FORD D1317 /HCBA pump OVU844Rex Lancashire appliance at Leigh. Lancashire bought forty Ford D series appliances, and was the largest buyer in the UK.
TAKEN BLOOM ST MANCHESTER CITY
Late Alastair Collins collection - used with permission.
Picture added on 17 January 2022 at 15:25
The 16 ton GVW chassis units also had the Perkins V8 engine, but were limited to a few earlier water tenders and otherwise mostly used for foam tender and snorkel applications - where the higher GVW rating was needed. The other principal SVO water tender offerings were the 1014 and 1314 with a Ford six cylinder 14O BHP engine. But many straight commercial D series without SVO modifications were also bought by quite a few brigades for various special applications, including ETs, BA tenders, hazmat units and such like…
The first SVO D series fire appliances were a batch of ten water tenders and one foam tender sold to Gloucestershire in 1966. These had unusual bodywork by HCB Angus, which simply attached a coachbuilt cab directly behind the factory tilt driver’s cab, and were also powered by a special five liter petrol engine sourced from Ford Canada. This was an option which rapidly fell out of favor as more and more British brigades switched to diesel in the late 1960s. Numerous examples of all these different types are illustrated on this site.
Added by Rob Johnson on 27 January 2022.