Fire Engines Photos

Less than a thousand of these Krupp Titan truck chassis were built starting in the fifties, so the numbers which ended up as fire pumpers was very limited. This makes this survivor very rare! The chassis was extremely expensive and with over 200 BHP it was considered overpowered in those days as well as seriously overpriced! The design was meant to enable the truck to tow a full size two or even three axle trailer, which was a popular idea in Germany back then, but the price was just too much for many operators to swallow. Krupp was a major vehicle and arms manufacturer in WWII, but adopted a lower profile afterwards, although the firm still builds heavy duty custom cranes, including some operated by German fire services these days.







Added by Rob Johnson on 07 December 2025.

Essen was the headquarters of the huge Krupp steel works, which was probably the main reason the city bought these chassis. It was very common in the sixties for municipal authorities in Germany to buy local products including vehicles, even if this probably meant sometimes spending more than would have otherwise been necessary. Although Mercedes, MAN and Magirus dominated the fire truck market, this did not stop a relatively small number of cities from deciding to buy local or regional offerings for their municipal fire service fleets, including at various times Borgward, Ford, Hanomag, Henschel and Opel as well as these Krupps. When making these choices when it came to chassis suppliers, it was still a requirement that the total vehicle specifications still met the government requirements set out in the DIN regulations.

Added by Rob Johnson on 07 December 2025.

Rob, you said it all! Thank you!

Added by Jacques PETER on 08 December 2025.

You are very welcome. It is often interesting to dig into the background of some of these rarer fire trucks, and to know they are being preserved and well cared for. Although there is probably a bit less variety among German examples than in some other countries, it is always great to uncover unusual builds and find out the reasons they were created.

Added by Rob Johnson on 12 December 2025.

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