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Tim - In my opinion as a Ford executive at the time, I think it was mainly because when it was introduced in 1966 Bedford had already been supplying the fire service for many years, and Ford had never tried to sell their Thames Trader to them.
Their TK - introduced in 1960 - rapidly became dominant in the commercial vehicle chassis segment for low cost fire appliances.
To my mind, the TK was in fact almost the ideal chassis, and bodybuilders had a hard time at first coping with the tilt cab on the D series, as it was much more difficult to adapt to a crew cab configuration.
Ford SVO built the fire appliance application chassis with either a Ford Canada petrol engine or their turbo diesel, later modifying the 13 tonne chassis to fit the Perkins 510 V8 (which was also used at the time in fire engine chassis by Dennis, Dodge, ERF and eventually Shelvoke too).
Merryweather did introduce a D1317 with a very well designed full four door tilt crew cab, built by Reliant, but they came rather late to the party.
Most were bodied by either Carmichael or HCB-Angus, who built the first units for Gloucestershire with the standard cab and a separate crew cab, but eventually supplied units with a very well configured split tilt crew cab.
In all, about a dozen British brigades bought them, but the volumes did not justify a fire service SVO chassis when the D aeries was replaced by the Cargo.
Although not popular as a fire truck chassis in the UK, D series sales were quite high in some other places, especially New Zealand, Belgium and some Scandinavian countries, as well as in Turkey - where the D series was built under license.
The same engineering management team who designed the D series had been largely responsible for the American C series, which had been introduced a few years earlier. It turned out to be the most popular fire truck chassis in North America for more than a decade! Although it was one of the first tilt cab designs, this did not pose a challenge for body builders - because in the US back then canopy crew cabs were the norm, and it was very easy to build a canopy on to the existing cab. Quite a few of the antipodean D series had canopy cabs too....
Added by Rob Johnson on 02 March 2018.
Their TK - introduced in 1960 - rapidly became dominant in the commercial vehicle chassis segment for low cost fire appliances.
To my mind, the TK was in fact almost the ideal chassis, and bodybuilders had a hard time at first coping with the tilt cab on the D series, as it was much more difficult to adapt to a crew cab configuration.
Ford SVO built the fire appliance application chassis with either a Ford Canada petrol engine or their turbo diesel, later modifying the 13 tonne chassis to fit the Perkins 510 V8 (which was also used at the time in fire engine chassis by Dennis, Dodge, ERF and eventually Shelvoke too).
Merryweather did introduce a D1317 with a very well designed full four door tilt crew cab, built by Reliant, but they came rather late to the party.
Most were bodied by either Carmichael or HCB-Angus, who built the first units for Gloucestershire with the standard cab and a separate crew cab, but eventually supplied units with a very well configured split tilt crew cab.
In all, about a dozen British brigades bought them, but the volumes did not justify a fire service SVO chassis when the D aeries was replaced by the Cargo.
Although not popular as a fire truck chassis in the UK, D series sales were quite high in some other places, especially New Zealand, Belgium and some Scandinavian countries, as well as in Turkey - where the D series was built under license.
The same engineering management team who designed the D series had been largely responsible for the American C series, which had been introduced a few years earlier. It turned out to be the most popular fire truck chassis in North America for more than a decade! Although it was one of the first tilt cab designs, this did not pose a challenge for body builders - because in the US back then canopy crew cabs were the norm, and it was very easy to build a canopy on to the existing cab. Quite a few of the antipodean D series had canopy cabs too....
Added by Rob Johnson on 02 March 2018.
Tim - An update on British D series buyers. I have now identified thirty three municipal and county fire brigades in the British Isles which bought D series.
Some were single purchases, but most were multiples and many - such as Gloucestershire and Lancashire - bought large numbers. Several industrial users also bought D series.
Added by Rob Johnson on 03 March 2018.
Some were single purchases, but most were multiples and many - such as Gloucestershire and Lancashire - bought large numbers. Several industrial users also bought D series.
Added by Rob Johnson on 03 March 2018.
Ford/Chubb P/FoT ICI Castner Kellner, Runcorn, XPK 523Y. See also picture 3065 for front view.
Added by Petros on 06 March 2018.
Added by Petros on 06 March 2018.
Ford
Added by Tim Wingham on 30 October 2007.