This fleet of fire trucks from John Christie were on display at the 2008 East Coast Meet in Springfield, Massachusetts. From left to right, an RMM Freightliner FL-60 crew cab pumper, a Boley haz-mat unit, and the vintage pumper on the right is a Stutz with an interesting background.

The model is a modified Kayodo model from Japan. It is a Stutz, modeled by them as a copy of one of three Stutz pumpers delivered to Tokyo in the mid-1920’s. With removal of a pair of hose reels, replacement of them by some normal North American canvas hose and some repainting, the model became a neat little “1924 Stutz” for John's 1/87th apparatus stable. Stutz had a short but prolific life in the fire truck business, lasting only through the decade of the twenties. There was a brief resurrection in the late 30s during which they produced North America’s first diesel-powered pumper in 1937. Known for the quality and durability of their product, they were based in Indianapolis, Indiana.

Posted August 2, 2009