The first decade of the 20th century saw great leaps in the development and improvement of fire fighting vehicles. Although the Merryweather company is credited with producing the very first gas-powered fire engine, several companies were producing their own breakthrough designs at the very same time. And, as with any fledgling technology, there were bound to be bugs and problems that needed to be straightened out. Dual engines for pump and vehicle and seperate vehicles to carry hose length were among the concerns that companies were facing. The Seagrave company - which began in 1881 when ladder maker Frederick Seagrave produced a vehicle to carry ladders for the Detroit fire company - had been closely studying the problems surrounding the new gas-propelled fire engines. In 1905, they began to design and test a prototype and soon had developed two vehicles - one with a four-cylinder engine and another with a six-cylinder one. Success came in 1907 when the company sold three rigs to the Vancouver Fire Department. Within a few years, gasoline engines would completely dominate the fire fighting business and the Seagrave company would continue to be at the forefront of the equipment manufacturing. Now, the 1907 Seagrave AC53 Fire Engine - the first successful gasoline-powered engine from this great company - is authentically re-created in a die-cast model for The International Fire Engine Collection: The Turn-of-the-Century Edition.

Scale: 1:43