1938 Ford Fire Engine — Handmade Metal Model, 1:40

A pre-war Ford fire engine in red iron — open cab, bell, ladders and hose reel.

Handcrafted at 1:40 with rolling metal wheels and hand-painted finish. Fire apparatus of this era was still recognisably a truck with equipment bolted to it, and the model keeps that honest, utilitarian shape.

Details

• 1:40 scale, handcrafted iron construction
• Metal wheels that roll
• Hand-painted red finish with applied detail
• Ladders, bell, hose and equipment detail
• Ready to display

The type

Ford's commercial chassis of the late 1930s were bought in quantity by small-town fire departments because they were cheap, available and easy to repair — bodies were often built locally by a coachbuilder or by the firefighters themselves. A big city ran purpose-built Seagraves and Amerian LaFrances; everywhere else ran a Ford with a pump on the back.

The 1938 model year brought the V8 across the commercial range, which mattered a great deal when the load was several tons of water.