American LaFrance’s flagship model of its era and among its most popular, the grand Type 75 boasted a nearly 900-cubic-inch 120-horsepower T-head six-cylinder engine, delivering its power through dual chain drive on a 156 1/2-inch-wheelbase frame. It was a beast of an apparatus, the unrivaled star workhorse of any station that it occupied.

The Type 75 offered here was built for the city of Amesbury, Massachusetts, one of several mill towns along the Merrimack River. These were known in this era as a coachbuilding capital, deriving from a onetime active carriage manufacturing center, and were home to the origins of the well-known Briggs body company, as well as the prolific 1920s shops of Walker and Biddle & Smart. The fire engine that supported these and other Amesbury concerns was known as a “Springfield-type” or “squad” body, with bodywork designed to be wider at the top on each side, with long benches for seating a large company of firefighters responding to a blaze, atop storage compartments for their equipment.

According to American LaFrance specialist Hal Fillinger, the apparatus was later owned and restored by well-known fire truck enthusiast Nelson “Nels” Barber of Downingtown, Pennsylvania, known for his talent and high level of research into the authenticity of his vehicle. The Type 75 is still in extremely attractive condition throughout. It is finished in the original livery, with correct nickel-plated trim and 23k gold leaf decoration applied by the tremendous Ken Soderbeck, and is unusually authentic in presentation with proper lighting, running and tail boards, and the leather upholstery pattern all faithfully captured by the restoration. Further, it is complete with numerous authentic accessories, as well as the proper rotary pump that once delivered 750 gallons per minute through 1,000 feet of hose! As with many apparatus in the collection, the vehicle has been displayed since restoration, and will require service before returning to the road.

An unusually thoroughly restored, nicely finished, rarely configured, and correctly equipped example of a top-of-the-line T-head, chain-drive American LaFrance, the Amesbury Type 75 is in many ways a standout example of the breed.