Offered for sale at the St. Louis Car Museum is a 1937 Autocar
Pumper Apparatus that was used onsite at the Wyomissing Industries
facility. (Full history of the company below.) It was a sprawling
area that including its own metal foundry, junior college for
engineering, medical/dental/eye care dispensary, and cafeteria big
enough to hold 1,200 people! It even had its own complex phone,
security, and fire alarm system! So, why not its own fire
department as well! The 1937 Autocar Fire Truck, seen here, was
built in Buffalo, New York using their 453ci 6-cylinder engine and
5-speed transmission, fitted with a Northern Pump to push 600
gallons per minute if ever needed! It comes with a chrome siren &
horns, 40-foot extension ladder, three 10-foot hose sections with
screened pick up cap, onboard water tank with hose reel, rear
lights, wood lined hose storage box, and Goodyear Hi-Miler 9.00-20"
tires! Autocar today still remains the oldest surviving motor
vehicle brand in the western hemisphere, beginning in 1899! They
specialize in large, severe-duty trucks- logging trucks, dump
trucks, garbage trucks, cement mixers, wreckers, etc.
History About The 1937 Autocar Pumper Fire Truck:
It is often in the collector car industry that we get the chance to
learn about a vehicle's past ownership, which, in some instances,
can lead to a bit of a history lesson. In the case of this very
special unit, we learned quite a bit when it came to the
interesting story of this unique classic beginning in a small town
called Wyomissing, Pennsylvania. Wyomissing is located just outside
of Reading, PA and was largely built by the success story of
Ferdinand Thun and his business partner, Henry Janssen. Both men
were direct German descendants in the engineering field,
particularly the textile braiding machine industry. They began
their career together in 1896 as the Textile Machine Works, which
blossomed into production of their own woven fabric in 1900 as the
Narrows Fabric Co, and eventually producing the finest of women's
stockings with a company called Berkshire Knitting Mills by 1906.
In fact, they teamed up to research with DuPont to test Nylon
fabric in their braiding machines, and ultimately found it to be
the most durable material for stockings. Hence, why most refer to
them as "nylons" still today!
Their combined company holdings were held under the parent
corporation known as Wyomissing Industries, having product
distribution throughout the world including Cuba, Holland, Japan,
and Australia. And by 1936, they employed over 9,000 factory and
office personnel! Truly incredible businessmen without question,
but also genuine philanthropists who provided to their
ever-expanding city footprint. Both Thun and Janssen were heavily
involved in city zoning to provide suburban housing for the
community, with an emphasis on schools, playgrounds, swimming
pools, parks and trees alike. They even helped initiate banks to
offer many financial services for resident workers and others in
the community to better provide to their families. You can read
more about it here: http://wyomissingfoundation.org/. I mention
this wonderful success story due to it's close ties to the vehicle
listed here. During the pinnacle of the company's successes, it
needed its very own Fire Company to service the three textile
plants in case of a fire.
Additional Information About Our Avaialble Autocar Pumper Fire
Truck:
Our Pumper Fire Truck has been restored since leaving Pennsylvania;
likely sometime in the late-1990's to our understanding. It was
featured for several years at the American Heritage "Big Red" Fire
Museum in Louisville, MS before it made its way to a private
collector in Alabama in 2012. With the need to scale down his
collection, we were lucky to have the opportunity to bring this
unique 1930's Autocar to our showroom here in St. Louis in January
2021! It continues to start and operate very well, although we have
no intentions of testing the pump itself. This beautiful truck
represents a wonderful piece of history; particularly to the
community it served in Wyomissing, PA.
Contact Jon Faust by calling (800)957-5707 or by emailing
[email protected] for more information about our available
classic firetruck or to schedule a chance to see it firsthand.
Thanks for looking!
