saving is going to be the chopper and rotation motors, and the rest of it is made of fiberglass. It's also hard to access those from what I have heard, so I could totally see them not bothering with getting the metal out of it and instead leaving it laying somewhere in the yard. From what I have seen, Hurricanes don't weigh very much compared to Thunderbolts either.
