ATEV Information & Trading Board
This forum is for collectors of emergency vehicle models to discuss any aspect of the industry. Feel free to post comments on current releases, future models, items for sale/trade, or items wanted.
Good one, Paul! 
Ken, the actual reason is because the photographic negatives of the pictures that you and the model makers view in making the models were flipped over.
You see they didn't have mirrors in those days (right Rambo?) and didn't think it mattered which side the negatives were on when they produced the picture.
The older fire engines have always had left hand drives.
And thats the way I see it - This is Walter Cronkite reporting...
Because the country was at the tail end of the Victorian era and in those days it wouldn't have been right to have a left hand drive!! 
The old right hand drive was because that way the driver was on the sidewalk side of the engine and didn't have to be out on the street when he got out of the rig. goes back to the fact that the brits still drive on the right 'left' (or wrong) side of the road. While we drive on the right 'correct' side of the road. just my 2 cents. Go figure.
Paul is probably the closest to correct. Up until about the mid 20's there were not standard rules of the road. Therefore it was not uncommon to have right hand driven vehicles in the US. As we became right side drivers, the steering position moved to the left.
Addendum to Dumb question, why did all those ALF's have right side pumps?
Jeff,
I think the right hand pump panel was there to keep the driver out of the street, and away from horses. That way he could stand closer to the hydrant side and not get run over. Then we put the engineer in the street so he could get hit. Finally in the 70's we started getting smart and came up with top-mounts. Got you out of the street and up where you could see what was going on. The brits all have rear mount pumps and I have seen some here in the state that are going that way. I still like the top mount.
