Who needs toy trucks when you can tool around in the real McCoy?
Goggle-eyed kids found themselves in the driver’s seat of some of their favorite big rigs at PS 295’s “Touch-a-Truck” fundraiser.
Three-year-old Siggy Rodgaard’s eyes sparkled with joy as perched inside Andrew Sarno’s vintage 1946 Ford tractor, and zoomed off along an imaginary highway.
“Whrrrrrrrrrr,” he chortled gleefully, spinning a steering wheel three times his size like a Jack in the Box on a candy high.
“I guess you don’t see a farm tractor in Brooklyn much,” joked Sarno, a 61-year-old carpenter from Park Slope and a member of the Antique Automobile Club, whose “Gray Lady” has been showcased at parades and festivals throughout the city, and even starred in an episode of “Law and Order.”
On Saturday, though, his “Tired Iron” — an old farm horse he restored to its original glory — was a child’s dream come true, as were the dozens of other trucks sprawled along 18th Street, between Sixth and Seventh avenues, which had been cordoned-off to accommodate the overflow crowds.
Ditmas Park aspiring hack Ben Landfield, 3, positioned himself behind the wheel of a tow truck from Ridge Towing, and perked up as he pretended to be the big man in a bigger buggy, while Windsor Terrace tot Landon Coe, 3, got an eye-popping peek at the workings of a Sanitation truck.
The parents had a grand time, too, snapping away photos of Junior at the helm of such cool vehicles as a sign-hanging bucket truck, vintage ice cream and soda trucks, the BioBus, and a fire safety mobile from the FDNY.
“It’s a chance for Brooklyn kids to encounter working trucks, and vehicles they see in everyday life up close and personal,” said a school spokesperson about the benefit, whose proceeds will supplement arts programs at the Park Slope school.
Other working trucks — including the Treats Truck and the Country Boys taco truck from the Red Hook soccer fields — were on hand for a more practical purpose: feeding the masses.
