Thread: MARS! (non Chicago proper) Vehicles w. primary warning systems by MARS

Please contribute to this thread: any emergency vehicle that is not Chicago PD or Chicago FD with MARS lights and/or sirens as primary priority equipment. A few examples to start-

Nice Pics you've gathered there. Very nice lights that would fetch a pretty penny these days.

Couple more from my collection. I hope others will contribute...I know Cincinnati PD ran MARS bars in the 70's & 80's, as did Pontiac MI fire...

I'm already liking this thread.....

I did a bit of searching of my own and found this amusing pic of a fella who's a member of the Professional Car Society tending to his Aurora Borealis on his restored ambulance.

Originally Posted by CrownVic97

I'm already liking this thread.....

I did a bit of searching of my own and found this amusing pic of a fella who's a member of the Professional Car Society tending to his Aurora Borealis on his restored ambulance.

That is a labor of love...the mechanisms on an Aurora are almost like those of a fine wristwatch.

Here's another Ambo with an Aurora that I found on my CD archives:

I'm still hoping that someone has shots of Cincinnati PD cars of the 70's & 80's with the Skybolt bars, and some of the various FL & IL departments that had the SpectraSystem bars, too. And, of course, any stills from "Sugarland Express" (aka "Mars Sales Video #1) would be enjoyed as well. I'll keep digging through my old discs to see what I can find...I know I have some old Mars sales brochures, can't remember if I've scanned them or not.
't

So far there are three pics of pro-car ambos with Aurora Borealis light bars. A Miller-Meteor Duplex, a Miller-Meteor Volunteer, and an S&S Medic Mark 1. Keep 'em coming!

The orange one also has 4 Model 66 Rota-Beams
Dan

Another find from Frank Lloyd Wright's (hence my nickname) adopted hometown, a retrofitted ALF 700 pumper:

Here's a couple from Sugarland Express. I found them at copcar dot com - The home of the American Police Car

The snorkel in the opening post is BA!

I landed a couple of major league scores in MARS finds from other boards & sites that I am pleased to share (all credits to original photographers & posters).

First up, via Copcar.com, this swell 1984 Ford LTD from Collier County, FL with a very nice & uber-rare MARS Spectrasystem light bar. For those not familiar with this set-up, the original (pre-Tri Lite) Spectrasystem was pretty advanced for its time (and, quite expensive, and, from what I've been told, not exactly fail-proof), it consisted of outboard rotating beacons, reflective mirrors, and, two inboard 888 oscillating lights, all under MARS' patented mix & match color strip domes:

Originally Posted by MichianaELS

The snorkel in the opening post is BA!

Affirmative! I don't know who did the body work on it, but it is a mean looking rig. I dig the fact not only does it have Skybolt beacons, but, MARS searchlights, and a rare-as-hen's-teeth Commander 10 siren.

Now, here's the MARS find of the decade, thanks to the Professional Car Society forums. The trifecta of rarity makes this something to behold:

1) This is an early EMS fly car/squad/supervisor unit...very groundbreaking 2) It's Canadian (Winnipeg, MB), I don't think I've ever seen MARS products on a Canadian emergency vehicle before 3) The setup itself is rare... 2 Skybars with the candystriped slats, an 888 on the bar, and roof mounted speakers.

This is, like, the lighting setup of my dreams! Wowzers!

Another Michigan find, Lansing MI Ladder with an Aurora & 888:

The Milwaukee, WI Fire Department was another good MARS customer over the years. Via Copcar.com, here is a MKE battalion chief car with an Aurora & 2 widemouth speakers.

Well I never thought Mars made it here in the province of Quebec, but I found this on PoliceCanada.ca.
Charny's Police, a little town near Quebec City.


http://policecanada.org/policeca/qc/...harnyQC001.jpg

Really interesting bars. Can't say I know a whole lot about Mars' lights, aside from the classic 888, can someone give me a run down on how they were set up? I saw a previous post that said they had outboard rotors and inboard 888's is this correct across the board or were there other set ups?

Thanks

Originally Posted by Rusted413

Really interesting bars. Can't say I know a whole lot about Mars' lights, aside from the classic 888, can someone give me a run down on how they were set up? I saw a previous post that said they had outboard rotors and inboard 888's is this correct across the board or were there other set ups?

Thanks

There are a few MARS catalogs posted in the catalog thread that will answer a few questions & provide some good visual resources:
Mars pictures by elightbars - Photobucket

MARS has had 3 distinct chapters in its long life: it's Chicago-based heyday from its inception until the late 1970's, a period of great innovation & weak marketing after relocating to Naples, FL, and withering away to virtually nothing after being sold to Tri-Lite and moving operations back to Chicago circa 1990. MARS products were always a bit ahead of their time, and, thusly a bit more expensive than competitive offerings from Federal & the other major warning system companies. Aside from the 888, which is well known throughout North America, some of their other more famous offerings were the original FL wig-wag light, and the "Chicago Bar" (an innovative extruded aluminum bar with a T-slot that could accommodate a wide variety of beacons, can lights, speakers, 888 lights, Skybar mini-bars, Aurora Borealis bars, etc.). If you've ever seen the classic movie "Blues Brothers", all of those Chicago PD cars with the blue rotating beacons are MARS products.

Somewhere, I think I still have a MARS price list from circa-1983 that I ought to find & scan as it offers the full breadth of their offerings at their zenith. They had the SpectraSystem bars, the mix & match "Chicago Bar" products, a Federal CJ-184-like speaker light, and a full line of electronic and electromechanical sirens.

As far as I know, MARS always manufactured their own lighting products. However, their siren history murky to me, and maybe some of our more well versed compadres here can provide more information. The original Mars Clarion & Clarion II electronic sirens were either duplicates to Federal PA-15 and PA-20 sirens or were actually made by Federal for MARS. Later electronic sirens were made by Scientific Products & identical to Signal Stat's models. MARS electromechanical sirens are a mystery to me other than knowing their model names, other than the last generation of their Commander sirens of the 1980's & 90's which were very similar to Q's, but with a slightly deeper tone, much like a Sireno 40010.

MARS' largest customers in terms of sales volume were the various City of Chicago agencies and the U.S. Government. The majority of MARS products that seem to come up for sale on Ebay are either ex-U.S. Military or NOS U.S. Military. While the original FL light & 888's are found coast-to-coast, north-to-south, it would seem that most of MARS warning products installed on non-military vehicles ended up in the U.S. Midwest and Florida.

Any corrections or clarifications by those better informed are certainly encouraged!

I love Mars stuff! I have a Clarion II siren.

Originally Posted by usonian

The original Mars Clarion & Clarion II electronic sirens were either duplicates to Federal PA-15 and PA-20 sirens or were actually made by Federal for MARS.

There is a demo of a Mars Clarion II on YouTube somewhere. It has high-pitched tones like the Federal PA20A series 2E, but the wail and yelp tones rise and fall differently than the 2E.

Tracked it down for y'all. ELB member K9Vic has this siren as far as I know. It's his vid

Mars Clarion II Siren - YouTube

Anybody remember the 1986 Disney movie "Flight of the Navigator?" The NASA patrol cars were the box-style Impalas with Mars Skybolt and Twin Beacon Ray bars on them. Of course, there's other good vintage lightbars in this movie as well. Interesting note, the Twin Beacon Rays have Mars can lights for the steady burn lights (CAL-spec in Florida?!? What the crap?). Here's some videos to see with time signatures to skip to the scenes.

1:48 to 2:35


2:21 (Mars can lights) and 8:07-8:22

K-D 886 on the robot in the first part of the 2nd video.

Originally Posted by dmathieu

K-D 886 on the robot in the first part of the 2nd video.

Haha, yep that too, Dan.... I always thought it was the Signal Stat type with the prisms when I saw this movie a few years back. Now I'm better educated and saw exactly what it was today. Better late than never!

Did you see the Rota-Beams on the airport fire truck as well, Dan ?

Didn't see that part of the video. Which video, and what time stamp, if you remember?

Originally Posted by CrownVic97

Anybody remember the 1986 Disney movie "Flight of the Navigator?" The NASA patrol cars were the box-style Impalas with Mars Skybolt and Twin Beacon Ray bars on them. Of course, there's other good vintage lightbars in this movie as well. Interesting note, the Twin Beacon Rays have Mars can lights for the steady burn lights (CAL-spec in Florida?!? )

There's a fighting chance that those were actual NASA cars as MARS had moved their operations to Florida at the time & were making inroads in the local market. As for steady burns, I think they're solid policy in any jurisdiction... instinctual motorist reaction "oh, is that a stoplight?"

Originally Posted by dmathieu

Didn't see that part of the video. Which video, and what time stamp, if you remember?

Got em!

Originally Posted by dmathieu

Didn't see that part of the video. Which video, and what time stamp, if you remember?

1:59, 2nd video .

Originally Posted by dmathieu

Got 'em!

Nevermind

Found a Suburban Chicago Suburban sporting an Aurora & an 888: