If you’re the kind of person who needs to haul really big vehicles with your camper, a toy hauler might not cut it. Instead, your RV of choice might be what’s known as a toterhome. These custom rigs combine the comfortable hauling capability of a heavy-duty truck platform with the versatility of a motorhome. One of these awesome trucks has come up for sale. This 2001 Pierce started its life as a fire engine; now it’s a practical motorhome that hauls large mud trucks. Even better is what’s underneath: an iconic Detroit Diesel Series 60.
I love toterhomes because builders often exercise a lot of creativity in converting these old trucks into RVs. Like many custom RVs, toterhomes often have solutions to common problems seen in factory-built RVs. They’re often built on sturdy platforms, and their interiors usually have neat features that you won’t find in a typical RV without spending tons of money. Toterhomes also just look a bit weird; I mean, just take a gander at this thing!
This 2001 Pierce fire engine served as the hauler for Chris Libak’s Animalistic Mega Truck Racing. Mega trucks are an interesting flavor of off-road truck. They look like scaled-down monster trucks and conquer harsh muddy conditions at impressive speeds using huge tires, tuned engines, and so much more. A look a Libak’s Instagram shows these mud trucks absolutely tearing it up and even getting sweet airtime.
Using a toterhome for hauling these trucks means that you can pull a large gooseneck trailer with a couple of these trucks strapped down to it while also having a sizable place to sleep on the road. You can’t do that with a typical motorhome.
Big Trucks Saving Lives
The platform for this build started life as a fire engine. To answer a question some of you might have, “fire truck” and “fire engine” are often used interchangeably, but they’re technically not the same thing. Fire engines most often have pumping systems and hoses to fight fires with water, while fire trucks tend to carry ladders, tools, and other rescue equipment. Both forms of these fire apparatus are critical for battling a blaze and saving lives.
[Ed note: How dare Mercedes use an Texas Aggie fire engine on this website! – MH]
These meanings carry on to the departments. You may have seen an Engine Company or a Ladder Company. These describe specialties. As the Mt. Vernon, New York, Fire Department writes, an Engine Company specializes in extinguishing fires. Meanwhile, as the City of New Rochelle, New York, writes, the Ladder Company gains access to the building, searches for fire and people, and ventilates the structure.
If you’ve taken a long enough look at the fire apparatus in different towns, chances are you might have noticed that Pierce Manufacturing, a subsidiary of Oshkosh Corporation, has its name on fire equipment all over America.
The company says it’s the leading single-source provider of fire apparatus in the country, and here’s some of its history:
1913
Pierce is founded as Auto Body Works by Humphrey & Dudley Pierce in Appleton, WI. The first shop was converted from an old church located at Fremont and Jefferson Streets. Humphrey Pierce, father of Dudley Pierce, served three terms as Mayor of the City of Appleton. He practiced law after attending Harvard Law School.
1917
Humphrey and Dudley Pierce’s company was incorporated under the name Auto Body Works, Inc. They began building truck bodies on Model T Ford chassis. Officers were elected shortly thereafter. Humphrey Pierce became the first president, and Dudley Pierce became secretary, treasurer and general manager. At the time, they each received $18 per week in wages, making it possible for more money to be invested back into the company. By the end of the year, the company had 11 employees. It was at this time that the company outgrew the converted church and built a new plant, known today as “City Plant” which faced Pierce Avenue near the Chicago Northwestern Railroad tracks.
1927
Company enters specialized utility body market in addition to the truck bodies they were building for Ford and Chevrolet.
Pierce says that it first fire truck (above) was built starting in 1939. The truck was a pumper, combining a Barton-American pump with a Ford chassis for the Rural Fire Apparatus Company. Pierce also noted that the truck’s livery, which featured striking chevron striping, would become a safety standard several decades later.
This 2001 Pierce
The fire engine on your screen today comes from Facebook Marketplace and appears to be based on the Pierce Enforcer, which entered production in 2000. There’s a chance that the truck could be based on the Pierce Saber, which entered production in 1992. By Pierce’s own admission, the Saber and Enforcer are extremely similar–they even share an owner’s manual–but the Enforcer is available with larger big block diesel engines with higher horsepower outputs. The Enforcer is also longer, heavier, and has more available configurations.
This 2001 Pierce is equipped with a Detroit Diesel Series 60 straight-six diesel making 500 HP. That engine is backed by an Allison 4000 six-speed automatic transmission. No torque figure is given for this example, but a 500 HP Series 60 made up to 1,850 lb-ft of torque. So, this fire engine has more than enough power to be a motorhome.
The toterhome portion of this truck is fascinating. The seller has not given any details on how this coach was built, but it appears that the motorhome body might have started life as the box to a straight truck. Look closely at the RV body and you’ll see the clearance lights and the kind of body construction that you see on a box truck.
This isn’t necessarily a bad thing. Lots of folks have converted box trucks into cozy motorhomes. Using a cube from a box truck also means that the basic structure is already covered. The integration here looks pretty well done as the toterhome has proper RV-style basement storage compartments, flush RV windows, RV lighting, and an RV entry door.
The rear of the coach features more storage compartments, the RV’s generator, a conventional hitch receiver, and a gooseneck hitch. Other photos show the rig’s propane tanks mounted to a stand in one of the storage compartments, as well as hoses for the RV’s waste tank, both great things to see.
The interior isn’t particularly mind-blowing. There’s a lot of black and gray, only a few windows, and a dash of woodgrain here and there. While the aesthetic isn’t exciting, the interior does feature everything you’d expect in a motorhome, from a kitchen and eating area to a living room, sleeping berths, and a full bathroom.
I’m a fan of the bathroom. Too many RVs feature dinky showers that are a total hassle to use and leave you feeling more angry than refreshed. Whoever built this coach clearly thought about having to clean themselves, or maybe their customer cleaning themselves.
Sadly, the seller doesn’t give a list of features, nor do they say anything about the size of the holding tanks, batteries, or anything like that. But they do say that the toterhome has 130,000 miles and will cruise at 80 mph while towing, which I totally believe. I reached out to the seller for more information on the toterhome.
Big Engine With A Big Price
Now comes the big question. Is this Pierce worth the asking price of $85,000? I think it could be for the right buyer. It seems to be put together pretty well, is more than capable of holding highway speeds, and appears to be a fully functional RV. My complaint about the dark interior color is easily fixed, and I bet this thing is a beast at towing. Some people try to sell less useful and less powerful school bus conversions for way more money than this.
Most RV buyers will get by just fine with a Class C or a normal Class A. The kind of buyer for this toterhome is probably going to have really big, expensive toys to haul. If that sounds like you, this coach is waiting for you in Fort Myers, Florida. Maybe take it on an inaugural trip down the legendary Overseas Highway!
Otherwise, I love seeing builds like these. Someone, or maybe a company, took a piece of hard-working equipment and gave it a new life of having fun. It’s a great form of upcycling, and I hope to see more of it.
Soon as I see the title to any of your articles, I know who wrote the story. Mercedes you could write about the history of dirt management on kei cars and make it interesting and informative. You are awesome! Oh and yes I would like the fire truck motorhome for under $100k sounds like a bargain, except for the 2.5 mpg it probably gets
I remember the American LaFrance engine my hometown had in the ’70s and ’80s. The exhaust note from that thing could penetrate your internal organs. At full throttle, it could be heard clear across town, no siren needed.
There’s an off-road fire engine converted into the world’s biggest VW van.
Aluminum construction, 4WD and big power!
*some genius
We don’t do that one anymore. Ha.
This is majestic! I love toterhomes! There is a pseudo retired couple that move hardware for us and theirs is nicer than many houses I’ve been to
boy he really went all out with those interior pictures.
“Some squatters, they seem cool enough. They’re only here about 6-8 hours a day but might want to check with them before driving away.”
The way PE has ruined fire truck manufacturing and departments holding on to trucks longer. Taking the pump section off older engines for parts and doing things like with rest might be the future. Would probably be a loud ride in the cab though.
I wonder if they’ve done much to make the cab a nice place to spend some time. I would not want to cover many miles at 80mph in the average fire truck. That would get old very quickly.
That was my first thought. Firefighters driving and riding in these rigs wear closed-ear headphones with attached mics for a reason, and it’s not because fire engine/truck cabs are sensory deprivation chambers.
At least this one won’t have a siren.
I’m also curious about seating since these things usually have benches or jump seats and an engine doghouse you could serve Thanksgiving dinner on.
For those of us without the background, can you share what’s happened to PE’s manufacturing?
I didn’t know that Pierce built all of their fire equipment in Appleton, WI until I visted Appleton last year and went to a weird bar that is permanently Christmas themed inside but also appeared to be a firefighter bar with tons of patches and Pierce badges and references all over the walls.
Cleo’s bar
Had to look it up, but yep!
Backing up must be an experience when the trailer is 800ft behind the driver.
This is just one of hundreds of “I converted something that wasn’t a motorhome into a motorhome” posts that completely fails to talk about the condition of the greasy bits.
In this case, I think that $85k is quite the bargain IF there’s a service history indicating it likely won’t leave you stranded, not only without a vehicle, but also homeless. You couldn’t find a vehicle that will do what this will at this price point.
I totally agree! It bugs me when people try to sell their rigs for this much money without really any details. Tell me about that drivetrain, tell me about how it was built! I was hoping the seller was going to get back to me before publishing time, but I still haven’t heard a peep.
Of course, I always recommend asking for maintenance information before spending this much cash. Heck, I got a 900-page book of service history (no exaggeration, it was 20 years of documentation of everything that had been done) when I paid just $5,500 for my bus.
This! Exactly this! I had a decent service history on my bus when I bought it but I still run into all kinds of head scratchers when I do any work on it. I’ve kept notes of servicing I’ve done so if we ever do decide to sell it (probably not) I can pass that on. I see a lot of conversions done trying to sell for big money that don’t mention anything relating to mechanical condition. Getting mileage is a stretch
Yeah is that 130,000 miles the actual on the drivetrain? If so that’s like break-in.
“Toterhome” sounds like a bad German translation for a morgue 🙂
My uncle is a retired semi-pro mud bogger in FL and I’ve never heard it called “Mega Truck Racing” until just now. They appear to be largely the same sport, but now with more caffeine and/or meth.