I’d been meaning to check out the Sixes Grange Marketplace near Port Orford, and when I saw this firetruck for sale sitting out front, it was just the incentive I needed. It’s a 1976 American LaFrance; did the new 5 mile bumper regulations apply to fire engines too?
The forward slanted windshield is a sculptural touch, placing this in the brutalist school of design and architecture that was was so popular in the seventies. The reduction of reflections was of course the practical reason, but it makes these look extra tough.
Looks pretty brutalist in here too, but then what does one expect? A tufted velour and fake-wood brougham interior? That shifter is almost certainly connected to an Allison 6 speed automatic, which was also having its heyday at the time. I drove several trucks with them, and can still feel the little push in my back at every full throttle shift.
The mid-mounted engine is probably underneath this removable cover, but I exercised more prudence than usual and didn’t open it. The sale sign says it’s a Detroit Diesel, most likely an 8V-71. This is a pumper, so the more power the better.
If this had been a decade or more older, it would almost certainly have had American LaFrance’s gasoline V12 under the hood or engine cover. This 527 cubic inch beast made 216 hp, and had dual plugs per cylinder. It was a direct development of the Lycoming BB V12 originally designed and used in the Auburn, although with less displacement.
If its cylinder heads look a bit odd, they were. Neither a flathead (side valve) nor an ohv, this unusual engine had a narrow 45 degree bank angle and heads that sported valves operating from a high-mounted camshaft and that opened into a narrow “fire slot” combustion chamber above the cylinders. Very unusual; so much so that as far as I know, no one else did this and it doesn’t have a name. “Side overhead valves”?
Those white sewer pipes are a modern addition; not sure what the current owner had in mind for this truck when he bought it. But what does anyone have in mind with an old firetruck?
The control panel for the pump(s). As a kid, I was always very impressed by these.
Here’s all the salient details. $4,500 or best offer. And if you call Jerry, don’t forget to ask about the second fire engine. Sounds like he’s liquidating a private fire squad.
Interesting forward-leaning windshield. Must have been an aerodynamic burden on
calls that involved high-speed interstates.
Perfect. It would come equipped for Marianne to literally douse the idea with its own cold water!
I never knew about those cylinder heads, that kind of stuff is fascinating.
Here in Texas I came across a business at my kid’s daycare that bought out old fire trucks, filled the tanks with water, and set up mobile splash pads for the kids, with hoses hooked up to sprinklers, bounce houses, etc. It’s a pretty good business plan when the heat index is 110F.