[quote name='Bklyn Phil' post='60234' date='Dec 21 2006, 10:18 ']Another opportunity to cut and paste another pic to GA Dave's "ALF Spotters Guide" - the following is from that wonderful documentary of American FF apparatus, subsequent posts and commentaries -
"Part 5A - The Spartan II (1981 - 1983)
Welcome to Part Five of the ALF Spotters Guide. This part will cover the last of the production of American LaFrance at Elmira, NY and the beginning of a new ALF at Bluefield, VA. The last new custom fire apparatus chassis built at Elmira was known as the Spartan II. It also has been called the Century Straightline. It came out around 1981 and replaced the Pioneer III and the Pacemaker as the only low-cost model from ALF. In design, it had features of both the Pioneer cab and the Century cab. It was plain and boxy, like the Pioneer, but had the wider cab of the Century. The large, flat windshield was angled to the rear, opposite of the old Pioneer. Attached are two examples of the Spartan II. To the best of my knowledge, they were only available as pumpers and less than twenty-five were built. Very little written information exists about them. The Spartan II was phased out around 1983.
Message 50232 From: "fc1504x4" <fc1504x4@y...> Date: Wed Oct 9, 2002 9:21 pm Subject: Re:Wichita Parade Part 4
Eric.....Thanks for the link and info on the Anderson, IN Spartan II's. Those are two more that I hadn't seen before. The quote from the ALF representative is true about the "Spartan", but these are "Spartan II" models, built on a custom chassis, and NOT with a Pioneer cab (See ALF Spotter's Guide). The Spartan II cab was unique to that series. GA Dave
--- In Firepics@y..., _ _ E R I C _ _ <firepics@h...> wrote:
> Well that's 3 Spartans still rolling around that I know of. I myself know where an '84 & '85 are. I went to look at them 2 weeks ago on my drive to look at buying another truck. The ones I saw ran out of Anderson, Indianna and are still listed on their web page (http://www.cityofanderson.com/Fire%20Dep...panies.htm ) although they were pulled from service close to a year ago. The units are heavily rusted. I was told they sat outdoors for a couple of years until ALF was finally able to sell them. They have 8.2L Detroit Diesels (180 HP? - Sheeeesh, even my Maxima has 190 hp!) w/auto trans. I can only imagine how anemic the power plants must have been with full tanks & hose bed.
As explained by Rob Haldeman - Technical Services Coordinator for ALF... "The Spartan units were basically Pioneer cabs mounted on commercial chassis. It was ALF's attempt to provide a more economical unit. Unfortunately it never gained the popularity of the full custom Century model. The small engine certainly didn't help sell these units. Our service facility in Cleveland, NC may be able to provide some information..." _ _ E R I C _ _
Message 50238 From: mack505@m... Date: Wed Oct 9, 2002 10:01 pm Subject: Re: [Firepics] Re:Wichita Parade Part 4
There is one more still in service at Engine 3 in Ipswich, MA. I've posted photos of it before.
It's due to be retired any day.--James"
These guides are still around on [url="http://www.scalecentral.org/"]http://www.scalecentral.org/[/url] Goto 'Photography' in the navigation bar.
Phil, Bklyn.[/quote]
IF, I recall correctly this particular Spartan II was a demo, and was bought immediately after, and in response to a major fire that had occured in downtown Ipswich around that time. I think it was the Hill's department store blaze...a little before my time though!
"Part 5A - The Spartan II (1981 - 1983)
Welcome to Part Five of the ALF Spotters Guide. This part will cover the last of the production of American LaFrance at Elmira, NY and the beginning of a new ALF at Bluefield, VA. The last new custom fire apparatus chassis built at Elmira was known as the Spartan II. It also has been called the Century Straightline. It came out around 1981 and replaced the Pioneer III and the Pacemaker as the only low-cost model from ALF. In design, it had features of both the Pioneer cab and the Century cab. It was plain and boxy, like the Pioneer, but had the wider cab of the Century. The large, flat windshield was angled to the rear, opposite of the old Pioneer. Attached are two examples of the Spartan II. To the best of my knowledge, they were only available as pumpers and less than twenty-five were built. Very little written information exists about them. The Spartan II was phased out around 1983.
Message 50232 From: "fc1504x4" <fc1504x4@y...> Date: Wed Oct 9, 2002 9:21 pm Subject: Re:Wichita Parade Part 4
Eric.....Thanks for the link and info on the Anderson, IN Spartan II's. Those are two more that I hadn't seen before. The quote from the ALF representative is true about the "Spartan", but these are "Spartan II" models, built on a custom chassis, and NOT with a Pioneer cab (See ALF Spotter's Guide). The Spartan II cab was unique to that series. GA Dave
--- In Firepics@y..., _ _ E R I C _ _ <firepics@h...> wrote:
> Well that's 3 Spartans still rolling around that I know of. I myself know where an '84 & '85 are. I went to look at them 2 weeks ago on my drive to look at buying another truck. The ones I saw ran out of Anderson, Indianna and are still listed on their web page (http://www.cityofanderson.com/Fire%20Dep...panies.htm ) although they were pulled from service close to a year ago. The units are heavily rusted. I was told they sat outdoors for a couple of years until ALF was finally able to sell them. They have 8.2L Detroit Diesels (180 HP? - Sheeeesh, even my Maxima has 190 hp!) w/auto trans. I can only imagine how anemic the power plants must have been with full tanks & hose bed.
As explained by Rob Haldeman - Technical Services Coordinator for ALF... "The Spartan units were basically Pioneer cabs mounted on commercial chassis. It was ALF's attempt to provide a more economical unit. Unfortunately it never gained the popularity of the full custom Century model. The small engine certainly didn't help sell these units. Our service facility in Cleveland, NC may be able to provide some information..." _ _ E R I C _ _
Message 50238 From: mack505@m... Date: Wed Oct 9, 2002 10:01 pm Subject: Re: [Firepics] Re:Wichita Parade Part 4
There is one more still in service at Engine 3 in Ipswich, MA. I've posted photos of it before.
It's due to be retired any day.--James"
These guides are still around on [url="http://www.scalecentral.org/"]http://www.scalecentral.org/[/url] Goto 'Photography' in the navigation bar.
Phil, Bklyn.[/quote]
IF, I recall correctly this particular Spartan II was a demo, and was bought immediately after, and in response to a major fire that had occured in downtown Ipswich around that time. I think it was the Hill's department store blaze...a little before my time though!
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