History and Overview

Hahn Motors of Hamburg, Pennsylvania, was one of the great names in American fire apparatus.  The Hahn Wagon and Carriage Works was founded in 1898.  The Hahn brothers started experimenting with motor trucks and in 1907 changed the name of the company to the Hahn Motor Truck and Wagon Company.   In 1920 the name was changed again to Hahn Motor Trucks.  By the 1920s, Hahn was building some fire apparatus regularly along with commercial trucks.

Hahn Motor Trucks was an early victim of the great Depression and went out of business in 1932.  However, Bill Hahn promptly formed a new company, Hahn Motors, Inc., which resumed building commercial trucks and some fire apparatus.  Hahn was a regional builder of fire apparatus until the 1960s when Hahn emerged as a nationally recognized builder.  Hahn fire apparatus could be found in firehouses across America, from large cities, like Washington, D.C., Boston and Detroit, to the smallest towns.

Hahn expanded its product line to include a custom cab-forward model in 1966 and later started building aerial ladder trucks.  In 1978, Hahn introduced its own aerial ladder design, the 106-foot “Fire Spire.”  Hahn did not do well during the recession in the early 1980s.  Hahn went out of business in 1989.  

Hahn 1964 rescue pumper Collingswood, New Jersey
Hahn 1973 Ford C 1000-1000

Hahn Motors Photos

from the SPAAMFAA Library & Archive​

The SPAAMFAA Archives has an amazing collection containing tens of thousands of images of fire apparatus.  Ultimately we have lofty goals of cataloging, indexing, scanning, and digitizing everything electronically, with copies of most of the illustrative material cross available for personal-use. In the meantime you can view a selection of these images on our SmugMug gallery:

https://spaamfaa-archives.smugmug.com
 

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