Ah - the old American LaFrance '23 pump truck. Shown here in '90 odd, freshly arrived from Mr Halbert E Fillinger III, this litle number is ex Chicago FD and about to be shortened a little, rid of it's twin wheel rear hubs and hit the road for general touring duties. The 9 litre straight 4 side-valve is not the most efficient motor I've ever run but with the flywheel reduced by 28 lbs and the crank balanced it goes some. Braking at the rear only with massive drums is somewhat hairy thanks to the external-band emergency brake preventing the poor cast drums from getting rid of any heat - smell good though.
Is that a bit of early '70s R4 showing itself behind the MF35 ? Wot next ?
4 comments:
Ah, the LaFrance. I heard about this a couple of months before I first met Diplomat, so I naturally thought I was prepared to a certain degree as to what to expect. I wasn't. Anyway,am I wrong in thinking that it looks like an Itala?
The thing is Peter that the classic edwardian front end of so many makes is pretty similar and very arresting, many a Fiat, Mercedes, Brasier and Peugeot do the same thing for me. The thing here is we are dealing with a commercial vehicle - the top of that rad is some 55 inches off the ground !
I spy a rather tasty wheel barrow minding it's own business in the background as well. And is that a Fergy 25 tempting us with her rear?
er - no Toby, that's a 35, bloody aweful tractor with the Standard car engine fitted with diesel head. Notorious bad starter with insert pre-combustion chambers that were prone to cracking.
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