Museum Classic: 1927 Seagrave Fire Engine – Future Hall Of Flamer?

Weathered just shy of the point of no return, you can practically hear this old truck crying out to anyone close enough to see it to please find it a good home and restore it to its former glory. Maybe then it could take its place in a museum like the one you’ll see if you click through. This article will be for anyone with any fire buff in them or maybe just a love for all vintage machines.

When I came across the nearly hundred-year-old fire engine, it easily took the prize for oldest Curbside Classic I’ve found. There’s a big asterisk, though, as I strongly suspect it doesn’t run. Still, that it even exists at all and hasn’t succumbed fully to the elements is quite an achievement. It still looks proud and willing to serve, even if it will never put out another fire.

I don’t know the back story on this fire engine. It was in the parking lot belonging to the private event center that was formerly Fire Station 3.

Perhaps it will be restored and used as an exhibit in their facility. At the time I took the photos, it had been sitting in the lot for a few months. It would be there for a few more months before disappearing. We can only hope it went to a better place than the parking lot!

I’m sure its dream is to someday make it to the Hall Of Flame.

The Hall Of Flame is a private museum in Phoenix, Arizona claiming to be the largest museum of firefighting in the world.

I find this eminently believable, having toured it a couple of times, most recently on my trip to Arizona in early 2023. This shot gives you a sense of the scale of the place. This room is just pre-motorized-era apparatus ranging from the late 1700’s to the early 1900’s.

The museum has 35,000 sq. ft. of exhibit space over five galleries, with an additional 35,000 of storage and restoration space. They have more than 130 wheeled apparatus, though not all are on exhibit at any given time.

One of the most fascinating exhibits to me is a 1996 HME Saulsbury, formerly FDNY’s Rescue 4. This was one of many trucks that responded to the World Trade Center on September 11, 2001.

After surviving with minor damage and major contamination, Rescue 4 is now a permanent marker for the tragedy of that day because all eight firefighters who rode on the rig to that incident died in the collapse. After being cleaned up, it only served as a frontline truck for another year, then eight more years as a reserve. It has since been restored to its pre-2001 condition.

Also serving as a memorial is a 2004 Ford F750 “buggy” driven by the former Granite Mountain Hot Shots of Prescott, Arizona to the 2013 Yarnell wildfire that took the lives of 19 of its members. This is the largest firefighter loss at a single incident since 2001, and one of  the largest in history.

Where a fire buff/auto enthusiast could spend hours is the large collection of classic motorized apparatus. Don’t worry, I won’t show all of them, just a few highlights.  That would include the 1938 Seagrave Aerial used by Staunton, VA for many years. It still wears its original paint and markings, a distinction held by very few other rigs in the museum. The truck is claimed to be the first in the U.S. to fully use hydraulic power for a metal aerial ladder and hydraulic outriggers. The styling and originality are captivating to me!

The museum started small in the early 60’s and this is one of the early pieces it acquired, directly from its original department in this case. No restoration has been done besides new seat upholstery.

Perhaps the most unique and iconic American fire trucks ever made were Ahrens-Fox pumpers with a front mounted piston water pump with a chromed spherical air chamber on top. These pumps were built from 1915 to 1952, though they were most popular in the 20’s and 30’s. This example is a 1931 originally serving North Tarrytown, NY.

A scale model on display gives a better sense of the otherworldly proportions of these trucks. Is that wheelbase long enough for you?

If not, then you might like to drive this one. Just don’t try a U-turn. The 1930 Ahrens-Fox ladder truck (quad) is in the museum, but it’s not possible to get a side profile shot to do it justice, so this photo of it in its service days will do. You have to see these in person to really get a sense of the size and scale of them.

Another favorite of mine is the 1935 American LaFrance Type 400 pumper. I like red fire engines as much as the next guy, but a white fire truck from this era is pretty unusual and interesting. This was a top-of-the-line rig at the time with a 527 c.i. 250hp V12. Only 170 Type 400’s were made because few cities could afford them in the 30’s. It’s sometimes referred to as the Duesenberg of fire trucks.

Very few Type 400’s are known to survive and the museum has two of them, this one a 1938 that served Burlington, Iowa. The pump is mounted behind the engine making for an extra long, elegant hood. The lack of a roof contributes to the low look, almost sports car-like in its way.

Gratuitous beauty shot. They sure don’t make them like this anymore.

Our subject truck might not get into the Hall Of Flame after all because they already have one. This is a 1927 Seagrave very similar to the sad but proud little pumper sitting out in the parking lot in Houston.

If it gets in, it may be because of a key difference which is that the Houston truck has an old-fashioned chain drive, while the museum truck has a more modern driveshaft and axle with dualie rear wheels.

The museum also has a lot of non-vehicular equipment, artifacts, and exhibits. My favorite is probably a 1954 series of drawings and texts teaching about how a modern fire department operated. The authors based their material on Southern California practices, but it could be any larger American career department. In some ways things haven’t changed too much, in other ways they have.

 

The school is as modern as it could be in the 50’s as the firemen ably mitigate the emergency with the latest firefighting techniques. There are 12 of these panels plus their write-ups. If you go there with a female companion, it’s highly likely she will be ready to leave before you finish reading the whole thing. Not that I know anything about that…

Another neat exhibit is a 1970’s era dispatch center. Phoenix Fire donated it to the museum when they upgraded their system in 1982 to a more modern computer-based 911 center (which has probably itself been replaced at least once since then!)

The museum wouldn’t be complete without the spectacular steam fire engines from the horse-drawn era. The engineer would keep it stocked with water, fuel and a chemical fire-starting system which could be quickly employed and the fire would build up the steam on the way to the fire. Some departments would have a quick connect to a radiator which would keep the water hot all day. The engineer would also take care of the horses, so it was a busy job even when there wasn’t a fire.

If you find any of these vehicles interesting, I highly recommend stopping in if you ever find yourself in Phoenix.

As for our well-weathered Seagrave, I sincerely hope it makes in into the Hall Of Flame someday, or at least finds a good home wherever it can.