1941 United Kenworth

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History of the United Fire Engine Corporation

Beginning in 1938, the United Fire Engine Corporation produced five fire engines and one "Quad" bearing the United logo. According to Mike Britt, a noted historian of Southern California fire departments and the webmaster for the Crown Fire Coach Enthusiasts, United Fire Engine was part of United Trucks, the Los Angeles Kenworth Dealer and also a Dealer for Hall Scott Engines. Britt explains that the trucks were actually built in a corner of Kenworth's Seattle plant, even though they were badged with the United Fire Engine emblem.

The first United Kenworth was delivered to MGM Studios in late 1938. Clark Cable was photographed in the driver's seat of the truck, as he was in the midst of filming "Gone With the Wind". Two pumpers and the "Quad" were then delivered to the Los Angeles Fire Department in 1940, according to Britt. Then in 1941 the Beverly Hills Fire Department purchased another United Kenworth, which became Engine 8. The last unit built by the company was delivered to the Los Angeles Fire Department in 1941, and World War II brought an abrupt halt to production. Britt says that Kenworth focused its efforts on building trucks and equipment for the War, and after it was over United decided not to build anymore fire engines. Instead they built highway trucks, making the 6 units very rare pieces of apparatus.

In an unfortunate turn of events, all of the United Kenworths were sold in 1957 to a party in Mexico. As fate would have it, one of the trucks, Beverly Hills Engine 8 broke down and never made it across the border. It was left in San Diego County, California, and four years ago, retired Cathedral City Firefighter and avid collector Doug Hammer found it near Escondido, California, where it had been sitting outside exposed to the elements for 15 years. The truck was, needless to say, in need of a major restoration.

Restoring the 1941 United Kenworth

After purchasing the truck, Doug Hammer spent nearly a year saving money and planning his restoration. He had found numerous irreparable issues with truck, and decided to customize it to meet modern driving safety standards while keep the art-deco look of the 1940's, and for the next three years he worked on it, making it beautiful once again.

One of the first things that Hammer found was that the original Hall Scott Pancake Motor was missing many components and so many modifications had been made to it that he could not restore it. Instead he replaced it with a big-block Chevy engine. He retrofitted the truck with several modern safety features including power steering, power brakes, and an automatic transmission, to make it easily drivable to shows. The interior was completely torn apart when Hammer acquired the truck and the only gauge was a speedometer. He completely redid the interior with custom upholstery work and the addition of several performance gauges.

Hammer also added a windshield to the rear of the truck, which was not original to this particular truck but was part of several other trucks of that time period. Explaining his reason for doing this, Hammer says, "Beverly Hills doesn't have poor weather that would require a windshield to protect the guys riding tailboard, but it is so much history in these old windshields that I wanted to put it on this engine and share it with everybody instead of having it sit in my garage."

Several parts of the truck are original, however, including its monitor nozzle which could pump between 1500 and 2000 gpm, although the truck's pump was configured to pump 1000 gpm. The handles on the 12" compartments that actually held the pump are also original, as are the 2 ½" intakes on both sides of the truck. Hammer says that those intakes represented the Beverly Hills Fire Department's first attempt at an exterior high rise attack from the ground. The truck's brass lights are original, as is the Mars light, although he upgraded it from 6V to 12V. Two of Hammer's favorite parts of the truck, its fire bell and Dual Tone Siren are also original. He lovingly says of the siren, "They have a nicer ear piercing noise."

The 1941 United Kenworth is one of five fire engines restored by Doug Hammer that on display at his home in Banning, California.

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