I’ve often wondered how many children wanted to grow up to become a fire-fighter. I also wonder how many of them finally realized this ambition. If you are one of those that dreamed it but never made it, then perhaps this 1956 Dodge Power Wagon can at least allow you to let loose your imagination. This retired fire-fighting appliance is one of the most innovative fire-fighting appliances ever built in the USA and would make a fantastic restoration project. It is also worth taking a serious look at this because buying and restoring it could be a canny financial move. It is located in Saint Johnsville, New York, and is listed for sale here on eBay. Bidding on this classic has reached $3,050, but the reserve hasn’t been met.

I really love these old fire-fighting appliance, and this one is pretty cool. I’m not going to pretend for one moment that it would be an easy restoration, because there is an awful lot of metal that would require preparation and painting. The plus side of this is that the old Dodge looks to be pretty clean and free of major rust issues. The frame also appears to be solid, and while those side steps are probably original, the enormous front bumper would not have been fitted to the vehicle in its fire-fighting role.

Necessity is the mother of invention, and this is one of the most inventive fire-fighting solutions that America has ever seen. The brainchild of a mechanical lateral thinker by the name of Walter “Army” Armstrong, what you are looking at is a fire-fighting appliance that was designed to fight anything from scrub fires to chemical fires and to undertake all of this operated by one person. The “Little Mo,” as it became known, was built initially in small numbers by the Young Fire Equipment Company of Buffalo, New York, from 1954 until 1956. American LaFrance then took up construction from 1958 until 1960. This Little Mo retains most, but not all, of its original equipment. That turret-mounted nozzle was operated by a cable, meaning that the operator never had to leave the truck’s cab to tackle a fire. The pump on the front of the vehicle was dual purpose. At a fire, it would feed water from an onboard tank to the nozzle, but once the tank was empty, it could then be used to draft water from the nearest pond, dam, or river, to refill the tank. The onboard water tank, which is missing, would normally have held upwards of 200 gallons. When running at full noise, the pump could deliver 90 gallons per minute, meaning that the tank could potentially be emptied in just over two minutes. There also would have been a 20-gallon foam tank, along with a 5-gallon tank of wetting agent. Combine those and you were ready to tackle most chemical fires. What made it all the more ingenious is that I can still see some pipes visible behind that huge (and non-original) front bumper. These would have fed water or foam to a pair of nozzles mounted at bumper level, which allowed the operator to fight fires both from above and below….and all from the comfort of the truck’s cab.

The interior of the Power Wagon looks to also be in impressive condition for a fire-fighting appliance of this age. There are no real problems to report, and everything looks to be quite serviceable. From a fire-fighting perspective, the most important news is that all of the fire controls for the pump, tanks, and nozzles are still in-situ in the dash. This is a massive bonus, because finding genuine items is now incredibly difficult, especially when these controls are specifically the ones fitted by Young Fire Equipment, not LaFrance. For the person considering a restoration, that is going to potentially save them a lot of leg-work.

Providing the motive power for the Dodge is a 230ci flathead six-cylinder engine, backed by a 4-speed manual transmission. Of course, this is a 4×4, meaning that it has fantastic “go anywhere” potential, and explains why it was the perfect choice for this role. It isn’t clear how long the Power Wagon has been out of service, but the great news is that it runs and drives. Hopefully, it won’t take much to get this beast ready to tackle blazes again.

I’ve written about some really interesting fire-fighting appliances in the past, but the Little Mo is one of the coolest. The initial production run from Young’s yielded only limited numbers of vehicles, but actual totals aren’t clear. American LaFrance built them in far greater numbers, as you would expect from a company of their size. When I said that restoring this might be a canny move, I was deadly serious about that. An exhaustive search has revealed that there is only one known restored Little Mo in existence today, and it is a LaFrance version. This one is definitely a Young’s vehicle, and when it is restored, it could potentially be one of the rarest fire-fighting appliances in the US. To put that into perspective, the other Little Mo went to auction in 2017. It sold for $59,400. This Little Mo is from a far lower production run, so once restored, it could conceivably sell for quite a bit more. This is a big project, but it is one that could be worth a serious look.