The General Fire Truck Company of St. Clair Shores, MI seemed to like military names, and in calling this Jeep fire truck, the anticipated Jeep using that name some fifteen years later. This looks to be ready to take on a decent sized fire, given all the equipment its bristling with, and of course with its 4WD, it can go where other fire trucks dare not go.
Is this just a trick of the camera or is the cab, hood, etc. quite a bit larger than the Willys Pickup? If it was not based on that, what would it have been made from?
It’s the stock cab and hood, but all that gear in front of the grille does make it look longer.
Bristling for sure! Seems like they could have done a better job on the door. They clearly had good metalworking tools and skills, judging by the way the side cabinets fit around the existing rear fender.
As opposed to The Specific Commando?
Now I cannot get the little animated military guy character out of my mind from the commercials for the insurance company that specializes in minimum coverage for higher risk drivers.
How did Tonka not make a toy version of this? That would have been at the top of my Christmas list.
This is a low budget rig for company use or smaller towns, in the 1960’s we had a very similar rig built on a 1928 Chevy truck chassis .
The bed is a standard hose wagon, the crankshaft driven pump means you can connect it to a hydrant or drop a suction hose into a fire pond or lake….
It’d be nice to see one of these survive .
Any chance of more images ? .
-Nate
I think it’s also intended for wildfire fighting, the crank driven pump means the Jeep can pump while moving, something larger, PTO- driven trucks can’t do. In low range it can creep along as it pumps for fighting grass fires etc.
It also can be used with a water tender truck because it has no internal tank. Larger and more modern pumper trucks have big internal tanks for water supply in remote areas or to provide water immediately, before a hydrant is hooked up.
But those trucks are too big and heavy for rough terrain. So a light pumper truck like this can be used with one or more water trucks.
Quite the little go anywhere bulldog and I Willy like it.
Commando seems to be a popular truck/fire appliance name. Besides this new to me fire engine you have the British Carmichael Commando which was a 6 wheel Range Rover and on the truck side, Jeep’s own Jeepster Commando and the Commer Commando medium truck.