Vehicle Description
1969 American Lafrance Fire Truck | Ardell Brown Classic
Carswww.ardellscars.com/1969-american-lafrance-fire-truck/1969
American Lafrance Fire Truck Was $19,995.00 Now $17,995.00The
American LaFrance Fire Engine Company was one of the oldest fire
apparatus manufacturers in America. With roots that go back to
approximately 1832, the companies that went on to become American
LaFrance built hand-drawn, horse-drawn, and steam-powered fire
engines. Founded in 1873 by Truckson LaFrance and his partners,
including Alexander S. Diven as the LaFrance Manufacturing Company
selling hand powered equipment. The International Fire Engine
Company, corporate predecessor of American LaFrance, built some
steam power fire engines between 1903 and 1907. Apparatus built by
International included horse drawn steamers, hose wagons, and hook
& ladders to chemical engines, water towers and combinations. The
American LaFrance Fire Engine Company was formed in 1903. Its
corporate offices and manufacturing plant were in Elmira, New York.
It also operated a Canadian plant in Toronto, Ontario, where it
sold apparatus under the name Lafrance-Foamite, until 1971. ALF
delivered its first motorized fire engine in 1907. Over the years,
American LaFrance built thousands of fire trucks including chemical
engines, combination pumpers, aerial ladder trucks, Aero Chief
snorkel trucks, and airport crash trucks. The classical style of
the American LaFrance apparatus is easily recognized. Some of the
company's innovations led to changes in the industry, most notably
the cab forward style cab.In 1995, the company was bought by
Freightliner LLC, which is a subsidiary of Daimler AG. Freightliner
continued to utilize American LaFrance's original nameplates and
designations including the Eagle custom chassis. Many of their
Liberty products were built on Freightliner LLC M2 or Sterling
Acterra chassis. ALF operated additional manufacturing facilities
in Ephrata, Pennsylvania, Sanford, Florida, and Hamburg, New York.
As of 2005, they were the fifth largest manufacturer of emergency
vehicles in North America.
