LACo Fire Lifeguards ditch Ford for Toyota and go red instead of yellow

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LAflyer

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I saw LACo put out a press release that the lifeguards are getting new Toyota rescue vehicles to replace current fleet of Ford Escape Hybrids while switching away from the decades long yellow in favor of a dark red.

As part of the switch to Toyota, the County will receive 45 Toyota Tacoma and 18 Tundra trucks along with 2 Sequoia SUV command vehicles.

The 4-year agreement allows Toyota to exclusive rights to market and advertise itself as the "Official vehicle of the Los Angeles County Lifeguards", along with name identification and advertising on the 65 vehicles.


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Stealthguy05

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My first thought is what their radio console set up looks like. Second, interesting that they chose a non american brand. Not a bad thing, just not too common around my area.
 

LAflyer

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Prior to switching to Ford in 2008, they were using Nissan vehicles. If I remember correctly they were with Toyota in the 1990s as well.
 

Aero125

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Tundras are made Texas, and Tacomas are made in Fremont, CA and Baja Mexico. Oddly the vehicle sold in the US with the most American parts is the Camry. Toyota is moving their USA HQ to Texas, but the Museum is set to remain in Torrance well after the move. Im sure there will be a Lifeguard branded truck in there soon as part of the promotional deal.

Back to radio, does anyone still hear the boats on the 37Mhz frequencies anymore? Most of the activity is on the LAC VHF channels.
 

LAflyer

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I don't monitor the 37Mhz often but within the last 6-months I've heard comms between the boats and Avalon.
I suspect so long as the boats are close to shore they can operate on the simplex VHF without issue and only require the low-band when further distant.
 

SCPD

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Being a fleet they probably will negotiate any special terms and modifications for the contract to allow heads or console mounting. Seen it before.
 

SCPD

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My first thought is what their radio console set up looks like. Second, interesting that they chose a non american brand. Not a bad thing, just not too common around my area.

You will see more of it. It's common anymore. Specially if you look at fleets like nypd and some in Colorado.
 

LAflyer

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County received proposals from Chevrolet and Toyota. Ford declined to participate.

Toyota proposal provided the greatest number of vehicles, least amount of marketing/sponsorship requirements and also was the only one that included $200,000 in credit for outfitting vehicles with safety equipment.
 

Code20Photog

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My Tacoma was built in Mexico, but assembled from parts made in the US, so go figure.

I think the red is a simple cost cutting measure, they're probably going with factory paint to save the cost of painting them yellow.
 

mmckenna

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The NUMMI plant in Fremont closed in 2010. No vehicles being made there anymore

The NUMMI plant is now used by Tesla. I do believe all the Tesla's are built there.


Not surprised this was a marketing deal. Ford doesn't have a suitable small truck anymore. Would be interesting to know what Chevy's offer was.
Probably nothing at all wrong with the Toyota's except the Tundra and Sequoia seem to get worse gas milage than the Chevy counterparts.
 

prcguy

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I was a GM/Chevy guy all my life and even worked for GM when they bought my parent company.

Then I got a Toyota Tundra in 2008 and now wonder why I had my head in the sand all this time. My last Big GM had a 5.7L with about 200HP and it got maybe 18MPG with a tail wind. My 5.7L Tundra gets over 20MPG but is rated 381HP. I know the newer GMs have more HP but it took a near collapse of the US auto industry befor they would change their technology and ancient ways.

There is obviously more to a truck than HP and my experiance is Toyota is built better, will have less problems and will have a higher resale value.

My Tundra is also completely void of any RFI and my HF radio sounds the same with the engine on or off, no spark plug noise, no nuthun. My last several GM vehicles had big spark plug noise problems. Toyota = good radio!
prcguy




The NUMMI plant is now used by Tesla. I do believe all the Tesla's are built there.


Not surprised this was a marketing deal. Ford doesn't have a suitable small truck anymore. Would be interesting to know what Chevy's offer was.
Probably nothing at all wrong with the Toyota's except the Tundra and Sequoia seem to get worse gas milage than the Chevy counterparts.
 

mmckenna

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My Tundra is also completely void of any RFI and my HF radio sounds the same with the engine on or off, no spark plug noise, no nuthun. My last several GM vehicles had big spark plug noise problems. Toyota = good radio!
prcguy

That was often the fuel pump in the gas tank on those older GM's. They were kind of notorious for that RFI source. Fixable, but should have been addressed by the factory.

If you had a 5.7 with only 200hp, that must have been early 1990's? I had a 5.0 with 190hp, 1990 GMC. Got a 1994 with the 5.7 that probably had 220hp.
Big difference between a early 1990's GM 5.7 and a late 2000's Toyota 5.7. Not really a fair comparison.
 

Eng74

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I can see Ford not bidding. The new F-150 are selling as soon as they hit dealerships and there are a lot on order already.
 

scottyhetzel

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My Tacoma was built in Mexico, but assembled from parts made in the US, so go figure.

I think the red is a simple cost cutting measure, they're probably going with factory paint to save the cost of painting them yellow.

Exactly, plus they can peel the stickers and sell it at an auction and the end user will have a normal color... Plus people on the beach can go to local dealer and get the exact color...smart marketing...

Love to see how they do the equipment console too.
 

SCPD

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I seen a Altima with a modified center console for public safety or government fleets. It worked around existing vehicle parts such as the gear shifter. I've seen a custom console for the new Dodge Durangos which the gear shifter can be removed from factory console cup and cubby and installed easily in the public safety console. I imagine a vendor has one made for the Tacoma. If you have a large enough fleet and money they usually will custom build anything. Consoles, partitions, gun or gear racks, deck mounts etc. Eventually I'm sure we will see a member here snap a picture on the beach looking into the Tacoma. Color scheme your probably right. Cost effective. As now most but not all newer police and fire vehicles use body wraps which is easily installed, removed and leaves vehicle is better resale conditions along with being cheaper to apply then having to send a group into a shop to be stripped and primered then painted. I guess it depends on the contract they have in place. Some places still get vehicle bi color paint schemes at low cost with fleet contracts. I guess it depends at time of the table war signing. But more common is the body wraps now on a plain jane white or black car or suv.
 

fredva

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The use of the vehicles for promotional purposes is interesting because in my home state, the ethics commission will not allow vehicles owned by public agencies to be used to promote any company. There were some companies which were willing to provide police departments with a new cruiser in return for a small ad on the car, but that idea was nixed.
 

oldschoolamb

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What was the Toyota operated GM Plant Fremont - NUMMI, is now the Tesla Plant were all the Telsa models are made. Toyota Tacomas are now built in San Antonio, Texas, no longer in Tijuana or Fremont.

As for Ford not bidding I am not surprised. My understand both LA City and LA County fire, along with other LA Basin fire departments, had such severe problems with diesel powered E and F chassis as Ford was going from Navistar diesels to its own diesels, that I doubt Ford has much chance of winning any bid package. My understanding for all practical purposes the LA Basin departments have dropped Ford for Ram chassis. This is sad, as the SoCal Ram supply comes from Mexico versus the F-150's from Dearborn.
 
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