Equipment

Emergency Vehicle Equipment

The equipment found in a vintage emergency vehicle was much more than lights and sirens. Two-way radios, radar, VASCAR, emergency lighting, sirens, flashers and other specialized equipment were essential tools for law enforcement and fire departments, and each came with its own technology, terminology and installation methods.

This section of Code 3 Garage documents the equipment used in police, sheriff, highway patrol, state police, Border Patrol and fire vehicles, with a focus on the products and systems commonly found from the 1960s through the 1990s. The articles cover everything from vintage Motorola two-way radios and radar units to emergency lighting, sirens and other equipment from manufacturers such as Code 3, Federal Signal and Whelen.

Whether you’re restoring a vintage emergency vehicle, researching a particular piece of equipment, building a historically accurate vehicle or simply curious about how these systems worked, these articles provide photographs, specifications, manuals, wiring information and historical details to help identify and understand the equipment.

Emergency Vehicle Equipment – Library of Articles:

Code 3 Lights & Sirens Timeline of Code 3 Equipment XL Lightbar LP6000 Lightbar MX-7000 Lightbar Code 3 NightProbe Code 3 SelectAlert Code 3 V-Con Siren Code 3 MasterCom Siren Code 3 Flasher Guide Federal Signal Lights & Sirens AeroDynic & AeroTwinsonic Lightbar Twinsonic Lightbar Jetsonic / Jetstream / Jetstrobe Lightbar StreetHawk / FireHawk / StrobeHawk Lightbar PA300 Series Siren Lectric Lites Lights Ranger Strobe Bar Model LL 300 Space Ranger XLR Ranger III Lightbar (LL400 LL500 LL600) Signal-Stat Lights Dual Comm Lightbar Smith & Wesson Lights 8780 / 8880 / 8990 Lightbars Yankee Lights 911 Lightbar Whelen Lights & Sirens 8000 Series Lightbar 80H / 90H Lightbar Edge 9000 Lightbar Edge Diagnostix Whelen B-Link Serial Communications Whelen Serial Communication Manuals

Flashers Three-Prong Alternating Flashers Code 3 Flasher Guide Streetsweeper Headlight Flasher Tomar 930DM Flasher Two-Way Radios Motorola MOTRAC, MOTRAN and MOCOM RADAR Units Traffic Radar Handbook How Police Radar Works Kustom Signals MR-7 Moving RADAR VASCAR VASCAR – How It Works & Wiring Diagrams Basic Training In Vascar VASCAR 5000 Operators Manual Miscellaneous Convert A Halogen Lightbar To LED For Under $100 Three-Prong Alternating Flashers Streetsweeper Headlight Flasher California Highway Patrol Motor Transport Manual  Tomar 930DM Flasher Identifying Black Wire Polarity