American LaFrance Fire Truck dilema

BarnesvilleT · Post by **BarnesvilleT** » Fri Aug 22, 2025 3:13 pm

I posted this on the T forum as well.
The city i live in called me to see if I had any interest in trying to get their antique
firetruck running. I went to look at it and it turns out that it is a 1924 American LaFrance fire truck. It's condition
is almost like it just came off the assembly line. I saw photos of it being driven in a parade in 1998.
After some research I have found out that it is a very rare Type 65 model.
It has a 4 cylinder Wisconsin 5R engine in it. It has left side steering. I spoke to an expert, that is very knowledgeable
about the ALF trucks and told me that he might know of one other like it. Said it was a rare, rare beast. Here's my problem.
I lifted up the engine hood and the starter is missing. Found out that someone years back removed it and it got shuffled
around and after some years was probably thrown out in a junk cleanup. After speaking to the expert, he had doubts that I would ever find one.
So I might get lucky and someone has one or....
His suggestion was to try to find someone that had some experience in retro-fitting a more modern starter to fit the engine.
My hope is that there might be someone out there that can help or point me in the direction of someone who might throw some light on my problem.

Thanks,
Bill