For American LaFrance collectors « chicagoareafire.com

For American LaFrance collectors

This from John Tobin:

ALF 1000 series restoration. Reportedly it was a brand new rig in the 1970s belonging to the South Chicago Heights, IL FD. In the mid 1990s the cab was purchased by the Zion, IL fire department and 3-D metals cut the roof off and made a closed cab out of an open cab on their AP. I decided it had too much potential to go to the melting pot and I finally cut just the front off, mounted it on wheels, new paint and a South Park bell and there you have it.

If any ALF lover is interested in this please let me know. The Elgin logo can easily come off and a new department name can be re-applied.

John Tobin photo

Tags: American LaFrance 1000 Series engine, collector to sell old fire engine front, John Tobin, South Chicago Heights Fire Department, Zion Fire Department

This entry was posted on July 6, 2015, 2:00 PM and is filed under Collectors of fire memorabilia. You can follow any responses to this entry through RSS 2.0. Both comments and pings are currently closed.

4 Comments

#1 by Ron Heal on July 6, 2015 - 8:35 PM

Very nice, John. You do good work!
#2 by JOHN TOBIN on July 6, 2015 - 8:32 PM

I love doing these, as it becomes an obsession finding vintage parts and making them look good and operate again…..this was especially true with the FDNY dash boards. However that’s only one small part of restoring one. Yes it is for sale……I put it together for a fire buddy of mine in the 1990’s and now he’s moving on. The machine gold leaf has a green tint to it……looks kind of cool, however I offered to change it, as whoever wants it might want another name on it, with the standard gold color tint……trying to find it a good home, but it’s definitely not a fire sale item. The Minnesota fire museum is restoring CFD T-13, which I provided the rough clip for…..right now they have 4K invested so far, so you see how expensive things get.
#3 by Brian Johnston on July 6, 2015 - 8:03 PM

Hi John,
Is this for sale? New hire at EFD. I have heard your name mentioned here. I am interested if it is.
Thank you.
Brian
#4 by Steve redick on July 6, 2015 - 2:56 PM

Is it for sale?? Please contact me if it is. I think it’s beautiful just the way it is.