I just had a chat with a friend. I don’t mean that some members who are 80 today started 60 yo.
I mean how much older than you was the oldest one you drove?
The oldest one I drove was one of these:
and it was almost 20 years older than me and about 45 years old when I drove it…
Mack NL? 6x6 snowplough in 78… petrol engine
jimmy
When I was an army driver, I drove the army 4x4 version of the Bedford S series. The army designation was Bedford RL. They were petrol engined.
I drove the standard army tilt or box body and the Green Goddess fire engine version in the early 80s, when I was in my 20s. They would have been at least the same age as I was, probably older.
WSRA Rally 2011 - Ex Military 1958 Bedford RLC - ESU 581 by David Cronin, on Flickr
No I didn’t do any fire fighting. I was trained up in preparation for the threatened 1980(81?) firemans strike, because the second part of their agreement was extremely slow in coming through. Their pay rise appeared in the nick of time, so the strike never happened.
Green Goddess by cessna152towser, on Flickr
Two very pretty versions of what I drove back then.
The main 4x4 truck by then, which was my principal steed, was the MK and a bit later the turboed MJ.
bedford MK by paulkillers2, on Flickr
This will be an MJ, going by the age from its reg’ and the plastic badge.
Simon:
No I didn’t do any fire fighting. I was trained up in preparation for the threatened 1980(81?) firemans strike, because the second part of their agreement was extremely slow in coming through. Their pay rise appeared in the nick of time, so the strike never happened.
I haven’t done any fire fighting as well… It was a funny story actually. In Poland there is something called “voluntary fire brigades” - especially somewhere in remote areas when the state fire stations are far away. Its just some local people, who train in their free time and they are usually first at the spot, which can be crucial for fires or saving lifes.
They usually use ex-state owned fire engines, that are given to them for free or sold for pennies and they usually minimum 20 years old when that’s the case.
I was on holidays once and there was a fire, so the voluntary brigade went out and with the support of two state fire brigades they managed to put the fire down, then the state fire brigades left and they stayed longer, doing some cleaning and puting down some left-over small fires. And their truck driver had to leave earlier and go to work, so after they finished they haven’t anyone to drive it back to their depot. I just happened to be passing by on bicycle with my friend who was local to the area and he told them that I have truck license, so they asked me to drive it. It is possible, as in Poland insurance is tied to the vehicle, not to driver. And I have to say, that was SOME adventure, crash gearbox, no Power Steering, indicators that you had to switch off after the turn, crap brakes… Kind of challenge for someone who has his license still wet from the paint… 