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Usdin doesn't expect the brand to survive. The plan provided for the assumption by the reorganized company of $28 million and to establish a fund of assets to pay the remaining claims.Īt the time, CEO Lynn Tilton said they were "pleased to take a step forward towards ensuring the long-term future of this 175-year-old company." In March, the company won a judgment approving its disclosure statement to accompany a debtor's plan of reorganization to address $85 million of contingent and non-contingent general unsecured debt. By January 2009, American LaFrance had filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection and later that year stopped making fire apparatus at one of its South Carolina plants. It was sold to Patriarch Partners in 2005. However, American LaFrance was never able to regain market share. "Those were positive days because we really thought we could bring the American LaFrance brand back to where it had been from the early 1900s through the 1980s," he said. Usdin said there were plans for American LaFrance to reclaim its former status in the fire marketplace when it was owned by Freightliner from 1995 to 2005. The closing caps years of financial struggles for the company that included layoffs and bankruptcy. "I expect someone to step up and make all the parts in short order." "A majority of the parts are available through secondary sources that could be found with a simple web search," Usdin said.
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Usdin expects a third-party vendor will meet the market's need, including offering routine parts and serving American LaFrance apparatus. The company will contact customers with that information "in the near future." In a public statement, the company said customers will soon be notified about where to get replacement parts and service from an unspecified third-party vendor. Usdin also spent three years at American LaFrance as president of the used apparatus division when it was owned by Freightliner. Industry insiders say customers have concerns about the availability of replacement parts and how they will maintain their apparatus, said Glenn Usdin, owner of Command Fire Apparatus, a used fire truck company. American LaFrance: What does the future hold?