Ahrens-Fox, known as the Ahrens-Fox Fire Engine Company, Ahrens-Fox Fire Engine Corp., Ahrens-Fox Fire Engine Company Inc. and Ahrens-Fox/C.D. Beck & Company, was a fire apparatus manufacturer located in Ohio.
Considered a classic in fire apparatus, Ahrens-Fox was in operation between 1910 and 1956. The company was formed as the Ahrens Fire Engine Company in 1905 and reorganized as the Ahrens-Fox Fire Engine Company in 1910. Products included its famous piston pumpers. The company was dissolved in 1950 and sold twice in the early 1950s. In 1955, it introduced the Model FCB cab, forerunner of the Mack C chassis. Mack acquired C.D. Beck, which had been subcontracted to build Ahrens-Fox apparatus in 1953, and appropriated the FCB design. Ahrens-Fox ceased operations in 1957.
In 1962, a former employee bought the remaining assets, parts, records and name of the company. These were in turn purchased by an apparatus aficionado in 1993, who leased the name to HME Incorporated. In 2016, HME announced it had finalized the acquisition of the Ahrens-Fox brand name. HME has resurrected the Ahrens-Fox name for a line of custom apparatus.
Sources[]
- McCall, Walter M.P. Illustrated Encyclopedia of American Fire Engine Manufacturers. Hudson, WI: Iconografix, 2009. ISBN 9781583882528