In 1938, American LaFrance pioneered the first cab-forward fire apparatus, then revolutionized the concept in 1945 with the classic 700 Series. In the 1950s, legendary names such as Ahrens Fox, Crown Firecoach, Mack, Maxim, Pirsche, and Seagrave began offering their own cab-forward versions. The cab-forward design became the glamour queen of fire apparatus. This volume traces the evolution of cab-forward fire apparatus from its fathering to today’s industry giants, with a brilliant selection of black and white and color photographs with historical commentary and technical data.

An in-depth look at the history, development, and evolution of fire fighting vehicles and manufacturers through the late 1990s.

Before the cab-forward revolution led by the 700 Series American-LaFrance, there was the buckboard style of fire apparatus. With the driver ahead or aside of the engine, the buckboard style was the original cab-forward.This buckboard style was one of the more common incarnations of early motor fire apparatus design. Today it often is overlooked despite its historical significance.Buckboard Fire Apparatus: The Original Cab-Forward, with more than 200 photos and advertisements, explores the development of motor fire apparatus of the buckboard style during the brief period from 1905 through around 1920 when the buckboard style was common and produced in significant numbers by a variety of manufacturers.According to Walter McCall, the author of American Fire Engines Since 1900, "there is a LOT of new information in there, as well as many photos we haven't seen before. It's not just a book about buckboard-style apparatus -- it's an excellent overview of the birth of the motor fire apparatus era."

American COE (Cab Over Engine) designs began to appear as a way to maximize loads and abide by individual U.S. state length regulations. By shortening the overall length of the truck cab the trailer size could be increased while staying within the overall length limit dictated by each state. COE trucks would help play a vital role in America’s industrial growth over the ensuing decades. All the major truck manufacturers are featured along with the many models offered throughout the decades into the 1970s, as well as a brief look at the COE models offered through the 1980s to today.

Powered by the company’s industry-leading V-12 engine, the 400 Series Metropolitan with its long, gracefully tapered hood, skirted fenders, classically-proportioned gabled radiator and oversized wheels, was a triumph of industrial design—an eye-pleasing blend of form and function, and the industry’s first truly styled fire engine. This authoritative, thoroughly-researched and richly illustrated book documents the big 400’s relatively short, but spectacular, production life from its introduction in late 1934 through the last two assembled from the parts bin in early 1940.

The vehicles and other firefighting equipment of the Milwaukee Fire Department, like the department itself, are unique among the fire service. It built more of its own apparatus than any other American city and few can match the scope and character of apparatus used to serve and protect life and property in Milwaukee. Through detailed research, firsthand narratives, and captivating photos, the author walks the reader through the fascinating history of the incredible machines that served Cream City from the mid-nineteenth century to modern times. This volume traces the ever-changing face of Milwaukee's fire-fighting and life-saving equipment in parallel with the city's own history and growth. The fire department workshop's reputation for ingenuity is shown through its adaptations to disastrous fires that brought about changes in laws, economic growth and decline, the establishment of Milwaukee's ethnic neighborhoods, the difficult transition from horses to motorization, the wartime and post-war experience, the corporate world of apparatus manufacturers, and Milwaukee's fireboat fleet.

As World War II drew to a close, America's premier fire apparatus builder--the American-LaFrance Foamite Corp. of Elmira, N.Y.--bet the company's future on its radical new cab-ahead-of-engine 700 Series fire engines. In a spectacular gamble to capture the superheated postwar market, all of the company's existing products were discontinued and its customers were essentially told to "take it or leave it." This bold gamble paid off and 700 Series rigs soon filled firehouses across the nation, sweeping aside all competitors and ultimately defining the breakthrough 700 as "America's Fire Engine." This is the first comprehensive history of the game-changing 700. Individual chapters detail not only each of the eight major vehicle types but also the origins, design controversies, manufacturing, and marketing of the 700 and short-lived transitional 800 Series. The book includes a meticulously researched registry of every 700/800 series apparatus delivered, supported by many interpretive tables detailing production, specifications and major fire department fleets.