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This International R190 is mid-1950s vintage, perhaps 1954. Nice old truck.
Added by Mike Feldman on 10 September 2013.
Added by Mike Feldman on 10 September 2013.
It really is a fine example of a typical mid fifties US pumper. Almost all of them (except for American La France trucks) were built on conventional normal control truck chassis like this one, whether custom brands like Seagrave or standard commercial ones like this International.
The driver and company officer got to ride in the cab - which often had the roof chopped off in warmer areas of the country - and the rest of the crew had "standing room only" on the rear step, and occasionally on the running boards, if they were not too cluttered up with various items of equipment. Most full-time departments at the time ran with a crew of five, with three on the rear step, but many volunteer companies could often muster many more!
In those days of light traffice, a red paint job, a siren and one or two red flashing lights were deemed to be enough to get the apparatus to the incident quickly and safely - that too has all changed!
Added by Rob Johnson on 10 September 2013.
The driver and company officer got to ride in the cab - which often had the roof chopped off in warmer areas of the country - and the rest of the crew had "standing room only" on the rear step, and occasionally on the running boards, if they were not too cluttered up with various items of equipment. Most full-time departments at the time ran with a crew of five, with three on the rear step, but many volunteer companies could often muster many more!
In those days of light traffice, a red paint job, a siren and one or two red flashing lights were deemed to be enough to get the apparatus to the incident quickly and safely - that too has all changed!
Added by Rob Johnson on 10 September 2013.
With a dearth of domestic truck production in most of Europe in the decade after WWII, and enormous demand for trucks as the economy recovered, imported American truck chassis like this International proved very popular in many countries.
Fire services in Belgium, Denmark, Finland, Norway, Portugal and the Netherlands bought lots of new American Chevrolet, Ford, GMC, Dodge and International chassis for all types of fire truck applications. The French fire services - among others - also acquired hundreds of ex army GMC 2.5 ton 6X6 chassis too, and rebuilt them as forest fire tenders, and used military Dodge Beeps and Power Wagons were similarly converted in several countries.
Many were still in service well in to the 1970s, before they were all eventually replaced by European makes.
In Australia and New Zealand American makes were extremely popular too back then, and more modern International fire trucks are still in service in several places.
Most of these had typical European enclosed coach built body work with a rear mounted pump and ladders on the roof, but - especially in Australia and New Zealand - some typically American design features were incorporated. These sometimes included canopy cabs, mid mounted pumps and pre-connected flaked hoses in lockers accessed from the rear of the appliance.
Added by Rob Johnson on 30 May 2018.
Fire services in Belgium, Denmark, Finland, Norway, Portugal and the Netherlands bought lots of new American Chevrolet, Ford, GMC, Dodge and International chassis for all types of fire truck applications. The French fire services - among others - also acquired hundreds of ex army GMC 2.5 ton 6X6 chassis too, and rebuilt them as forest fire tenders, and used military Dodge Beeps and Power Wagons were similarly converted in several countries.
Many were still in service well in to the 1970s, before they were all eventually replaced by European makes.
In Australia and New Zealand American makes were extremely popular too back then, and more modern International fire trucks are still in service in several places.
Most of these had typical European enclosed coach built body work with a rear mounted pump and ladders on the roof, but - especially in Australia and New Zealand - some typically American design features were incorporated. These sometimes included canopy cabs, mid mounted pumps and pre-connected flaked hoses in lockers accessed from the rear of the appliance.
Added by Rob Johnson on 30 May 2018.
International
Editor: apologies, my mistake... corrected now.
Added by David Youell on 10 September 2013.