Friday, March 07, 2014
American LaFrance is done. Closed the doors, turned off the lights.
The company's roots go back to 1832 as a firefighting equipment maker. It began building steam-powered, horse-drawn fire engines in the era before the internal combustion engine and merged with LaFrance in 1903 to become one of America's leading fire engine builders. Unfortunately, the 21st century was not been so kind to the company. Freightliner bought it in 1995 and production was moved from North Carolina to South Carolina, but it was sold again in December 2005. After declaring and emerging from bankruptcy in 2008, American LaFrance moved to a smaller factory in Moncks Corner, SC, in 2013
info from http://www.autoblog.com/2014/03/07/american-lafrance-fire-engines-closed/
and http://www.fireengineering.com/articles/2014/02/farewell-to-american-lafrance.html
Once the colossus of the American fire apparatus industry, American LaFrance LLC (ALF) abruptly closed its South Carolina plant on January 17 --the sad end of a storied dynasty extending back 114 years (182 years if you include predecessor companies that trace their roots back to 1832). The American-LaFrance Fire Engine Company of Elmira, New York, was founded in 1904.
The legendary nameplate now joins other once-revered names like Maxim, Pirsch and Ahrens-Fox in the pantheon of U.S. motor fire apparatus history.
cooling the inboard brakes during a pit stop on the Lotus 72
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Found on http://flaviogomes.warmup.com.br/2012/09/enigma-do-dia-50/#comments , where if Google will translate for you, you can read about it , or here http://autoentusiastas.blogspot.com.br/2009_06_01_archive.html
Thursday, March 06, 2014
Stutz made fire engines! That is a rare cool item, and one is for sale
The Stutz High Duty Fire Engine Company came to life in 1919 when A.C. Mecklenburg & Harry Stutz came together to form a new firm to build fire apparatus from Indianapolis, Indiana. With both of their skills of building and selling fine automobiles, the idea of building a strong machine that would not break at the crucial moment when it was most needed came to be. The first pumper was tested in late spring 1919, and by June of 1919 was entered to compete against other fire apparatus manufacturers at the International Association of Fire Engineers in Kansas City, MO. This competition included American LaFrance, White, Ahrens-Fox, Seagrave, and Mack just to name few. Not only did they do well in the 12-hour run performance by taking top honors, they were noted for having the lowest motor pump speed among all exhibitors at only 1,130 rpms and low hose pulsation. It was the only pumper of all eight competitors to finish with a perfect score! The new advertising read “Made Good In a Day!”
the St Louis Car Museum is selling off a lot of vehicles. http://www.stlouiscarmuseum.com/stlcarmuseumtemplate.asp?id=1891
The Corvettes are getting pulled out of the sinkhole
found on, and all the info, videos, and more photos at http://blog.hemmings.com/index.php/2014/03/04/recovery-crews-lift-1962-corvette-from-national-corvette-museum-sinkhole/
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