By Bill Adams
Hilliard and Dublin, Ohio, are suburbs located respectively west and northwest of downtown Columbus about 10 miles apart on Interstate 270. Each is home to a Sutphen Corporation fire apparatus facility manufacturing various models of aerial devices.
Dublin is home to Sutphen’s corporate offices. Hilliard is where the Monarch custom cab starts. Hilliard also manufacturers the SP70, SL 75, SA 75, SL 100, SLR 75, and SLR 108.
At the Dublin facility, Sutphen manufacturers custom pumpers, including SPH 100s, SP 100, SP 95, SPH 112, and SPI 112.
About 40 miles due west is the small city of Urbana, home to another three Sutphen facilities, the Urbana Chassis Division, Sutphen’s Service and Technical Division, and the Urbana Pumper Division. A sixth facility is located in Lake Ariel, PA, where commercial chassis pumpers and additional custom pumpers are built.
A recent Sutphen Corporation press release stated the three Urbana divisions will be consolidated into a new 185,000-square-foot facility in that city. “Combining of the three facilities is designed to increase production and will increase employment in all three divisions,” says Drew Sutphen, president of the Sutphen Corporation. “The current chassis division occupies about 49,000 square feet and employs about 100 people. The move will double its production capacity.”
Custom Cabs and Chassis
A custom cab and chassis is one designed exclusively for the fire service. Smaller OEMs that do not build their own but want to compete in that portion of the market demanding apparatus on custom cabs and chassis are in a bind. They’re forced to purchase one from the few domestic apparatus manufacturers willing to sell to a competitor. Some apparatus manufacturers (OEMs) fabricate both the cab and the chassis entirely in-house. Some chassis manufacturers outsource the cab fabrication. Sutphen builds the complete cab and chassis in-house.
Most OEMs offer multiple styles and models of custom cabs and chassis. Styles and models are confusing terms. In the fire service, there is no single accepted definition of a model or a style. Each manufacturer has its own description. For this narration, a style refers to an overall design where a basic chassis and cab structure does not change. Each model encompasses the degree of customization (options) a manufacturer is willing to provide on each style of cab offered. Some manufacturers offer multiple styles and most offer numerous models of each style. Sutphen builds only one style and model custom cab and chassis. It is called the Monarch.
Early Sutphen Fire Apparatus
In 1890, C.H. Sutphen formed a company selling fire equipment. Sutphen’s first fire apparatus was delivered to Urbana, OH, in that same year. According to Fire Apparatus & Emergency Equipment resident apparatus guru Ron Heal, one of Sutphen’s early apparatus was a hand pumper delivered to Dearborn, MI, in 1907. It survives today. Sutphen’s early product line expanded to hose reels, chemical wagons, and ladder trucks—all hand drawn.
C.H. Sutphen must have been an automotive visionary and a prophesier of fire apparatus innovations. According to Heal’s research, Sutphen and three other individuals incorporated Prospect Manufacturing in 1911, adding Prospect’s products to his fire equipment line. From a 1924 Fire Engineering: “The Prospect Manufacturing Company, Prospect, Ohio, has changed its name to the Prospect Fire Engine Company, in order to particularize the line in which the company is engaged.”
In the Illustrated Encyclopedia of American Fire Engine Manufacturers, author Walt McCall noted “local investors” formed Prospect and it later went on to manufacture its own fire pumps. Prospect was taken over by Hanley Engineering around the time of the Great Depression and was forced into bankruptcy in 1932, but Sutphen’s fire apparatus business survived and grew.
1 This mobile air unit for the Greensboro (NC) Fire Department has a two-seat, 36-inch cab with a flat roof, exterior wheel well compartments with roll-up doors, Sutphen’s classic looking grille-mounted mechanical siren, and a 12-inch formed steel bumper. (Photos 1-5 courtesy of Sutphen.)
2 Sutphen’s short wheelbase all-wheel-drive Wildland Interface Unit has a Monarch 56-inch cab with a 10-inch raised roof and barrier doors. Warning, directional, and headlights are in a common enclosure on this rig.
3 This all “blacked out” black-over-white five-seat 73-inch cab with a 10-inch raised roof and full-length doors for the Elon (NC) Fire Department has hinged exterior cab compartments behind the crew cab and over the wheel wells. Three evenly spaced forward facing seats are on the back wall.
4 A “blacked-out” 73-inch four-seat cab with a 10-inch raised roof has a high compartment aft of the crew cab doors. A rear facing seat is on each side of the engine tunnel with an EMS compartment on the back wall. Auxiliary cab steps with grip-strut inserts are beneath full-length doors. It has a 24-inch bumper extension with a 2-inch discharge and 6-inch preconnected suction hose with strainer. Warning lights are fully recessed in both the bumper’s sides and angled portions. It was delivered to the Hebron Volunteer Fire Department in Boone Township, IN.
5 This Winfield (WV) Fire Department 62-inch Monarch cab has a 10-inch raised roof; five seats; a 6-inch, all-painted bumper extension; and a black-over-green paint scheme. NFPA 1901 recommends separating the front warning lights and headlights. Sutphen’s standard separation between them is 11 inches. It started doing so in the 1960s.
Prospect did not build its own chassis, using Biederman, Ford, Reo, Dodge, and Graham for their vehicles. According to Coachbuilt’s Web site: “This company (Prospect) built rotary pumpers called Deluge, mainly on Ford and Reo chassis, from 1923. From 1924 to about 1932 they made the Prospect-Biederman Deluge Master Fire Fighter which was a pumper on a specially built Biederman chassis.” Sutphen used the term Deluge after Prospect’s demise.
Heal adds Sutphen began delivering apparatus on commercial cabs and chassis under the Sutphen name in 1947. When Sutphen began manufacturing fire apparatus on custom cabs and chassis, it did, as many other apparatus builders did, by purchasing vendor-supplied units. Walt McCall’s photo collection shows some early Sutphen builds. One is an early Sutphen platform for the Oak Brook (IL) Fire Department mounted on a 1966 International Harvester CO8190 chassis with a Cincinnati Cab. Another is a 1967 pumper delivered to Columbus (OH) Fire Department Engine Co. 6 on a Duplex chassis, also with a Cincinnati Cab. Engine 6 was one of the first with Sutphen’s distinguishing feature of classic warning light assemblies located midway between the windshield and headlights. The Cincinnati Cab, also known as the TCM, was manufactured by the Truck Cab Manufacturing Company. It was used by Sutphen until the early 1970s. Some manufacturers still outsource their custom cab construction. Sutphen fabricates its own.
6 This Hernando County (FL) Fire Department pumper has a 72-inch cab with a 15-inch raised roof and long compartment aft of the crew cab door. A single, full-width cover over extended bumper compartments is a popular Sutphen option. (Photos 6-8 courtesy of Dave Stonitsch, South Florida Emergency Vehicles.)
7 The South Trail (FL) Fire Department’s mid-mount platform features a 73-inch cab, a 10-inch raised roof, auxiliary steps with grip strut inserts, an extended bumper, and a compartment aft of crew cab doors. Heights for compartments aft of crew cab doors can range from 24 inches to 80 inches.
8 Fort Lauderdale (FL) Fire Department Truck 2 is a SP-95 tower with a short bumper extension and a 62-inch cab without exterior compartments aft of the crew cab doors.
Monikers
A moniker is a name or nickname. Some are informal and others have formal meanings. While there was not a specific name or model designation for Sutphen’s first in-house fabricated cab and chassis, monikers have been used in the past. At various times, Sutphen used names such as Ambassador, Guardian, Shield, and Deluge. “Sutphen offered the Deluge series from 1979 to 1994, although the term was actually used throughout the history of Sutphen,” says Drew Sutphen. It was as far back as the early 1920s as previously mentioned.
The Monarch was introduced in 2001 as a “top line” chassis. According to Drew Sutphen, “The Shield was introduced in 2003 as a complement to the Monarch chassis. The two were built with the same craftsmanship and quality; however, the Shield had less customization.”
Is the Shield still being offered? “No. All of our chassis are Monarch chassis,” he says. “We do not believe in sacrificing quality on any of our apparatus. We do not offer a ‘lesser’ cab and chassis because we do not want to provide a knowingly inferior product with our family name.”
Monarch is the name used for every Sutphen cab and chassis. Dictionaries define Monarch as king, sovereign, royalty, or leader. Sutphen defines it as extreme duty and lets it speak for itself.
Interesting
The company says it started building chassis in the 1970s and Jim Lyons, apparatus sales director for Shipman’s Fire Equipment Co., a Sutphen dealer in Waterford, CT, forwarded a page from The History of Sutphen Fire Apparatus, by William F. Vedra, Jr. It stated that in 1988, Sutphen’s expansion forced it to purchase an existing building that was suitable to build a chassis and “within a few weeks of the purchase, the facility was up and running under the leadership of Bob Sutphen’s son, Drew, and a crew of three. The team produced its first complete chassis within three weeks. Thirty-four years later, Drew Sutphen is the company’s current president. There are about a dozen relatives of C.H. Sutphen either employed by Sutphen or selling them.
The Monarch
Zach Rudy, the director of sales and marketing, was asked if Sutphen has designated model numbers/nomenclature for cabs. He replies: “We do not. Everything is a Sutphen Monarch chassis. About 95% of our pumper production are on the Monarch. The other 5 percent are on a commercial chassis.” Standard cab lengths are 36, 56, 62, and 73 inches and standard raised roof heights are 10, 15, and 20 inches. We also offer a flat, nonraised roof.” Sutphen, as most manufacturers do, defines a cab’s length from the center line of the front axle to the back of the cab.
“You can have an extended cab on any product we offer,” Rudy says. “The only caveats are the 36-inch cab is not available on certain products and the 56-inch cab is not available on a rear-mount aerial. We don’t necessarily have a ‘standard length’ for the extension. It is whatever the customer wants. The 62-inch and 73-inch cabs are our most popular. The most popular cab is the 73-inch extended cab with a 10-inch raised roof. Our second most popular is the 62-inch extended cab with a 10-inch raised roof. We no longer offer split-tilt cabs, nor do we offer a low-profile cab or stainless-steel cabs. We offer all-wheel-drive options, but it is not our standard.”
Sutphen has a very extensive corporate Corrosion Reduction Policy. It can be accessed at the Herb Fire dealer Web site: https://www.herbfire.com/chassis-construction.html. It also has detailed photos of the Monarch chassis and cab construction. (Please note the approximate pricing hasn’t been updated since 2017.)
9 This heavy rescue was delivered to the Columbus (OH) Fire Department with a 73-inch cab with 20-inch raised roof and optional second window in the upper portion of the crew cab door. The mechanical siren is mounted through the front bumper instead of Sutphen’s traditional grille mount. (Photos courtesy of Herb Fire Equipment.)
Dealer Comments
Several Sutphen dealers were asked if there are any advantages in having one style of cab and chassis to offer prospective customers. President Andy Herb, of Herb Fire Equipment, a Sutphen dealer covering parts of Ohio, Indiana, and Western New York, says, “We at Herb Fire and Sutphen believe the Monarch chassis has numerous standard features that separate us from the competition. Competitors may offer some of these but not willingly or at a competitive price. They are the following:
- The Monarch cab-to-ceiling height is greater than the competition on both the flat cab and the 10-inch raised roof.
- Cab lift cylinders connect to a robust subframe rather than the cab itself. The subframe has rubber isolators helping absorb any deflection when the cab is tilted, avoiding stress cracks in the cab and maintaining the cab integrity.
- The Monarch chassis uses a fuel tank subframe to eliminate the possibility of a strap breaking, allowing the tank to fall to the ground. We also offer, and typically recommend in salty climates, the fuel tank to be made out of stainless steel.
- We are big believers in the reliability and simplicity of our point-to-point wiring system.
- The use of high temperature loom, Deutsch connectors, and several standardized install practices makes this wiring system extremely reliable. Most of our competitors have standardized with multiplexing (which we will happily do), but we have found that the majority of our customers prefer the traditional point-to-point system to help keep the truck in service more often.
- The front of the cab, cab door inner panels, doghouse, etc. are all made of stainless steel or aluminum materials rather than plastic. This has proven to be helpful for longevity.
- We use compression air fittings rather than push lock fittings, which cost more to purchase and install, but Sutphen made the decision several years ago to standardize with them. Compression fittings greatly decrease those pesky air leaks.”
David Stonitsch, president of South Florida Emergency Vehicles, the Florida Sutphen dealer, agrees. “Sutphen does not have a ‘lower’ or ‘economy’ chassis. You get the ‘top-of-the-line’ chassis on every Sutphen pumper or aerial. Our customers like the fact that Sutphen frames are ’huck bolted’ together, meaning they do not have to retorque bolts annually like some other brands. All Sutphen’s air brake connections are done with brass compression fittings as a standard. This saves the department countless hours running down air leaks. And, most of all, they like Sutphen’s heavy-duty cab. You can feel the difference every time you close a cab door.”
. . .
When asked why Sutphen doesn’t offer an ”entry-level” custom chassis, Drew Sutphen reiterates: “We do not believe in sacrificing quality on any of our apparatus, and we do not offer a cab and chassis that provides a knowingly inferior product with the Sutphen family name on it. While we only have one extreme-duty chassis, we offer various options to our chassis including different lengths, heights, external compartments, internal compartments, and more. If you want specific variations, we will work with you to create the product you want. We base our configurations on the customers’ needs. We take what they want, then design, configure, and engineer a truck that works within their bounds. We are a custom fire apparatus manufacturer and that includes our chassis.”
BILL ADAMS is a member of the Fire Apparatus & Emergency Equipment Editorial Advisory Board, a former fire apparatus salesman, and a past chief of the East Rochester (NY) Fire Department. He has 50 years of experience in the volunteer fire service.
