While older trucks attract a limited but dedicated following, retired firefighting appliances will always command attention. If you head off to a truck show and one of those classics on display, it will always draw a strong crowd. I sometimes wonder if this is because, deep down, many people still harbor a childhood dream to become a firefighter. That dream could become a reality because this beautifully preserved 1964 FWD Farrar has recently hit the market. Its condition is extremely impressive, and with all of its pumps and hoses intact, it could be used by its new owner for many purposes. If you want to be that owner, you will find the FWD located in Milford, New Hampshire, and listed for sale here on Barn Finds Classifieds. When it comes to affordable classics, an asking price of $7,500 allows this gentle giant to fit neatly into that category.
This retired classic is based on a 1964 FWD Tractioneer chassis and four-wheel-drive system. FWD Co introduced the Tractioneer into their product range in 1961, and it was considered a modern and robust vehicle when they were new. They were also a truck with a reputation for being overengineered and heavy, but neither of those attributes was considered a downside in a vehicle with this purpose. One of the greatest strengths of any firefighting appliance is its overall presentation. They represent the most visible part of an essential emergency service, and spotlessly clean and dent-free vehicles always inspire confidence within the community. This old girl is no exception, and its recent retirement means that it has had no chance to deteriorate or accrue dings and dents. The paint shines beautifully, the panels are laser straight, while the trim and glass are perfect. There is no visible rust in the panels, and the vehicle’s underside is clean enough to eat off.
Powering this beast is a classic engine of monumental proportions. It is an International RD-501 gas straight-six. Produced by International between 1941 and 1974, it seems almost perfectly designed to serve in the engine bay of a firefighting appliance. It is a slow-revving powerplant that pumps out a healthy 214.8hp at 3,000rpm and an incredible 451 ft/lbs of torque at a mere 1,800rpm. All of this brute force needs to find its way to the road, and it does so via a five-speed manual transmission and FWD’s legendary and bulletproof all-wheel-drive system. If the overall presentation is one strong point of any retired firefighting appliance, its drivetrain is the other. These vehicles have to be unerringly reliable, so they are maintained to the highest standards. Parts and oils are the best that money can buy because while suffering a breakdown on the way to a fire is a bad thing, suffering one when stuck in the middle of a wildfire is something altogether more dangerous. There’s little doubt that this FWD is in sound mechanical health because it was only decommissioned from the Wilton, New Hampshire, brigade in August of this year. It hasn’t had a chance to go to seed, and with a genuine 3,495 miles showing on its odometer, it is barely broken in.
Apart from climbing aboard and operating the lights and sirens, what most children (both big and small) want to do is grab hold of the hose and let it rip with a blast of water. That could be a reality with this giant because its pump, tank, reels, and hoses remain intact. The pump can deliver 750 gpm, and with a 500-gallon tank on-board, there’s the chance to get anything pretty soggy. The firefighting equipment was installed and commissioned by Farrar Company, operating out of their facility in Woodville, Massachusetts. They turned out their first firetruck in 1933 and continued production until Edward Murphy bought out the company in 1985. The company remained alive in spirit, although the new owner changed its name to EJ Murphy Company.
I admit that I once had a desire to become a firefighter as a child, and I even managed to own a pedal car equipped with a hose, ladder, and bell. I’ve never grown out of that desire, and I suspect that a few adults are in the same boat. That raises the question of what potential buyers could do with this 1964 FWD Farrar. Rural property owners could keep the vehicle onsite as their first line of defense in the event of a wildfire or grass fire because it would be perfect in that role. However, those vehicles also tend to deteriorate quickly, which would be a shame when the truck in question is this nice. It could be a wonderful parade vehicle, but it could be brilliant as a promotional vehicle for a business. This would be especially true if it were one that specializes in the supply of extinguishers, fire pumps, and other similar equipment. Would you have a use for it, or would you simply love to fulfill a childhood dream? If you do, I admit that I will envy you.
Nice, REALLY nice, but,,,,I normally agree with Adam, but not this time. Vintage fire engines USED to be the hit of any show, for all the reasons Adam stated, but today, it’s just not so. I’ve told of the restored 1911 Kissel fire engine in my small town before. The last time it was shown, 2 years ago, I was the only one looking at it( and it was leaking coolant) , no show last year because of virus, and last summer, the show went on, it wasn’t even brought out. I asked a young fire fighter why, he said, he didn’t know.
On to FWD, if I may fill in some blanks. FWD is very near and dear to me, like Rambler, it comes from my home state, Wisconsin. FWD has the distinction of being the 1st 4wd truck in America. Mostly for fire engines, some FWD trucks made it out to the public, forestry, Army, rough going stuff, and revolutionized heavy duty off road travel. War( WW1) was significantly changed when these came out. Mobility like never before.
This truck, being an “assembled truck”, meaning, they used other already made parts, was as described, an overbuilt unit. IH, the motors,( RD, “Red Diamond” , I drove a 450 version of that motor, I swear, nothing could kill it) and that cab look familiar? C series Dodge, and who knows what else. Simply put, the best of the best.
Now, like all these, what to do with it? Sure is nice enough to leave it alone, again, being a pumper, as the world burns, this could literally save the farm, even though that’s discouraged by real fire fighters, I’d sure like to have one, if I had a farm to save, that is.
FWD, I never thought I’d see one here, and I’m proud to say, they are still being made in Clintonville, Wis. under an American LaFrance conglomerate, I believe, under the name FWD Seagrave. Great find, and a beautiful truck.
Love that first photo. Kinda looks like this old pumper is just waiting to pull over speeders . .
How about that? This has got to be the third time my comments haven’t made it to the post. Not that they’re worth all that much… Anyway, I’m not surprised to see an International engine in that bay. Those Red Diamonds were amazing workhorses. I don’t think you could work them to death; you had to kill them with a stick. Parts are getting a little difficult to come by as of late. Two places can supply pistons and rings but crankshaft bearings are becoming a challenge. I was talking to the main buyer at one of the local machine shops a short time ago and he told me that he’s having difficulties finding bearings for even an SBC. It seems that a good portion of domestic bearing suppliers decided to increase profit margins and send their production off-shore. Non-existent quality control and other production problems plus problems in certain parts of this country has stifled everything down to the point where we’re going to see some shortages in supplies for our hobby in the oncoming months. Some companies have already started moving things home and IMHO they can’t do it fast enough.
Anyways, enough of that. I might end up in “Barn Finds Prison.” I seem to end up in FB Prison often enough; maybe it’s getting contagious.
I’m surprised to see a Dodge cab on these trucks. International supplied “Comfo-Vision” cabs to something like (19) different truck builders between 1950 and 1979. Maybe FWD decided to patronize EVERYONE which is the fair thing to do.
The truck itself. Well built and a lot of years left in it. I think it’s a shame to see these majestic old trucks suffer the indignity of being turned out to pasture. Serving the community so well and then parked outside so that some computerized marvel can replace them. I’ve seen a lot of fire trucks going out to larger farms which is a good idea. The new combines can be quite a fire hazard and, well, one of these trucks is going to be lot better than trying to “whiz” the fire out. With the price of a new combine exceeding $500K, not to mention the loss of crops, I think a fire truck is a good investment. The only other thing to do would be to pull the fire apparatus off and repurpose the truck for something else.
There’s a Barn Finds prison? Off with his head,,,( if it’s a French run prison) I too wondered about the cab. I think, what happened, is the IH cab was getting dated, and like you say, Comfovision cabs were used in many applications, and may have been hard to obtain. Dodge, on the other hand, had big hopes in the heavy duty truck market that never really panned out and probably had warehouses full of these C series cabs. Not sure if fairness had much to do with it, more like a super deal from Dodge( like Studebaker pickup boxes) cheaper than they could make their own for.
Few here can appreciate a Red Diamond motor. Most grumbly gear jammers that sat behind ( or above or next to) them are pushing daisies now, but the 1st heavy duty dump truck I drove(mid-’70’s) was a ’63 R-190 tandem with a 450 RD, 5×3. Loaded, it wouldn’t hold “15th”, or 14th, for that matter, but it never failed, unlike those pesky 392 V8’s that just couldn’t handle full throttle application all day. The RD could. Talk about “whiz”, the RD had a nasty habit of vapor lock on hot days. It’s why many removed the hood side panels. I’m sure RD powered FWD’s were no different. The boss, who was a character, told me, if that happens, try and pee on the fuel pump. I never got to try that, however, “hose” wasn’t long enough to reach that far,, :0
I wound up in Facebook jail so much that last year I just shut down my account. Now I have more time for other things like buying this and turning it into a rollback car hauler.
Win, win Troy!!
Thanks. And I thought it was just me.
A couple of my comments have been deleted too. And there was no profanity, politics, or personal attacks. The latest deletion involved just a few remarks about my first car, a 1962 Fiat 600. I said something about Fix-It-Again-Tony. Maybe Tony was offended.
A fire pumper? So the tank is full of fire? Hahaha
A lot of the newer fire engines have problems that
are computer related,rather than mechanical.
The department I was a volunteer with had a Pierce
engine that was rarely out-of-service.
Thanks, pal, that’s reassuring to know. I can hear it now at a 3 alarm blaze, the Chief, ” Okay, give it all you got”, in a timid voice, “sorry sir, we can’t, we’re waiting on a chip that’s on a container in LA harbor,”,,
This is a beautiful truck, but not one that a farm or home owner could really use. It appears to only have a large diameter lay flat hose reel, something that would be used to draft and bring a large amount of water from a source to the fire. But you are not going to be able to handle that hose at all and I can see any provisions for smaller reels or even hook ups for smaller diameter hose. It is a good deal for a low speed chassis, but at the asking price there are a lot of more utilitarian trucks for sale there that have apparatus that a property owner could really use. Otherwise this rig would already be snapped up.
My late dad was in the CCC ‘s duing the depression and one of the vehicles there was an FWD dump truck. There’s a picture of it in our family, and written on the back was what they nicknamed that truck, Fart, Wiggle and Die! Ah, amazing how some things never change!
According to Google maps this thing is almost 2800 miles away I wonder what the fuel costs would be to drive this thing home, I would turn it into a rollback car hauler or just a flat bed
Beautiful FWD! I have a huge soft spot for beautiful old trucks as in warehouse full of them. In the old days it seemed FWD was the king until Oshkosh came into the scene and they battled in the market until Oshkosh bought FWD to eliminate the competition and buy market share. The name FWD is still around and shows up at times when you least expect it.
Beautiful, honorable truck I hope it sells for a good amount!
Two price drops and posted a month ago.
I’d buy it and keep it as is. And drive it 33 traffic every chance I had!!!
Drove one of these in the 60’s as 8 yd. concrete truck, great trucks, Ileft for a few days and someone blew up the engine, the govenor?? Finally used it on a bridge pour that killed it,scrap!!!!