Spencer Fire Trucks honors 40-year legacy in South Haven
By JULIE NEWELL Paxton Media Group
May 23, 2026
SOUTH HAVEN — From repairing trucks in a small pole barn to building custom emergency vehicles shipped across the country, Spencer Fire Trucks has spent the past 40 years growing as a local family operation rooted in South Haven.
Founded by Brian Spencer in 1986, the company began as a way to support his wife and five sons after struggling as a farmer.
“Our dad, Brian Spencer, started the business 40 years ago, actually a few years before that, but didn’t incorporate it until 40 years ago,” Spencer Fire Trucks President Grant Spencer said. “Started off as farmers, and really couldn’t afford to feed the five boys and family through the winter, so started working on cement trucks, repairing fire trucks and then grew it into building a fire truck.”
Using his mechanical background from farming and volunteering with the Casco Township Fire Department and serving in the Air Force, Brian Spencer started by repairing cement and fire trucks.
“He worked at the local Casco Township Fire Department, and was their mechanic, handyman, and then did a lot of repairs for local departments and got known that way,” Spencer Fire Trucks Vice President Quintin Spencer said. “Started and built one body, you know, hired one guy, and then another guy, and kind of, it’s just grown a little bit every year since.”
The brothers grew up watching the business grow from their backyard.
“Mom and dad started, it was just a barn,” Spencer Fire Trucks General Manager Garrett Spencer said. “We had an office in the house. So, that’s when we were growing up, this business was starting literally in our house.”
He worked on the trucks in their barn and as the business grew, they built more barns to hold the trucks until they ran out of space.
“Over the course of 17 years, it just grew in our backyard,” Garrett Spencer said. “Then, at that point, mom’s like, ‘We got to get out of here.’ We got fire trucks coming down the driveway, semis coming down the driveway, so that was really the point where they needed to decide, are we taking this to the next level?”
In 2003, the family expanded to the building they are currently in.
Now the business has grown to service and build a variety of trucks from all over the country.
“When we first started, all our trucks went in a 30-mile radius, then 60-mile radius and then Southwest Michigan and then Northern Michigan and then the east side of Michigan,” Grant Spencer said. “Now, we ship more trucks out of the state than in the state.”
The business grew through word-of-mouth references and didn’t do any marketing until a year ago.
“At that time, no one had any idea it would turn into what it is today,” Garrett Spencer said. “It was just a year to year thing and an organically grown business.”
They now make trucks for departments in Florida, Alabama, Texas, Pennsylvania and Alaska.
“A big chunk of our business is still Michigan, Indiana, Ohio,” Quintin Spencer said.
What makes the business stand out from other manufacturers is that all the trucks are custom made to order.
“It’s a unique industry though,” Quintin Spencer said. “There’s five to 10 really big builders that produce a ton of trucks and then we’re more in the middle, but we’re pure custom, so we provide what the customer actually wants as opposed to forcing them into a model that is offered by others.”
They make a variety of trucks along with fire trucks including UTVs, quick response trucks, specialty trucks for the state police marine division, crime lab and drone vehicles.
Even with the rapidly growing business, the family stayed in South Haven.
“We’ve had opportunities and ideas to make it easier to run a business out of this small town, but we’re so family oriented, community oriented, we don’t want to be anywhere else,” Garrett Spencer said.
The brothers not only help run the business together, they work with the employees on building the trucks and help with whatever is needed.
“We all wear a lot of hats – always have,” Garrett Spencer said. “We’ve had to and that goes for our employees, too. When you grow as fast as we’ve had over the past 10 years, we’re just incredibly fortunate to have good people that are willing to adapt and help each other.”
The biggest struggle Spencer Fire Trucks faces is a lack of space due to the fast growth of the business.
“Grant is well connected, knows a lot of people and we have a lot of opportunities to branch off and do other things, a lot of opportunities we just have to pass up on because we’re simply too busy and consumed with what we’re doing,” Garrett Spencer said.
The brothers said their favorite part of the job is the people they meet and work with.
“We’re building something to protect people – saves lives,” Grant Spencer said.
Looking to the future, the brothers are hoping to continue growing the business.
“We’re already looking at acquiring some more property and putting up another building to help continue the growth and keep it here in South Haven,” Grant Spencer said.
Contact: jnewell@southhaventribune.com, 269-637-1104