Fire Engines Photos

FMC stands for Food Machinery Corporation. It diversified into building military vehicles during and following WWII, but closed down the fire apparatus division in 1990, after around twenty years' production. Coincidentally 1990 was also the last year Ford built the C series.

This history demonstrates that this rig was at least 18 years old in 2008, and could have been much older!

Between 1957 and 1990, all kinds of fire apparatus were built by numerous firms on C series Ford chassis. They were used by major cities including Boston, Chicago, Los Angeles and San Francisco as well as smaller departments and volunteer fire companies all over North, Central and South America. The design included the innovative tilt cab, which could very easily be converted to a canopy crew cab - as pictured here. Other features included the forward control layout, which improved maneuverability and a selection of very powerful optional engines which provided excellent performance.

It was also less expensive than custom chassis from suppliers like American La France, Pirsch, Pierce, Crown, Sutphen, Maxim, Mack, Hendrickson, Hahn, Ward and others - and Ford Truck Division had a lot of dealers who knew how to repair and maintain them at a reasonable cost...

Added by Rob Johnson on 29 July 2018.

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