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In Memorium

Lawrence W. Arnold - 1924-2012

Larry Arnold, a Charter Member of the Crown Firecoach Enthusiasts, died of pancreatic cancer on Monday, January 16, at home with his family. In addition to CFE, Larry was a long-time member of the Box 15 Club of Los Angeles, the California Chapter of SPAAMFAA, national SPAAMFA and numerous other fire service and historical groups. He was an avid fire apparatus photographer and fire apparatus enthusiast and with his sons Chris and Rick, owned and restored the first Crown Firecoach ever built, F-1001, from West Covina F.D.

Larry is survived by his wife of 63 years, Ruth; their sons Christopher (Annamarie) and Richard (Dawn), Granddaughters Maureen (Richard) and Jennifer; and Grandsons Stephen, Daniel (Katie), Michael, Kenneth, and John. A memorial service was held on Monday, January 23 at the San Gabriel First United Methodist Church, with interment at Rose Hills Memorial Park in Whittier.

In lieu of flowers, the Arnold Family would appreciate donations to the American Cancer Society.

Larry Arnold (center) with sons Rick (L) and Chris (R) with F1001 in 1984.

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- Most Recent Club News -

Next CFE Meeting Saturday, January 28

at the L.A.F.D. Museum in Hollywood, CA

Join us at 9:30 a.m. at the Los Angeles Fire Department Historical Soceity's Hollywood Museum at old Fire Station 27, 1355 N. Caheunga Blvd. (south of Sunset Blvd.), Hollywood, CA 90028. After the business meeting we will have our own tour of the museum, home of many antique former L.A.F.D. fire apparatus, including the one-of-a-kind Wagon 17, 1963 Crown Firecoach 2000 gpm High Pressure Manifold Wagon (see photo below). Visitors are welcome! See the Calendar page for more information and directions.

Crown Firecoach S/N F-1671, a 1972 triple-combination pumper, LAFD shop 60264, shown as P27 parked in front of L.A.F.D. Fire Station 27, 1355 N. Caheunga Blvd., now the L.A.F.D. Hollywood Museum (Photo by CFE member Chuck Madderom). This Crown pumper has been restored and is currently owned by CFE member Randy Simon of Los Angeles. At least eight different Crowns were assigned to Station 27 over the years. Click on the photo above to see more of Station 27's Crowns.

The LAFD Hollywood Museum is home to W17 (above), Crown S/N F1338, LFD shop #60157, a unique 1963, 2000 gpm high pressure manifold wagon. CFE last had a meeting at the Station 27 Museum on February 1, 2003. Click here to see a report and photos from that meeting, from the CFE website archives.

LAFD Station 27 as well as P27's 1955 Crown (Shop 757), are featured in a 1966 Beach Boys Promotional Film for the band's hit song "Good Vibrations." The video is from The Beach Boys "Pet Sounds" 40th Anniversary DVD and can be seen on YouTube by clicking on the photo above. The Crown is first seen at 1 min 30 sec into the video.

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- Most Recent Club News -

RESULTS OF NOVEMBER 2011 ELECTION

At the November 20, 2011 CFE meeting, held at Culver City Fire Station 3, elections were held for the officer positions of President, Vice President, Recording Secretary, Treasurer and Membership Secretary. (The six "Director at Large" positions on the CFE board will be up for relection at the end of 2012).

The incumbant officers were all re-elected, with the exception of Mike Britt, who was elected as the new Vice President in place of Doug Hammer who requested to step down from his executive officer position due to his increased responsibilities as President of the Fire Memories Museum. However, Doug agreed to stay on the board in a lessor role, and so after the results of the election were made official, CFE President Ron Dierkens appointed Doug Hammer to fill out the remainder of Mike Britt's term as a Director at Large (which he vacated to become Vice President). The new positions became effective on January 1, 2012. Click here for a list of the current (2010) CFE board of directors.

 

 

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1951-2011

60th Anniversary of the Firecoach

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2011 marks 60 years since the Crown Coach Corporation of Los Angeles, CA, embarked on the construction of fire apparatus. The first Crown "Firecoach," seen above, was a demonstrator assigned serial number F-1001 (The F stood for "Firecoach"). Yes, this rig was saved and recently celebrated another anniversary, 30 years of being owned by the Arnold family, who are founding members of the Crown Firecaoch Enthusiasts. Click on the photo above for more photos and history of Crown's (and CFE's) number 1 Firecoach.

For those who don't know, Crown was the premier maker of school buses on the west coast and took a risk by entering the fire apparatus market, but it was a risk that paid off for over 30 years. Crown sought to build a custom fire engine held to the company's high standards of quality and craftsmanship, and which was designed to meet the needs of the firefighters who actually used the apparatus. To that end, Crown engineers went out and talked not only to fire chiefs, but fire apparatus engineers who sat behind the wheel and who operated the pump. While P.E. Van Pelt and others were building fire engines on commercial chasis at the time, no west coast company had ever built a custom apparatus from the frame up that offered flexibility, high visibility, manuverability and dependability - and local factory service right in Los Angeles. As a result, the Crown Firecoach became an unmatched symbol of high quality fire apparatus and in fact for many years the picture of what a Los Angeles fire engine looked like. The Crown Firecoach became so well regarded that even today it is spoken of very highly by those firefighters who had the privilage to work on them, as well as those who admired them from a far (or for some of us who now own one, admired them from close up from the time we were young). That respect is why this organization exists and why so many Crown Firecoaches have been saved by our membership. There is a UK based website that mentions "its believed there are still around 20 Crown fire apparatus in preservation..." No, try several hundred of them. They are such good rigs that many are still in the fire service in second or third careers with volunteer departments all across the U.S., and over 50 remain in service in Mexico, Central and South America and several other countries around the globe. And as many are in private hands among CFE and SPAAMFAA members in several U.S. states. So thanks to CFE members Larry and Chris Arnold for getting the ball rolling back in 1980 and saving F1001. - Mike Britt

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LAFD's 1967 Crown Heavy Utility

Not a fire engine converted into a tow truck -- It was a Crown Firecoach Original!

This unique Crown Firecoach was delivered to the Los Angeles City Fire Department in 1967. It is Firecoach serial number F1494, given LAFD shop number 60220, and first assigned as HU6. Equipped with twin Holmes 850, 20-ton booms, it was first powered by a Hall-Scott 1091 gasoline engine and Allison automatic transmission, and repowered in 1978 with a CAT diesel. It was among a few special purpose LAFD apparatus to be painted chrome yellow but was later repainted white over red, as seen above.  According to the LAFD, the "Heavy U", as it was dubbed by firemen, was used for a wide variety of unusual needs, including at the scene of fires for lifting extremely heavy objects and pulling down unstable remains of burned out buildings. Because of the special equipment on the Heavy Utility, it also responded to rescues such as cave-ins, large automobile wrecks, train wrecks and aircraft crashes. It was also used for towing wrecked or disabled fire apparatus. It is now owned by CFE member Bill Dundas, who restored it to its in-service appearance and displayed it at the 2009 Winter SPAAMFAA Conference in Pomona, CA, hosted by CFE. Read more about this Crown and see photos from throughout its service with the LAFD by clicking on the image above. 

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- More Club News -

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NEW C.A.R.B. DIESEL EMISSION RULES AND FIRE ENGINES

For those who own diesel powered fire engines that are currently registered as Historic Vehicles (HV) in the state of California, the HV registration makes your truck exempt from the new California Air Resources Board (CARB) diesel particulate emissions rules for trucks and buses which began going into effect this year. However, if you are the owner of a fire engine registered with a commercial license, you may have already received notice that you are required to comply with the new rules. In addition, the CARB has a new grant program offering funds to California fire departments to replace older diesel powered fire apparatus, which requires the older fire apparatus be DESTROYED.

Webmaster Mike Britt has researched all the new CARB legislation and offers details as well as links to PDFs of the actual regulations here.

DOUG HAMMER'S UNITED-KENWORTH SUBJECT OF NEWS PROFILE

CFE Vice President Doug Hammer and his 1940 United/Kenworth are the subject of a nice wirte-up (with lots of photos) in the Banning-Beaumont Patch News. The headline reads "WWII-Era Beverly Hills Fire Engine 8 Turns Heads in the San Gorgonio Pass" and a caption under a photo of the rig states "Doug Hammer of Banning says the 1940 United Kenworth engine looked like "a dipsy dumpster" when he bought it in 2005 for $4,000. Today he says it is one-of-a-kind." Read the entire article here.

NEW CROWN BOOK NOW AVAILBLE

Louk Markham, who is among our sisters and brothers who are Crown bus fans, is out with a new book "Crown Coach Corp.—School Buses, Fire Trucks and Custom Coaches" which is now available for order from Iconographix (www.enthusiastbooks.com) and on Amazon.com (usually cheaper). The synopsis reads:

"The informative story of Crown’s various endeavors from 1900s horse-drawn
wagons through early 1990s alternative fueled buses is chronicled here and
highlighted with vintage photographs and factory memorabilia including advertising
items, coach emblems, and production statistics. Not left out are custom built coaches like Lockheed's mobile missile tracking station, Art Linkletter mobile video coaches, and the first air conditioned tour coach in Hawaii. The company built one of the largest fleets of fire trucks in the nation for the Los Angeles City and County fire departments and other agencies, and sent high quality custom built vehicles as far away as places like Juneau, Alaska, South America and the Middle East."

2011 CFE BANQUET

The Annual CFE Banquet was held on Sunday March 13 at the El Torito Grill in Brea, CA, with over 30 members and their guests in attendance enjoying good food and fellowship. Guest speaker Lou Farah presented a program on the history of EMS in Los Angeles. Lou has 35 years experience as a firefighter/paramedic, ambulance paramedic, and air rescue paramedic. He is the executive director of a national professional car club and he is a member of CFE. There also was a great raffle with many attendees walking away winners. Click on the image above to see more photos.

RESULTS OF NOVEMBER 2010 ELECTION

At the November 20, 2010 CFE meeting, held at the Ontario F.D. Training Center, elections were held for the six "Director at Large" positions on the CFE board. (The officer positions of President, Vice President, Recording Secretary, Treasurer and Membership Secretary will be up for relection at the end of 2011).

The six winners were Mark Bramm, Mike Britt, Don Croucher, Mike McDonald, Don Pogue and Dave Steinitz. These six Director at Large positions become effective on January 1, 2011. Click here for a list of the current (2010) CFE board of directors.

2010 BRIAN DIERKENS AWARD WINNER

Matt Branley was presented with the 13th Annual Brian Dierkens Memorial Award and a Check from CFE for $500.00 at the Valley Center Fire Protection District (VCFPD) Board Meeting held on June 18, 2010. Matt is a Volunteer Firefighter with the Palomar Mountain VFD where CFE Member George Lucia, Sr. is Chief. George is also the Fire Marshall for the VCFPD and nominated Matt. Matt is taking Paramedic Courses at Palomar Junior College in San Marcos and was previously an Explorer at the Vista Fire Dept when he lived there.  Shown in the picture above are (L to R) CFE Board Member Mike McDonald, Matt Branley and Chief Lucia. Mike went over all the previous award winners and told them who they were with and what they were doing now as best he knew. Matt was very grateful for the honor and check that will help him with his studies.... just driving to San Marcos everyday from Palomar Mtn is quite a gas expense! Click here for more information about the Brian Dierkens Memorial Award and a list of past recipients.

INTERVIEW WITH DON CROUCHER

Our own CFE Director and Club Historian/Archivist Don Croucher is featured in an article entitled "An Interview with Firefighting Memorabilia Collector Don Croucher," in Collector's Weekly, where he "talks about firefighting collectibles, from department badges to actual fire trucks. Croucher, who retired in 2001 after 35 years in the fire service, also discusses such major fire apparatus manufacturers as Crown and Seagrave and a project to establish the California Fire Museum." The nine page article includes a number of photos.
To view the article go to: www.collectorsweekly.com/articles/an-interview-with-firefighting-memorabilia-collector-don-croucher

FEATURE STORY ABOUT JOE ORTIZ

Long-time member Joe Ortiz was interviewed for an article in 2009 in the Contra Costa County Times. Joe supplies fire and emergency vehicles for many movies, TV shows and commericals (if "54" is in the unit, it is one of Joe's rigs). The article, "Collecting Fire trucks Becomes Carrer For Joe Ortiz," includes photos and can be found at: http://www.contracostatimes.com/california/ci_12845399?nclick_check=1

MIKE BRITT MAKES NEWS IN NORTH DAKOTA

Yes, in addition to doing this website and writing the "Blast form the Past" articles in the CFE newsletter, I'm involved in a lot of other things, some fire apparatus related and some not. And the fire appartus stuff extends far beyond Crowns, especially to Seagraves and ALFs from the 20s (these major project restorations are thankfully somebody else's checkbook - I just help out). And I'm always up for going out to look at an old rig found on some property somewhere. Often I take loads of photos and then go back and research the rig to discover it's history. Last year, this led to a discovery of a very unique rig which was the first motorized fire engine in the town of Mandan, ND. Since that time I've been working with thier historical society which is hoping to return and restore the rig. It was interesting to me, but I had no idea that it was big news there...
To view the article go to: http://mandan-news.com/2009/09/old-mandan-fire-truck-found/

NEW WEBSITES OF INTEREST

The Crown Coach Historical Soceity <http://crowncoach.info> is a website dedicated to the history of the Crown Coach Corporation. The impressive site was recently started by the granddaughter of company founder M. M. Brockway. It includes articles and photos about both Crown buses and fire apparatus, and links to other Crown sites on the web.

The Hall Scott Motor Car, Truck & Engine Company <www.hallscottengines.com> was recently formed by a three partners who decided to buy all the rights and trademark for Hall-Scott. They are currently working on developing a Hall Scott CNG engine with plans to make the group a resource for Hall Scott engine rebuilds, repairs, parts and service. The group now includes several CFE members including David Cox ( a director with the LAFD Historical Society), Ron Debiasi (who is running Thom-Son Trucking Lines since Art Thomson died), Chris Coven (a Capt. in the Logansport, IN, F.D. and owner of F1035, a1955 Crown, ex LAFD P3), Craig Smith (from Campo, CA) and Tom Shafer (from Los Gatos, CA).  Besides the web site they are also currently restoring a the last(out of nine made) 1929 ALF type 285 pumper, from LAFD, a 1930 ALF chain drive 200 series, and a 1936 400 series ALF Metropolitan.

In addition to the above websites, a number of CFE members now have some great websites, a list of which you can find on the new LINKS page.

"CROWN" Mold Reacquired for Front Steps and Tailboards

If anybody's Crown has a damaged or missing corner on a front step or tailboard, Darrell Gilbert, who operates crownfiretruck.com, has re-acquired the orignal factory mold to cast the rounded corner "Crown" lettering. Contact Darrell at darrell@dgilbertassoc.com for more info. He also has the molds for the "Crown" and "Firecoach" emblems, as well as discharge caps - all of which are for sale on the website.

FIRE ENGINES NEEDED TO MAKE HISTORY!

Four working fire engines are needed to volunteer to test a new Hydro Turbine invented by legendary Engineer Joe Holden. The pumping test will be held at a lake, location to be determined.  They need 200 PSI, 1150 GPM, and 3” hose to be connected to the Hydro Turbine.  The turbine produces clean and safe renewable power. For more information, contact Mark November at 818-470-8453 or mnovember@earthlink.net.

Joe Holden's Background: Invented the first “Afterburner” for jet airplanes when he was only 18.  The afterburner technology which Joe invented for Rolls Royce is still standard technology on aircraft used worldwide; Invented the first ball and socket “CV Joint”, which is standard on every front-wheel drive car.  Land Rover was the first to adopt Joe’s invention; Invented the first “Air Slats” which are on almost every airplane.  It’s when a portion of the front of the winds extends down before landing and it allows the plane to reduce its speed before landing the plane;  
Invented the first “Thrust Tubes” which is standard on most supersonic jets: Joe’s inventions were also key for some of the early “Hovercrafts” and also for the “Harrier Jet.”; Invented a classified “Chase Boat” for the U.S. Customs Department, which was among the fastest boats on the planet; Joe was the one who parachuted into North Korea and “stole a Russian MIG” and flew it back to the West.  His bravery helped the West during the Cold War years; Joe flew a “Concorde Jet” (classified version) into sub-space; Joe was a “Top Gun pilot” who flew his own classified airplane designs: Joe led “17 Missions” into Vietnam to rescue over 500 POWs.

Volunteer the use of your pumping rig and help Joe change the planet!

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- Recent 2010 Events -

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9th Annual Wings, Wheels and Rotors Expo

October 24, 2010

This annual event is held at the Los Alamitos Joint Forces Reserve Center. The displays included military and civilian aircraft and helicopters and a car show. CFE members who brought rigs were: the Bramm family with their Seagrave; Mike Briel with his Texaco Crown and Jim Koenekamp with his 4x4 Crown. Click on the image above to see more photos.

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Loma Linda Community Parade

October 17, 2010

Six CFE members participated in this 47th annual parade: Brian Grimes - 1967 Ford/Van Pelt pumper ; Carl Lucey - 1976 Ford/Van Pelt pumper; Jim Conrad - 1967 Crown pumper Mike Britt - 1970 Crown pumper; and Bruce Vanderhorst and Bruce Vanderhorst Jr. - 1968 Crown, 100 ft TDA ladder truck. Click on the image above to see more photos.

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Crusin' For A Cure

September 25, 2010 - Costa Mesa, CA

Over 3,500 hot rods, customs, classics cars and trucks take part in this one day charity event each year at the Orange County Fairgrounds in Costa Mesa, CA. The event benefits finding a cure for prostate cancer. Click on the image above to see more photos.

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