1931 Chevrolet Series LT 1½-Ton Triple-Combination Fire Pumper by Boyer | RM Sotheby's | The Hershey Auction

To Be OFFERED AT AUCTION WITHOUT RESERVE at RM Sothebys' The Hershey Auction event, 7 - 8 October 2026.
Offered Without Reserve | $25,000 - $30,000 USD

• Rare surviving 1930s triple-combination pumper
• Well outfitted; recommissioned as a parade vehicle
• Previously a part of the Guyton collection
• The charm and fun of a classic fire apparatus at a more manageable scale

In 1905, J.T. Obenchain of Logansport, Indiana, an inventor and owner of a flour mill, patented a new design of chemical fire extinguishing apparatus. After his death in 1909, his son Matthew took over the business, and an employee, Steve Boyer, formed the Boyer Apparatus Company as a sales organization. In 1916, the firm, by then known as Boyer Fire Equipment Co., built its first motorized equipment by mounting a chemical tank and ladders on a Model T Ford chassis.

As time went on, other quality automotive chassis were used, including Pierce-Arrow, Packard, and Cadillac. By the 1920s, Boyer was turning out triple-combination pumpers (pump, hose, and water tank) on truck chassis from the likes of Chevrolet, GMC, REO, White, and International. In doing so, the company was able to offer smaller fire departments machinery that was better matched to their needs—in terms of both size and budget—especially when compared to the massive, pricey, and purpose-built apparatuses built by the likes of American LaFrance or Ahrens-Fox. Boyer survived into the 1990s.

In 1931, Boyer constructed nine fire engines on Chevrolet chassis. Some of these went far afield, like number 8452 supplied to the DuPont Chemical Company in Wilmington, Delaware. Others were sent closer to home: Wakefield, Nebraska; Sterling and Glasco, Kansas; Dell Rapids, South Dakota; and Braymer, Missouri. Even closer to St. Louis was Boyer number 8257, sent to the Worden Volunteer Fire Department of Worden, Illinois, about 30 miles east of St. Louis, across the Mississippi River.

As described in a 2013 history of the Boyer company by firefighter, historian, and apparatus collector Rodger Birtchfield, engine 8257 was constructed with two 40-gallon chemical tanks and a Barton pump. Number 8257 appears in two photographs from 1971, when it was owned by Henry Malon of Florissant, Missouri, a St. Louis suburb. The photos match remnants of lettering that remain on the vehicle, although a number of attachments have been changed. While full numbers-matching provenance is unknown, it is most likely that this truck is the one delivered to the volunteer firefighters of Worden.

The Chevrolet later joined the Guyton collection of St. Louis, where it remained until 2019. It was subsequently acquired by an enthusiast in the Northeast before entering current ownership. As it appears today, the truck has been converted by substitution of a 300-gallon water tank for the chemical tanks, and the pump, originally front-mounted, has been removed. Other accoutrements, some added since the 1971 photos, include a Siriniti Sterling siren, a bell, searchlight, soda-acid fire extinguisher, and some nozzles. A Vibro-Jet auto horn flanks the standard Chevrolet horn. While the original Barton pump has been lost, a period Darley Champion pump of a type used on other Boyer apparatus of the period is included.

Compared to some of the bigger and costlier machinery of its day, this 1931 Chevrolet pumper offers all the visual appeal and fun of a vintage fire apparatus in a somewhat more compact and manageable package—precisely the attribute that made Boyer’s offerings appealing to fire departments nearly a century ago. To view this car and others currently consigned to this auction, please visit the RM website at rmsothebys.com/auctions/hf26/.