History and Overview

Mack 1912 Boyd FDNY 1912 HP hose wagon

While Mack Trucks is well-known for its legendary commercial trucks, the company also was one of the most important makers of fire apparatus.ย  The Mack Brothers Motor Car Company was incorporated in July 1901.ย  It operated from a factory in Brooklyn, until 1905, when it moved to Allentown, Pennsylvania.ย  In 1911 Mack built it first piece of fire apparats.

Mack 1926 AC Gorter Water Tower, San Francisco, CA

In 1916 Mack introduced its Model AC truck.ย  The AC was a heavy-duty chain-driven workhorse that earned a reputation for toughness.ย  These were dubbed โ€œbulldogsโ€ by the British during World War One.ย  From this nickname, Mack developed its iconic bulldog hood ornament. ย 

Mack 1930 750 pumper Union Fire Co No. 1, Lebanon PA
Mack 1958 B95 1250, Minneapolis, MN
Mack 1968 C Model, Denver CO,  E22 1000 GPM
Mack 1970 CF1253 MP 7025, E41 FDNY

Mack developed a complete line of fire apparatus in the 1920s.ย  Mack never built its own aerial ladders and instead used ones built by Maxim and Pirsch.ย  Mack fire apparatus were used in the biggest cities as well as many small towns.ย  New York City was the biggest single user of Mack fire trucks. ย 

In the late 1950s Mack started offering cab-forward fire apparatus.ย  These included the Model C and later in 1968 the iconic Model CF.ย ย  Although Mack stopped building complete fire apparatus in 1984, Mack chassis still are used for some fire apparats. ย 

1980 Mack 75 ft Aerialscope Mount Vernon, NY

Mack Photos

from the SPAAMFAA Library & Archiveโ€‹

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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