A nyone who thinks "fire engine red" is a standard colour would be surprised by the paint laboratory at the back of the Pierce factory in Appleton, Wisconsin. On the wall are 125 metal plates, each painted a slightly different reddish hue.

"If you're going to spend half a million dollars on a fire truck, you've got to be able to choose the exact colour you want," jokes Jim Michal, vice-president of manufacturing for Oshkosh Corporation, the heavy truck maker that acquired Pierce in 1996.