The third remaining 125ft Dennis Metz ladder on display at Aucklands Museum of Transport and Technology
Picture added on 25 February 2007
Comments:
What I like about this New Zealand Machine, is if you removed the front siren and changed the number plate, you could put it on the streets of Belfast or Rochdale and it would be totally at home. Somehow the red and white livery of New Zealand's F8's spoil the 'classic' Dennis look.
It is nice to see how original it is and how it has escaped modernisation. Just look at the size of the original rear view mirror. Just as it should be!
So congratulations to those who look after such a wonderful machine. Would it be possible to have some pictures of the ladder fully extended - all 125 feet of it!
Thank you for your comments Barry BUT it did not look like this when we got it back from Christchurch as it was still in the "blasphamous" orange and white I will be putting the ladder up this weekend and will take more photos but I doubt that it will be the 125ft. Watch for more Kiwi Dennises to be posted shortly.
Barry, I use to ride this machine, and as a young probationary fireman all of 18 years, I cannot begin to tell you how thrilling it was to be seated in the rear- facing bench seat trying to get dressed as this magnificent piece of fire brigade machinery went screaming down Pitt Street enroute to an inner city call. The siren, like most of the Auckland applicances of the time, was manufactured in the Brigade workshops by the incredibly skilled and dedicated mechanical team. It was driven by a started motor and operated by a floor dip switch on the officer's side or a driver's button on the steering column. The screaming whistle it put out was enough to blast the paint off a car at 50 paces!
I went to my first fire call on this appliance as a rookie in 1967 and later drove it as a driver. It has been well restored by the MOTAt team under John Walker's management.
Pavel; Also, memories of a mechanical siren. Ours was fitted atop the tank, behind the cab of our International Harvester 466 Tanker. Like yours, the locals had fitted a 12v Starter Motor, to replace the original 6v motor. And, like yours, it really lifted the crew out of their seats. They are coming back in fashion here now - usually fitted to the front bumpers. Easier on the crews' hearing ! Good to see such a beauty, safely in preservation. Regards, from Canada, Pat_R-B
It is nice to see how original it is and how it has escaped modernisation. Just look at the size of the original rear view mirror. Just as it should be!
So congratulations to those who look after such a wonderful machine. Would it be possible to have some pictures of the ladder fully extended - all 125 feet of it!
Added by Barry on 25 February 2007.