If you have been having a hard time figuring out what to get me for Christmas, you could always go for this firetruck. It might not fit under the tree, but what boy wouldn’t be happy to find this shinny red beauty sitting out on the driveway Christmas morning? It is powered by a V12 and is an open cab model so it should be a load of fun to cruise around in. This truck was purchased new by the Algona, Iowa fire department and they ended up putting less than 3,000 miles on it! I’m not sure where I would park it or what I would really do with it, but the thought sure is fun. Take a look here on eBay where it’s listed for $9,500 or best offer. Thanks goes to Charles H for the tip!
As most, my little boy loves anything that has to do with firefighting. He has many books about the topic and there’s one that was printed in the fifties and the trucks looks just like this one. The illustrations of the fireman riding in the cab and along the back bumper are great. This thing just needs a Dalmatian dog up on top and a couple of ladders on the side to complete the image. Obviously, the maintenance and care of a big old truck like this isn’t going to be all fun and games (just look at all those spark plugs and coils), but this particular one does look like a good starting point for someone seriously interested in firetruck collecting.
The body is solid and straight so after a good cleaning and some wax, you can spend your time focusing on the things that make it go. It’s drivable, but the brakes need some work. The company who built this, Seagrave, has been in the fire apparatus business since 1881! So not only are you getting a nice survivor quality truck, but you are buying one of the best. I bet you feel like a fireman every time you up inside and that even without any trips to the gym. Hmm, I wonder if a taller overhead door would fit on my garage…
Definitely a childhood dream truck. Drive it twice a year, in the Christmas parade, and the 4th of July parade.
Anybody know what the engine make is? It is not Hall-Scott, those were all ohv. If it would only fit under my Christmas tree…………
HI Ed, apparently, Seagrave ( and it’s competitor, American LaFrance) made their own motors in the 40’s and 50’s. Seagrave made 2 V-12’s, the bigger one, which I believe is this one, a 900 c.i. 300 hp, V-12, and a smaller, 462 c.i. 202 hp. V-12 for it’s smaller pumpers. The “dual” ignition was pretty standard on all fire trucks. One site suggests, parts for these motors are becoming scarce, and lots of idling and took it’s toll on many. Like Mark sez, ( over and over) it’s a fire truck, and has very limited uses.
The trouble with fire trucks is that there fire trucks, purpose built for fire fighting. after there retired they become kind of useless, they take up a lot of space, they’re heavy, and they don’t get great gas mileage. For me the only part of this truck that interests me is the engine. What an awesome addition to a period street rod. Of course that would depend on how heavy it is, and what it’s going into. The rest of the truck is in nice shape and interesting to look at but for me I would have no desire to have it.
I commented above that it would make a great street rod engine. I am going to have to back pedal a bit, i went to an app I found a while ago that gives engine weights. If this is a Pierce Arrow engine it weighs in at 1130 lbs. you would need a car with a heavy duty suspension. I still think that this is a cool old engine, with very limited uses but still worth saving. I still wouldn’t want the truck.
Ed P, If I’m not mistaking…..the V12 engine in these were a Pierce-Arrow Design.
It’s….it’s….smiling…at me.
Yes seagrave used Pierce Arrow designed V12’s!
Every time I see one of these incredible machines for such reasonable prices I wonder why there can’t be some imaginative company that could repurpose these by yanking out the back and turning them into the most testosterone charged pickups on the planet. Let’s face it, nice as they are, there are too many around to survive as antique fire trucks. If a conversion was $10K, wouldn’t one of these be cool at $20K all in? They would make a Reo or Diamond T look like a 1/4 ton by comparison!
That would make a great pick-up, and you could use the sirens to get your plywood home in a hurry!
As a little kid in the late fifties I had a neighbor who owned an open cab fire engine…might well have been a Seagrave….somewhere I have a Polaroid of me in the cab with my neighbor. He also owned Lily Pons’ ’37 (I think) Packard limo with an open car, probably what made me a car nut.
Just a side note on Seagrave. If you have the serial number of the rig. You can contact them they still have all the prints up in their office in Clintonville, WI.