1974 Chevrolet Pronto fire engine

[Harald Hansen]

So, I found this character for sale locally (Norway), and just had to buy it:

It's a coachbuilt fire engine, built in Switzerland by Hämmerli of Lenzburg. The base is a 1974 Chevrolet pickup. The frame is stretched a bit at the very front, and apparently it uses a van steering column to make it forward control.

Engine: 292 inline six
Transmission: 4 gear manual, NP203 permanent 4x4 transfer case
Axles: Front D44, rear GM 14-bolt
Wheels: 9.5R16.5
Wheelbase: 131.5"
Overall length: 18.7" (5,7 meters)
Milage when purchased: 15,000 (24,000 km)
Seats: 6

Here's the build plate:

Fuel consumption so far:

 

[Harald Hansen]

The interior is very roomy. The rear box is 2 meters long back to front (about 6.5 feet). The front compartment is over 3 meters from rear wall to the windscreen. The body is fairly wide as well.

Here's the driver's position seen from the rear side door:

Plenty of leg room... The two wooden lids are compartments, one which house the battery. Could probably squeeze in a whole lot of batteries down there.

Drivers position seen from the outside:

Basic, but the seating position is fairly good. The racing seat is not original...

There's a rear bench from a VW Caravelle T4 (Eurovan in NA):

Emil (3) providing some scale:

The diamond plate box covers the transfer box. BTW, Emil approves whole-heartedly of the fire engine purchase... :elkgrin:

The rear box, seen from the rear door:

The rear door is side opening. The hatches on the side are top-hinged. Here's a view from one of the side hatches, looking towards the rear:

There's several nifty details. One is the fold-out ladder to access the roof rack, shown on the first picture.

 

[Harald Hansen]

(Placeholder post for future updates)

 

[shortbus4x4]

Subscribed. Cool rig.

Put some manual hubs on that rig to pick up some mpg's. Also if its got a NP203 transfercase that hasn't been converted to part time operation yet you can convert that to get even more mpgs.

 

[BorntoVenture]

Very cool rig, I have never seen anything like that from Chevrolet!

 

[Warn Industries]

That is too cool! Should make for a great rig.

- Andy

 

[ExpoMike]

Very cool rig!!! Can't wait to see what you'll end up doing with it. Lots of potential there. 292 is a solid engine, built like a tank and pulls like one but gas mileage sucks.

Congrats!

 

[greg mgm]

Ridiculously cool! I assume it has leaf springs front and rear?
That is a great find. I'd explore like crazy with it.

 

[roostercruiser]

That is awesome

 

[Little Red]

That looks very cool, you should be able to turn that in to a super cool 4x4 camper.
Can’t wait to see what you are going to do with it.

 

[Harald Hansen]

Ridiculously cool! I assume it has leaf springs front and rear?
That is a great find. I'd explore like crazy with it.

Leaves all around, yes. Under the shell it's a standard 131.5" wheel base Chevy truck.

I was pleasantly surprised to find disc brakes up front. Stopping power overall is more than sufficient, at least with the truck empty.

 

[Harald Hansen]

I need some help: What kind of axles are these?

(I'm a noob when it comes to American vehicles...)

 

[matt s]

Looks like a gm 14 bolt in the rear. Don't know about the front probably a d44 although that seems light.

Here is a nice little identification chart

http://coloradok5.com/axleguide.shtml

 

[Patman]

Rear is a FF 14 bolt, front is a 3/4 ton Dana 44 by the looks of it. Common 3/4 ton setup for the vintage.

Awesome rig, will make a great camper

 

[Harald Hansen]

Thanks, guys!

I sprayed a full can of chain lubricant on the springs, and will dump another can on them today. The hope is that they will loosen up or stay loose.