The Century Series was introduced to replace the 9 series in 1973 but production of the 900 would continue for another year. The Company was officially formed by Truckson LaFrance and his partners in 1873 as the LaFrance Manufacturing Company selling.
The business was formed with the intention of building horse drawn carriages and steam powered fire engines.
Designed for the unique requirements of the fire service, the 312-A engine had been under development at Elmira for more than three years. The American LaFrance Company has a history that dates back to the early 1830s. In 1970 the 900 was joined by the similar 1000 Series. (1931 - 1935) In 1931, American LaFrance astounded the fire service - and the rest of the fire apparatus industry - with its surprise announcement of a V-12 engine. 1947 American LaFrance 700 Series - 1,000gpm Pumper E-174 Served Roseville, Michigan: Roseville, Michigan Fire Department (RFD) on October 21,1947, the 3 horizontal bars above the front bumper indicate that this was among the first of a cutting edge new '700 Series' design offered by American LaFrance. Later Waukesha gasoline engines became an option. In 1960 a Boeing gas turbine engine was offered but this experiment was not a success with only 3, including the demonstrator being sold. In 1965 diesel engines from Detroit Diesel became an option.ĩ00 Series pumpers were available with a variety of pumps from 500 to 2000gpm. It was initially offered with gasoline engines made by American LaFrance and Continental. One of the AVCO board members 'happened' to be on the board of 'American LaFrance' which 'happened' to be in New York (elmira) and told of the 1MM dollar V12 engine design and tooling that could be acquired from Lycoming CHEAP. The 900 series would remain in production for 15 years, the first deliveries occuring in 1959, and the last in 1974. It was used to build all types of apparatus from pumpers, aerial trucks, and rescues to specialty vehicles like airport crash rescue vehicles. One of the major selling points was a larger 76" wide cab, the 700/800 series had used a 68" wide cab. It was American Lafrances flagship truck, coming with a v12 producing 175hp-330hp. It was a cab forward design like the earlier 700 and 800 series, but it was an all new design. The company that went on to become American LaFrance built hand-drawn, horse-drawn and steam-powered fire engines. In 1958 American LaFrance introduced the 900 series. The American LaFrance Fire Engine Company is one of the oldest fire apparatus manufacturers with roots that go back to approximately 1832.