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For many years, the Crown Coach Corporation
in Los Angeles built high-quality apparatus that the company
called the "Royalty of Fire Apparatus." Crowns were
well designed, very durable, and highly maneuverable. In the
50’s and 60’s, most of them were powered by 935
or 1,091 cubic inch gasoline Hall-Scott engines. The Los Angeles
City and County fire departments bought hundreds of them.
The County’s first Crown was delivered in 1953 and its
last in 1976. Crown Coach, also a major builder of school
buses, discontinued its fire apparatus business in 1985.
The ’55 Firecoach owned by our
museum association fell victim to vandals while stored at
County Fire Suppression Camp 14. All the glass was smashed,
graffiti was carved into its skin, and many parts were broken.
In 1996 we were able to move it into secure, indoor storage.
Since then, largely due to the efforts of a Santa Monica firefighter
and his wife, this example of the marque is well on its way
to complete restoration.
Originally assigned to Station 44 in
Duarte, this engine served as Engine 44 and Engine 244 before
being assigned as Engine 270 in Malibu. Its final assignment
was to Station 140, a call firefighter station in Leona Valley
near Palmdale. Delivered with an open cab its cab later was
enclosed by the County fire shops. Recently, the enclosed
cab was removed, the bodywork and paint were completed and
this vehicle soon will be an accurate representation of Los
Angeles County Fire Department apparatus in the 1950s.
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