Commercial canopy cab apparatus

[Aaronw]

I don't think this has been done before. There was a relatively short window of 20-30 years when the commercial canopy cab was a popular alternative to the custom cab. The decline of putting firefighters on the tailboard and tightening budgets in the late 60s seems to have been the push that began their ascent, and its end came in the early 90s with the adoption of safety standards that required fully enclosed riding positions on new apparatus. 

 

Personally I find this period of design an interesting hybrid of the commercial chassis and custom apparatus, not cleanly fitting in either side.

 

This is specifically canopy cab apparatus built on a commercial chassis, crewcabs and standard fixed cabs need not apply. The one exception I'm making is that odd creation that placed firefighters in a seperate box or in the apparatus body itself behind a standard cab, examples being Washington DC's "telephone booth" Fords or the USFS' Model 61. I make this exception because it seems to have been a close rival of the canopy cabs, and it quickly faded away after the canopy cab ceased production.

 

Edit- Open bench seats behind the cab and extended cab trucks with rear seating but no seperate doors for those seats are close enough to fit within the umbrella of "canopy cab" and encouraged.

 

 

I don't actually have a lot of examples of these to post so I hope others will chime in and add some of their own.

 

I'll start of with what was probably the single most successful commercial canopy cab chassis, the Ford C series. All photos posted by me were photographed by me unless otherwise stated.

 

California Office of Emergency Services Ford C / Westates