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You would have a lot to change in going from 11 inch brakes to the 12s used in the 120. Almost a parts car worth. The manual brakes work pretty well and with an adapter plate and some plumbing a dual circuit master could be installed.

There is a poster on the forum who has added what appears to be a modern Hydrovac type unit to his late 30s car. Something like that would not be too difficult and might give a bit more stopping power. Downside to the Hydrovac would be it would still have the single circuit master. I don't know of any Hydrovacs available with dual circuit masters and don't think a modern vacuum booster with dual master attached would fit in the space.

Yes the mountain has been here a long time and I have been running Fire and Rescue calls with the local VFD for a long time, 30yrs, and have been on several accident scenes involving runaway trucks, We had a driver of a Power company truck killed a couple years ago. When I started in the Fire company we had a donated 49 La france open cab engine with straight cut gears and I've had a couple thrill rides down the mountain at 80plus mph when the driver missed a shift. We used to do a lot of things years ago- some I'd like to relive, others not so much. I have a 32 Essex with mechanical brakes and I've driven it down the mountain- twice- I still have it but it lives in a friends garage down in the flats.