After an absence of more than 50 years, Engine 33 has finally come home.

Last week, the Gates-Chili Fire Department celebrated the return of a refurbished 1933 Mack truck pumper, one of the department's first motorized vehicles.

"It's beautiful," said firefighter Jim Werth, the department's historian. "There was so much restoration work, we had to pull off every little nut and bolt, all the lights and gauges."

Engine 33 is one of two Mack pumpers purchased by the department in 1933. One was housed at Company No. 1 on Chili Avenue and the other at Company No. 2 on Long Pond Road. They were sold in the early 1950s to the Dresden Fire Department in Yates County.

In 2002, a Pennsylvania collector contacted Gates-Chili and offered to sell back the Company 1 truck. The department's board set up a private-donation fund to buy and repair the truck, then spread the renovations over three years so the work would be more affordable.

About $40,000 was spent on the truck and the work. The refurbished truck — one of only six such trucks Mack built in 1933 — is now valued at more than $80,000, said Tom Bowers, the department's treasurer.

When the truck arrived in Gates in 2002, its paint was dingy, its chrome corroded, parts were missing or broken, and the wooden frame and running boards were rotted.

Werth and other firefighters spent countless hours stripping and rewiring the truck, hunting down rare parts from suppliers all over the country and working with local suppliers for discounts on paint, supplies and graphics. The more complicated work was completed by Mark Gillette of Gillette Automotive in Spencerport.

The restored truck won't be going on any fire calls but will be used for parades, community events and other promotional functions.

"It came out much better than I thought it would," said firefighter Bob Ayotte, recalling when truck parts lay scattered across his downstairs pool table. "If you'd seen it all stripped down, you'd have never thought it would look like this. It feels good to have it back."

MCDERMOT@DemocratandChronicle.com