This vehicle remained the deparment's best-liked engine, even after the purchase of the new Ford in 1970. It certainly was the best-looking. In 1970, the old 12-cylinder engine threw a rod on Vanadium Road while responding to a call to assist Kirwan Heights. Parts were no longer available. Through the efforts of Doe Padgelek, who worked for Chartiers Valley School District, the department was able to obtain a Ford V-8 of about the same size and a little more horsepower than the American LaFrance V-12, from a school bus that was being scrapped. Department members removed the engine from the bus and installed it in the fire engine, and did all the associated work. It worked. The vehicle ran for another seven years, with the Ford engine being rebuilt once, when it cracked the crankshaft at almost exactly the same place on Vanadium Road where the original V-12 had failed, with the same driver at the wheel. 

Not long after Bower Hill received this vehicle, Allegheny County began to dispatch local fire departments by radio. Bower Hill was "Station 4" on this system. This unit became "Engine 4-B" and retained that designation throughout its service life.