Images from Dave Fornell’s collection illustrating Chicago’s Ford C-Series Ward LaFrance engines.
The Ward/Ford canopy pumpers were delivered near the end of 1969. There were 10 units in the order and were the only WardLaFrance/Ford canopy pumpers delivered to the CFD. There were a number of non canopy Ward/Fords delivered, and quite a few of Pierce/Ford, E-One/Ford and even a set of Seagrave/Ford canopy pumpers supplied.
The WardLaFrance/Fords went to extremely busy companies, who beat the stuffing out of them. They all had rear compartment mounted winches and were built on Ford C-8000 chassis with 175′ wheelbases. Later E-One and Pierce rigs had 153′ wheelbases largely because the size of the canopy seating area was much smaller.
In those days, the yearly apparatus orders were distributed among politically connected vendors. So, when these were delivered, Schuster equipment was the designated vendor. Pierces (and Seagraves) came from Illinois FWD Truck and Equipment in Rosemont, owned by Ray Schuster, yes a brother to the owner of Schuster Equipment, and the later E-Ones from Able Fire and Safety.
The photos show the following:
The side view is of one of the rigs being acceptance tested on the lake near McCormick place.
Engine 19’s rig is shown right after delivery in front of its quarters.
As the years wore on, Engine 95 and Engine 61 are shown in front of quarters.
Note that Engine 95 was running with 150′ of 3″ supply line, 100′ of which was carried on top of the driver’s side compartments, and the rest in the hose bed. This was a precursor of the 150′ of 4″ line carried on the front bumpers of Chicago rigs today.
One photo shows this evoloution-not standard in the CFD at that time-in use at a junk yard fire on the West Side in the late 70s.
The photo of Engine 19, shown operating at a fire in 1977, with the three-compartment driver’s side body. The story goes that a well-heeled lawyer slammed into the rig and the resulting insurance settlement was enough to allow 3D Metals in Wisconsin to replace the original body.
All of the 1969 Ward/Fords had the same 2-compartments each side body. The later E-One, Seagrave and Pierce bodies had half/height compartments on top of the lower compartments.
These rigs were the last Ward/Ford rigs delivered to the CFD.
Capt. Dave
Dave Fornell collection
Dave Fornell collection
Dave Fornell collection
Dave Fornell collection
Dave Fornell collection
Dave Fornell collection
Dave Fornell collection
#1 by David on April 1, 2015 - 9:26 AM
Capt. Dave, thanks for all the details on the rigs, especially the modified compartments on Eng. 19’s body, thought that it was some kinda separate delivery or different type. Looks like these rigs must have been the best hardware available at the time when they assigned them to the busiest companies in the city..?
#2 by tom sullivan on April 1, 2015 - 8:51 AM
the ford / e-ones in 1975 were basically the first rigs with aluminum bodies. I think Chicago put e-one on the map at least in the mid-west market. after the success of the first e-one rigs Chicago bought many more e-ones, including trucks of various cab / body styles and chassis.
the use of a 3″ line for supply was used by a north side company whose engineer had been a ff on e-95 and suggested trying it. it worked well under the right circumstances.
#3 by CaptDave on March 31, 2015 - 12:27 PM
The Ward/Ford canopy pumpers were delivered near the end of 1969. There were 10 units in the order and were the only WardLaFrance/Ford canopy pumpers delivered to the CFD. There were a number of non canopy Ward/Fords delivered, and quite a few of Pierce/Ford, E-One/Ford and even a set of Seagrave/Ford canopy pumpers supplied.
The WardLaFrance/Fords went to extremely busy companies, who beat the stuffing out of them. They all had rear compartment mounted winches and were built on Ford C-8000 chassis with 175″ wheelbases. Later E-One and Pierce rigs had 153″ wheelbases largely because the size of the canopy seating area was much smaller.
In those days, the yearly apparatus orders were distributed among politically connected vendors. So, when these were delivered, Schuster equipment was the designated vendor. Pierces (and Seagraves) came from Illinois FWD Truck and Equipment in Rosemont, owned by Ray Schuster, yes a brother to the owner of Schuster Equipment, and the later E-Ones from Able Fire and Safety.
The photos show the following:
The side view is of one of the rigs being acceptance tested on the lake near McCormick place.
Engine 19’s rig is shown right after delivery in front of its quarters.
As the years wore on, Engine 95 and Engine 61 are shown in front of quarters.
Note that Engine 95 was running with 150′ of 3″ supply line, 100′ of which was carried on top of the driver’s side compartments, and the rest in the hose bed. This was a precursor of the 150′ of 4″ line carried on the front bumpers of Chicago rigs today.
One photo shows this evoloution-not standard in the CFD at that time-in use at a junk yard fire on the West Side in the late 70s.
The photo of Engine 19, shown operating at a fire in 1977, with the three-compartment driver’s side body. The story goes that a well-heeled lawyer slammed into the rig and the resulting insurance settlement was enough to allow 3D Metals in Wisconsin to replace the original body.
All of the 1969 Ward/Fords had the same 2-compartments each side body. The later E-One, Seagrave and Pierce bodies had half/height compartments on top of the lower compartments.
These rigs were the last Ward/Ford rigs delivered to the CFD.
Capt. Dave
#4 by tom sullivan on March 29, 2015 - 7:55 PM
the ford rigs definitely proved their worth in the tough Chicago environment. there were several companies, besides wlf,,, seagrave, pierce, e-one, that produced ford chassied rigs. they came in various compartment configurations, pump panels, etc. I believe there might have been a couple with 750 booster tanks in the ’60s. most had CAT diesel engines and maual trans,, automatics came in the ’80s. there were some truck cos. with ford chassis also.
the first fords appeared in the late ’60s all the way through the late ’80s.
#5 by Michael M on March 29, 2015 - 2:49 PM
What years were they initially delivered to the CFD?
#6 by David on March 29, 2015 - 11:44 AM
Were these 1969 or 1970?? Also from the pics it looks like there were at least 2 types, anybody has any more info about the rigs? The FORD C rigs were definitely a backbone of the CFD fleet for several decades, I think there’s actually no other fire department anywhere in the world which has used so many of these rigs. Also never got why the FDNY didn’t have a single piece of this type.
#7 by Crabby Milton on March 29, 2015 - 11:29 AM
While I’m not a big fan of fire apparatus built on commercial chassis, those do look pretty sharp. That FORD C series was around forever and I think almost every corner in the country saw one in service at one time or another used by almost every apparatus builder. They stopped building those in 1990 after 33 years. Amazing.