Hahn Motors Inc.

Hahn Motors Inc. was an American fire apparatus manufacturer located in Hamburg, Pennsylvania.

History
William G. Hahn (1878-1937) formed the Hahn Wagon & Carriage Works in 1898, and moved to Hamburg in 1901. William's brother Adam joined the company in the early 1900s and it moved into the motorized truck business. Hahn built its first fire truck in 1915.

William Hahn sold the company to a group of investors in 1927. The same group also purchased the Selden Motor Truck Company of Rochester, New York. However, the venture failed in 1932 due to the Great Depression. William Hahn stepped in and formed a new company, Hahn Motors. William was killed in a car accident in 1937 and his brother succeeded him as president.

During the Second World War, Hahn built Ford front-mount pumpers under contact for American Marsh, as well as aircraft control towers and mobile repair shops for the US military. After the war, the company chose to focus on fire apparatus exclusively, abandoning the truck chassis business. In the late 1940s, commercial chassis fire trucks were added to the product offerings.

Aerial ladder assemblies were initially purchased from Grove and Pierre Thibault, and towers from LTI, until Hahn introduced the Fire Spire in 1978. Some custom Hahn chassis were sold to other manufacturers in the 1980s.

Hahn experienced financial difficulties in the late 1980s and closed its doors in 1989. American LaFrance purchased the name and goodwill, but never made use of it.