What was the factory steady burn option for federal on the streethawk? Both lowers steady?
It was which ever you selected. Initially when the base bar came out they made no mention of CA lights, although I know people had them. I have seen early examples of "speaker center bars" with a driver side red and a passenger side takedown, so it was possible but not mentioned in early catalogs. In the early 1990s they had some base models which did include dual CA lights, although they aren't the configs I actually have seen most frequently with CA lights. And you absolutely could "build your own" bar and get one take down or flasher or a blank like on the non-CA side this one.
Before the "all light" came out, the options were very basic. There was a CA option but it was not listed in the catalog.
1990 when there were base models with lower options (you could still custom order)
The specific bar in this thread
is LOOKS LIKE a "firehawk" version from around 1999 (based on the fireray secondary strobes on the truck). However it is labeled streethawk, which wasn't uncommon as there was a lot of crossover and the firehawk came with a red base for a while so that might be factor. I have never seen the 3 rotator and cascade mirror setup offered as anything but a fire/
EMS setup, so regardless of how it was labeled, it was a "base fire model" bar. These bars came with one of a few top configs and a blank bottom and you configured the bottom how you saw fit. This was true across all "hawks" at that point, but the fire ones were extra "lean" on the rotator count.
1999 firehawk options were top options only, you then specified the lower (and some other top) options. This is where the bar in this thread would fall time frame wise. It's possible with this bar that the 175fpm rotators were swapped for slower ones, I can't tell. You could still make changes to the top but most options were lower.
This is basically what is on the truck in the thread (again, they may have swapped in slower rotators though). FHL4856 plus a option CAL x1
Notice how the firehawk models all block the center (usually clear) section to the rear so there is no "clear to the rear" to comply with
NFPA.
The bar in this thread however does not, which is interesting and more argument that maybe it was ordered as a regular streethawk. Either way it had the basic firehawk 3 rotator setup. There was also an option (or at least they would do it on request) to use a half model 14 dome in amber or red to make a rear filter, but that wasn't ever an advertised option. Near the end of production the firehawk was the main version of streethawk offered as
law enforcement was not generally using larger bars like the streethawk as much.
Here were your non-fire options around 1998/99. The bar was pretty much not being aimed at any "smaller markets".
Here is the bar shown missing mirror section. Since the bar wasn't really visible from the rear it probably wasn't necessary. Also it's worth noting that around the time this bar would have been purchased the streehawk line was on it's way out, and was considered as "classic bar" offering (as shown above). What you could actually order may have varied due to numerous requirements. For example the need to not have 175fpm rotators, a black base, and add a CA light may have made it easier to use a "base bar" that didn't have the
NFPA center mirror. Again this was likely during the time when the firehawks had red bases by default and asking for black may have put you back into the streethawk line. There are lots of variables with these, especially in the late 1990s. There is also some crossover between what the term firehawk actually signified near the end of life for these bars.
This is a very cool bar that remains 100% usable even in this "bare bones" config 25 years later, and that says something about the overall design of the streethawk and its variants.
