Van Pelt, Peterbilt 310, engl.

I photographed this little Pumper when I was traveling in California for Revell for 18 days. I had discovered this vehicle in the Peterbilt house magazine, which was always sent to me in the 1990s. I was quite surprised when I read that Peterbilt also had this little 310 truck in their range.

Of course I was also in San Francisco at the time. And since the fire station was on E6, across the bay, I drove over the Golden Gate Bridge to the town of Mill Valley. They were very friendly and helpful there and always put the little pumper in the way I wanted him to be photographed. Of course I had taken the most important measurements from this unique piece and that was Engine 6 as well.

It wasn’t until 2021 that I finally pulled myself together to convert all the dimensions in connection with the photos of the E6 into a 1:25 scale drawing. If you are interested in building this pumper as a model, you can also get this drawing from me as a PDF file. Pictures in the archive.

Drawing: Copyright Klaus Lassen

One click on the PDF button and you can download the drawing of the Peterbilt 310 Fire Truck in 1:25 scale.

Van Pelt Inc. was an American fire equipment manufacturer based in Oakdale, California. Van Pelt built his first fire truck for the Oakdale Fire Department in 1923. The Fire Truck was a success, and other area fire departments asked for similar units. Van Pelt founded P.E. Van Pelt Inc. as a separate company in 1925. By the 1940s, Van Pelt was the largest manufacturer of firefighting equipment on the US West Coast. Memco Aerial Ladder Company ladder trucks were introduced in 1958 and a custom chassis (the Custom 300) in 1960. The Custom 300 remained in production through 1977. Later, Van Pelt used chassis from Pemfab, Duplex and Hendrickson. Later lift trucks (articulated masts) were built using ladder assemblies from Grove and LTI and platforms from Hi-Ranger and platforms and Telesqurt booms from the Snorkel Fire Equipment Company. In 1978, Van Pelt was purchased by FMC Corporation, but the Van Pelt nameplate continued to appear on Oakdale-built fire engines. In 1987, FMC consolidated fire truck manufacturing in Florida and the Oakdale plant closed. The Van Pelt brand name was discontinued.