AMT La France ladder chief / hauler rebuild

[57peppershaker]

Has anybody converted a La France into a car hauler ?

Pics or advice would be a great help

Edited October 18, 2016 by 57peppershaker

[Mopar - D]

I have not seen any but sounds like a cool idea. What type of car transporter are you thinking i.e. New car, race car or custom car?  

[57peppershaker]

The thought is a drag car transporter.

I picked it up part built on ebay & it hasnt arrived yet so im unsure of the bed length or a suitable car. Althought a thought is for a firefighters drag car, kinda beat the heat style

[Chariots of Fire]

If you are using the rear mount ladder just cut off the turntable part, make a ramp and keep the side compartments for tools and spare parts.  You can fill in the jack locations as well with some sheet plastic or keep a pair of them to support the car when it's being loaded.  

[57peppershaker]

Leaving the compartments & jacks sounds a good idea.

I'll post pics as soon as it arrives. I hope the Caprice fits !

[57peppershaker]

The Ladder Chief arrived today. Its a old build thats mostly in bits and the old brittle tube glue thats holding the rest together shouldnt take much to seperate. The old red and silver paint will also be stripped.

Well the other good news is the Revell 92 Caprice will fit (Cop car was to hand) I have another 1 thats due to be built as a Fire Dept drag car. Its the parts left from a 92 / Impala SS kitbash of my 1:1 96 Caprice, so ripe for modding.

Im planning on using the sides of the smaller ladder section as bed rails.

[57peppershaker]

More pics to follow

[Mopar - D]

This will make for Avery interesting build. Looking forward to see where you go with it 

[Chariots of Fire]

How about making a ramp for the back that the car would ride up on; something like the Ford LN race hauler?  You could still leave some of the side compartments for tools etc.  Can't see how you would get the car off the bed the way it is without some really long portable ramps.

[GLMFAA1]

You could make a tilt bed, with the out riggers it would work.

 

[kilrathy10]

That's actually viable.....I kinda like the idea.....Someone has used the London bus....Why not??

[Aaronw]

I've seen a number of 1-1 fire trucks built into car haulers. This one was built on a Ford C / Seagrave ladder truck but might be of some help for ideas.

http://www.ford-trucks.com/forums/1395380-c800-fire-truck-to-car-hauler-conversion-is-complete.html

 

and another based on an older ALF 700

http://recoverynut.blogspot.com/2005/07/wierd-wreckers.html

 

If you want something different to haul, you could use it for hauling a drill team "truck" kind of a cross between a dragster and fire apparatus. It's an east coast thing, maybe even just a New York State thing? Nothing like this on the west coast.

 

 

Edited October 19, 2016 by Aaronw

[57peppershaker]

The Seagrave truck looks good and some good pics but I want to keep it looking like a fire truck. I'll give some thought to the rear though

The 'plan' is to complete this & the Caprice as a set up that's been donated by the Fire Dept and the crew have worked on to haul & race. I did think about using a Fox Mustang but guess the FD wouldn't have many 2 door pursuit cars ? The towns Cops will have a Fox to grudge race / beat the heat style.

 

[explorer2770]

This is what I did when I started converting the ladder chief to a car hauler.  Just need to finish it one of these days.

[57peppershaker]

Thanks for the pic. Anymore info or pics ?

[explorer2770]

I used the Ford LN race car hauler as a guide.  If you line up the wheel wells on the ladder chief with the race car hauler body, you will notice that the ladder chief is 1.5 cm longer to the cab.  Of course, I couldn't find the ladder chief side panel tonight for comparison. Anyway, because of the length change, I used sheet styrene to make my own sides for a new race car hauler bed.   I plan to finish this off with a diamond plate deck and use the ramps from the race car hauler to load the cars.

My build sits higher on the frame, I plan to add a few pieces of strip stock to the bottom of the bed to make up the difference from the frame rails so it looks better.

I don't remember if the ladder chief body is the same width as the race car hauler, but you could clip the two kits at the top of the wheelwells and splice them together with the ladder chief on the front and the ramp body on the back.  Another option would be to use the race car hauler and move the tall compartment forward to make up the distance between the cab and body, then fill in the lower portion with sheet styrene.

If I can find the side pieces for the ladder chief tomorrow, I will post a picture showing the difference between the race car hauler and the ladder chief body.

[1930fordpickup]

Steve I think I have seen at least one of these at the NNL Nationals. Another in one of the contest issues. Maybe the same truck. 

They used one of the Car Hauler beds. 

 

[57peppershaker]

Thanks for pics n info Brandon. Thats a great help

Id love to see a finished one Andy.

[DumpyDan]

Great idea, I was going to try this one myself  but a while back there was a lot of talk about people doing this I decided on another way of using the fire truck.  I will be watching our build.  By the way where in the uk are you located? I am going to be in Lester next year

Edited October 28, 2016 by DumpyDan

[57peppershaker]

Hi Dan, I'm in Kent in the South East.

[Superpeterbilt]

Interesting conversion. I like it!

[DRIPTROIT 71]

Interesting conversion. I like it!

What he said!