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Hurst Rescue System 1 Gremlin |
George Hurst had the idea of creating a vehicle that could be used to
transport his Hurst Rescue Tool, nicknamed " The Jaws of Life" and other
equipment to aid race car drivers in the event of a crash that caused
entrapment of the driver. For this job he chose the AMC Gremlin. Stocked
with firefighting, first aid, a 1000 pound winch and even a stretcher
the Gremlin was a complete rescue package. There was a feature by
Patrick R Foster in the January 2007 issue of Hemmings Classic Car.
This car belongs to Murray County Rescue in Chatsworth Georgia. We are
next to the Tennessee line about 40 miles from Chattanooga, Tennessee.
When members of the all volunteer squad heard about the Hurst System 1,
they contacted the company and a prototype was brought to be checked
out. After seeing the "jaws" in action on some junk cars, the decision
was made to buy the whole deal. Not being funded by any government,
money had to be raised, lots of money, the cost was over $11,000 dollars
and we're talking about 1973. That's about a years pay for a squad
member at that time. They held bake sales, yard sales, boot drives and
took donations to come up with the money.
Once delivered, they had the only rescue tool in North Georgia and went
a few trips into surrounding counties to aid in some really bad
accidents. The car has a 15,170 original miles on it. With it's V-8 it
will still move on down the highway. We have every piece that came with
the car except for the original oxygen bottle, which was swapped for a
full one years ago and of course things from the first aid kit. The
water tank was removed to have more space, it really wasn't needed in
our rural county since a car on fire would be a total loss by the time a
volunteer could get there. The county didn't have a fire dept. until
1987 and the rescue squad remains a separate agency in charge of search
and any call involving rescue on land or water. The Gremlin was taken
out of "first out" status in 2002 due to requirements by the State of
Georgia for certified crash rescue vehicles. The little car just can't
hold everything on the check list. It takes a one ton truck now to do
the same job the Gremlin did for years. There's no way to know how many
lives have been saved by this car being there when things were bad.
Today the car carries it's "Jaws" and two cycle motor, it's still in
service as a back-up when needed, but mostly used as a parade and public
relations event vehicle. It turns heads everywhere it goes with it's
paint job and the fact it is a Gremlin. As far as we know it is the only
one left in existence. We heard there were only about 8 ever built and
they met their demise while racing to try to save another life.
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Tim Coker
Murray County Rescue
Chatsworth, Georgia |
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