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Following its delivery in April 1925,
our Stutz served as Engine 23 in the Bellflower Fire Protection
District. It replaced the old volunteer apparatus that had
served there since 1921. As with most of the museum’s
apparatus collection, little is known of this engine’s
career. At some point it ended up with the Whittier Fire Department
where it may have seen service. It may have been used as a
parade engine ("Leffingwell-Whittier Antique Engine 1"
was painted on the hoods). Old Engine 23 found her way back
home when the Whittier Fire Department became part of the
Los Angeles County Fire Department in 1975.
The museum is planning a ground-up restoration
of this engine in the next few years. Los Angeles County’s
fire districts operated six of these "Baby Stutz"
engines, so called because of their smaller size and 450 gpm
pumps. The other five originally were purchased for the fire
protection districts in Santa Fe Springs (Engine 17), Tujunga/Sunland
(Engine 18), La Crescenta (Engine 19), Norwalk (Engine 20),
and Lawndale (Engine 21). What became of the other Stutz engines
is currently unknown.
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