Fire Engines Photos

The Ford C series, with various bodywork, like this Seagrave, was a favorite in its day, from around 1960 to the 1990s, when they started to go out of service. Cheap, rugged and reliable, they saw service with big cities like Boston, Los Angeles, San Francisco and Washington DC, as in small volunteer fire companies in rural towns and villages - and everything between. It was a good bet that there was a 50/50 chance of seeing one in virtually every firehouse anywhere in the US.
The standard tilting crew cab could accommodate six, with another three or four on the rear step if enough riders were available. It normally had a 4500 LPM pump at 10 bar, an 1800 liter tank and could carry up to a 15 meter ground ladder, although a 7.5 meter ladder was much more common.
The chassis was also used extensively for aerial ladders, rescue trucks, tankers, foam pumpers, hose tenders and almost anything else you could think of.
The Cargo, which suceeded the C series, never enjoyed the popularity of its predecessor, and Ford has now faded away as a supplier of fire trucks, except for small brush pumpers, rapid response trucks and light rescue vehicles on the F150 - F550 chassis.
However, locally-built Cargo-based pumpers are still to be found operating in Brazil and a few other South American countries.

Added by Rob Johnson on 21 August 2012.

I've heard it refered to as the "belly button" chassis, cause everyone had one!

Added by Jeff Beall on 22 August 2012.

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