Sanford Motor Truck Co?

[Aaronw]

So I just picked up a book on Sanford Fire Apparatus written in 1985. The book ends with the sale of Sanford to Bill Hider, and his plans for the future of the company. 

 

Being on the west coast I am not that familiar with Sanford, but I am under the impression that the company did not survive long after the change in ownership, closing in the late 80s or early 90s. I have run across a few articles from 89-90 that indicate there were some departments left with half finished Sanford apparatus around this time. 

 

 

Anyway I was hoping that maybe somebody more familiar with Sanford could (with respect to Paul Harvey) tell me the rest of the story (1985-??). 

 

 

I'll tuck a note into the back of the book for my future reference, so if we have a big fan of Sanford here feel free to ramble on as much as you desire.

 

Thanks

[foghog333]

Aaron: I will try my best to fill in some open spots in the history of Sanford Fire Apparatus. The period between around 1985 to 1995 was a turbulent time in the apparatus industry. Due to high interest rates many smaller builders were forced to take progress payments as the apparatus was built or insist that the chassis were paid for by the department when they were received. All chassis builders at that time (Duplex, Pemfab, Hendrickson and Spartan) would give the manufacturer 30 days to pay for the chassis and after that time the body builder would have to floor plan the unit with their bank or financial institution. In the end not many builders were making much profit and apparatus prices were very tight.

 

In the central New York area where Sanford had built a strong following over the years there was very stiff competition from local sales organizations representing E\-One, Pierce, Supthen and 3-D Metals. Saulsbury Fire Apparatus was right down the road in Tully, New York and there was always a rivalry between Saulsbury and Sanford.  As the larger apparatus builders could produce a wide variety of rigs, smaller companies had difficulty being competitive with them while maintaining their sales force.  It is true that several fire departments had units on order at the time that Sanford ceased operations in early 1990 with some of these contracts assigned to other body builders through the company holding the performance bonds.

 

I am unsure who took delivery of the last 100 percent built Sanford rig, that bit of information would be nice to find out.

 

Hope that this information helps, be safe.

 

Tom Shand

Winchester, Virginia 

[Aaronw]

Thank you, the book ends somewhat upbeat, but clearly with them closing their door less than 10 years later, things couldn't have gone all that well.

 

I have quite a few books like this and have noticed just how many well established fire apparatus makers failed, or at least got out of the fire business between 1978 and 1993.

 

While takeovers are often highlighted I don't believe I've seen the financing issues specifically mentioned before. It makes a lot of sense, particularly for companies already struggling to keep paying the bills, and why many ended up shutting the doors with unbuilt apparatus being finished by other makers. 

[Guest]

1990 in particular was a traumatic time in the apparatus industry as Hahn, Sanford,Maxim, Pirsch, and Young all fell like dominoes, there was also the loss of Mack's fire chassis at this time.

Remember, there was no Internet then, so the industry press seemed rather overwhelmed in reporting the demise of each company, i.e. FAJ reported on Sanford's closing in the Sept. 1990 issue, but the liquidation sale happened in June, 1990, putting future historians at a disadvantage.

A couple of firms put out flowery press releases right until the end of operations, also leading to confusion.

The recent NFPA recommendation for enclosed cabs, plus the effect of the first EPA emissions rules probably also contributed to the industry shakeout.

Sanford did try to diversify their product line, as at least 4 different kinds of rigs were being produced in the summer of 1988 (9/1988 FAJ) a number of rescues were built in the last couple years in competition with Saulsbury, including a big Pemfab chassis rescue for West Trenton,NJ.

[fyreline]

Sanford did good work, and as a small, regional manufacturer they had a decent market share for many years. They were not typically a supplier to larger departments in any great numbers, and Syracuse only had a few over the years despite being right in their back yard. Sanford tried very hard to compete with the "bigger boys" on Syracuse bid specs, and sometimes whether or not they actually made a profit on the finished rig was debatable. In any case, the fire apparatus universe is the worse for their parting, as could be said of Maxim, Pirsch, Young and many others.

[Aaronw]

Thanks, it is always hard to find much info on the little guys.