Rivaling the Dennis F7 and F12 in size, pump capacity and overall capability, the 114 of these Merryweather dual purpose appliances that were sold in its seven years of production came nowhere near the number of Dennis deliveries. The main reason was that these were based on a shortened double decker bus chassis which came exclusively with a diesel engine. Although many big cities including London liked diesels, most towns and county brigades still preferred ( and even insisted on) petrol engines in the fifties and sixties - and Dennis installed the eight cylinder Rolls Royce B80 which was powerful at 160 BHP and had a certain cachet that the diesel bus engines just did not share!
Added by Rob Johnson on 15 June 2023.