By 1911 Walter Christie seems to have given up on his dream of becoming a major manufacturer of front wheel drive automobiles. But no matter, he had a new idea. Why not use his front wheel drive expertise to build fore-carriages for horse drawn fire equipment? By December of 1911 Christie fire engine tractors were being delivered. By some accounts over 400 were sold. Several Christie fire engine tractors have survived.
Click the link below to watch a great video from Jay Leno's garage, as Jay discusses Christie history and actually drives a Christie fire engine -
http://www.jaylenosgarage.com/video/1914-christie-fire-engine/n41613/
Click the link below to watch a great video from Jay Leno's garage, as Jay discusses Christie history and actually drives a Christie fire engine -
http://www.jaylenosgarage.com/video/1914-christie-fire-engine/n41613/
Another fine restoration is in the Nethercutt Museum, shown below.
The front drive system that Christie developed for his fire engine equipment was very different from his automobiles. So was the engine. For the fire engine tractors, Christie used a conventional T-head 4 cylinder. Below is an image from his catalog -
Fore-carriages were nothing new, Scientific American had an extensive article in 1902 on such a mechanism by the Society des Transformatuers Automobile Riegel. There were many others- the Pullcar, Pretot, etc. However, Christie's fire engine front drive system was patented, but not in his name. I have to thank a Christie military historian for finding the patent shown below -
If there are any Fire Engine historians out there with knowledge of Christie, please contact me to discuss more about Christie's fire engine tractors. leestohr@teleport.com
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