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American LaFrance (ALF) was an American vehicle manufacturer which focused primarily on the production of fire engines, fire aerials, and emergency apparatus such as ambulance and rescue vehicles. The company was located in Summerville, South Carolina. It was announced Friday, January 17, 2014 they would cease operations.

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History

The American LaFrance Fire Engine Company was one of the oldest fire apparatus manufacturers in the United States. With roots that go back to approximately 1832, the companies that went on to become American LaFrance built hand-drawn, horse-drawn, and steam-powered fire engines. Founded in 1873 by Truckson LaFrance and his partners, including Alexander S. Diven as the LaFrance Manufacturing Company selling hand powered equipment. The International Fire Engine Company, corporate predecessor of American LaFrance, built some steam power fire engines between 1903 and 1907. Apparatus built by International included horse drawn steamers, hose wagons, and hook & ladders to chemical engines, water towers and combinations. The American LaFrance Fire Engine Company was formed in 1903. Its corporate offices and manufacturing plant were in Elmira, New York. It also operated a Canadian plant in Toronto, Ontario, where it sold apparatus under the name Lafrance-Foamite, until 1971. ALF delivered its first motorized fire engine in 1907. Over the years, American LaFrance built thousands of fire trucks including chemical engines, combination pumpers, aerial ladder trucks, Aero Chief snorkel trucks, and airport crash trucks. The classical style of the American LaFrance apparatus is easily recognized. Some of the company's innovations led to changes in the industry, most notably the cab forward style cab.

In 1995, the company was bought by Freightliner LLC, which is a subsidiary of Daimler AG. Freightliner continued to utilize American LaFrance's original nameplates and designations including the Eagle custom chassis. Many of their Liberty products were built on Freightliner LLC M2 or Sterling Acterra chassis. ALF operated additional manufacturing facilities in Ephrata, Pennsylvania, Sanford, Florida, and Hamburg, New York. As of 2005, they were the fifth largest manufacturer of emergency vehicles in North America.

In December 2005, it was announced that Freightliner had transferred the ownership of American LaFrance to the New York-based investment firm, Patriarch Partners, LLC. The headquarters and main plant in Ladson, South Carolina were not included in the transaction. However, Patriarch Partners were allowed to use the plant until early 2007, when DaimlerChrysler began using the plant for assembly of the Dodge Sprinter. Under new ownership ALF relocated within the Charleston, South Carolina area in summer 2007 to a brand new facility, including manufacturing and corporate HQ, with nearly 500,000 sq ft (50,000 m²) of total space.

On January 28, 2008, American LaFrance filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection blaming problems with implementation of a new IBM enterprise resource planning (ERP) system. On July 25, 2008, the company emerged from bankruptcy with a revised business plan to transfer the firetruck body building portion of the business to the remaining Hamburg, NY, (formerly RDMurray Inc.) and Ephrata, PA, (formerly Ladder Towers Inc.) facilities. The Summerville, SC plant continued to manufacture fire truck cab and chassis, but focused on vocational vehicles and the Condor vehicle line. On January 17, 2014, the company announced it was ceasing operations.

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Products

Chassis

Eagle* Eagle Mid-Engine* Eagle SE* Metropolitan* Commercial* Condor

Emergency apparatus

Pumpers* Aerials* Tankers* Rescues* Ambulance* Wildlands* Liberty

Vocational application

Refuse* Construction* Airport Service* General Utility

Historic vehicles

Type 1 1903-1904 Steam-powered Combination Hose & ChemicaL Wagon
Type 3 1906-1906 Packard "N" Two-Tank ChemicaL Car - only 1 built
Type 4 1909-1912 Simplex based chassis - 2 built (see also Technisches Museum Sinsheim site )
Type 5 1910-1911 First complete ALF motor fire apparatus - 4 cyl.
Type 6 1910-1914 LaFrance Commercial truck
Type 8 1908-1910 ALF roadster type passenger car
Type 10 1911-1920 Improved larger version of Type 5
Type 12 1911-1925 6 cyl. 800, 900 & 1000 GPM pumper (see also in Riga Motor Museum)
Type 14 1912-1926 City service ladder truck
Type 15 1913-1925 1400 GPM Pump and hose car
Type 16 1912-1916 Front drive aerial ladder truck
Type 17 1913-1926 Tractor drawn - aerial, water tower, ladder
Type 18 1913-1913 2-wheel front-drive steam fire engine tractor
Type 19 1915-1928 1000 GPM Pump and hose car, 6 cyl.
Type 25 1914-1914 Front drive, straight frame aerial ladder
Type 28 1915-1915 Front drive service ladder truck
Type 30 1914-1914 Front drive, bevel-gear drive water tower
Type 31 1915-1929 2-wheel front-drive tractor
Type 32 1915-1927 LaFrance/Model "T" Ford, Alf "F" series
Type 33 1917-1926 Front drive straight frame service ladder truck
Type 34 1916-1916 Centrifugal pumper
Type 38 (19??-19??) Previous entry not listed in reference source
Type 40 (19??-19??) Previous entry not listed in reference source
Type 45 (19??-19??) Previous entry not listed in reference source
Type 52 1922-1927 "Village Queen" Model "T" Ford trailer pump
Type 63 (19??-19??) Previous entry not listed in reference source
Type 65 19??-19?? 400 GPM Junior pumper
Type 75 1915-1927 750 GPM 6 cyl Pumper - large number built
Type 91 1927-1927 500 GPM Pumper - Buda-6 cycl. engine
Type 92 1927-1927 600 GPM Pumper - Buda-6 cycl. engine
Type 94 19??-19?? Service ladder truck, Buda-6 cycl.
Type 96 19??-19?? Same as Type 94 but configured as a Quad
Type 99 1927-1932 GMC Cosmopolitan, Buick 6-cyl. - see 100 series
Type 500 1941-1946 Narrow cab and body design
Type 600 1941-1946 Narrow cab and body design
100 Series 1926-1929 Metropolitan
200 Series 1929-1931 Master
300 Series 1931-1935 V-12 powered, 312A
400 Series 1933-1938 Junior 450/600/475 GPM
400 Series 1935-1940 Senior1000/1250/1500 pump-in-cowl design
500 Series 1938-1941 New enclosed streamlined design
600 Series 1941-1946 Improved 500 Series
JO/JOX Series 1938-1946 mid-mount aerial ladder - Cab-ahead
700 Series 1947-1959 Cab-ahead-of-engine design
800 Series 1956-1958 Updated 700 Series (Pumpers only)
900 Series 1958-1974 New wide-cab design
Pioneer I, II & III 1964-1978 Also Sparton I TCM flat-panel cab
Pacemaker 1973-1976 TCM canopy cab-forward
1000 Series 1970-1974 Premium version of 900 Series
Century Series 1974-1985 New wider cab
Century 2000 1986-1994 Redesign by Kersey/ALF
Patriot 1992-1994
ALF Eagle 1996-2014 All-new custom chassis
ALF Metropolitan 1999-2014 Entry-level custom chassis
Freightliner Business Class, M2 2002-2014 Commercial chassis

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