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Fire Engine Photos
Yes there were so many around in France and they were on the run until end 90'. The cistern were modelled by Merceron, they managed to do quite well actually.
Added by Jacques PETER on 05 September 2009.
Added by Jacques PETER on 05 September 2009.
These conversions of US army surplus GMC 6X6 trucks started in 1948, and each fire department which operated them tended to have a local firm do the work, so there were many different versions.
Some had five man crew cabs, but most used the standard cab and many had an open driver's compartment like an oversized Jeep.
The tank was usually 3, 000 liters, with older units having round tanks and newer conversions being fitted with rectangular tanks. The pump was a portable 500 LPM unit, preconnected to the tank and to a 23 mm hosereel.
Not much equipment was carried: these were intended for forest and brush firefighting, which was and still is a major concern in France. To this day French fire services operate more brush trucks than structural fire pumpers.
AS Jacques mentioned, many of these hundreds of GMCs stayed in service for more than forty years after being converted - a remarkable "second life" and a unique bit of fire engine history.
Added by Rob Johnson on 02 March 2017.
Some had five man crew cabs, but most used the standard cab and many had an open driver's compartment like an oversized Jeep.
The tank was usually 3, 000 liters, with older units having round tanks and newer conversions being fitted with rectangular tanks. The pump was a portable 500 LPM unit, preconnected to the tank and to a 23 mm hosereel.
Not much equipment was carried: these were intended for forest and brush firefighting, which was and still is a major concern in France. To this day French fire services operate more brush trucks than structural fire pumpers.
AS Jacques mentioned, many of these hundreds of GMCs stayed in service for more than forty years after being converted - a remarkable "second life" and a unique bit of fire engine history.
Added by Rob Johnson on 02 March 2017.
Photo 19298 on this site illustrates the open cab version of this GMC chassis, with a different tanker body installed on it. The "Historic Fire Engines Europe" website has dozens of additional photos of many different conversions, too...
Added by Rob Johnson on 24 June 2018.
Added by Rob Johnson on 24 June 2018.
GMC
Over 800,000 were produced - 562,750 by General Motors Corp.; 197,000 by Studebaker, of which half went to the Soviet Union; International Harvester also built them.
GMC 270, 2.5 ton capacity, Model CCKW-353, 6 x 6 drive, 6 cylinder engine, 4417 cc, 77.5 kw(104hp) at 3,000 rpm.
These trucks served with countries all over the world; many were converted to specialist vehicles as shown here. And all the Hollywood movies showed them.
BTW "Deuce" comes from name for the "2-Card" in the USA soldiers' Poker card-game; so "deuce-and-a-half" is "two-and-a-half" (tons)...get it ?!
Regards, from Canada,
Pat_R-B
Added by Pat Rivers-Bowerman on 24 July 2009.