ADRIAN FELL AND HIS 1964 LAND-ROVER FIRE ENGINE
26th March, 2020
To restore a Land-Rover Fire Engine is a significant achievement – especially one that was once used by your father.
Lees Fell worked for the Aylesbury printing firm Hazell, Watson and Viney where 16 members of its staff doubled as part-time firemen.
They also staged fire drill on the first Sunday of the month and in 1964 they commissioned a new works fire engine - a Series IIA 109 LWB with a 2.2-litre petrol engine.
Adrian remembers his father ‘had to take it out once a month to check it started and top-up levels for petrol etc.’ and his archives include a photo of the LR ‘in my Mum and dad’s drive when I was aged four’.
According to Mr. Fell snr ‘it was a bit precarious driving it with the full 70 gallons of water!’.
Fortunately, ‘driving it around Hazells was easy as it was only in first and second gears. You had to select 4wd to engage power take-off for the water pump’.
The factory-approved conversion was by Sun Engineering Ltd., who supplied appliances to country brigade and the RAF.
The concern offered clients ‘specific designs in accordance with requirements’, and so the HWV appliance used the “truck cab” body with a hose reel, first aid kit and lockers in the load bay.
The L-R was also equipped with a ladder rack and a rear-mounted fire pump, and there was enough space for a five-strong crew.
Clients were also were able to specify the size of the water tank and type of emergency warning; a bell or a new-fangled ‘twin note alarm horn’.
After the printer ceased trading in 1991, the L-R seemed to have fallen into disuse – at one stage it was even stored in the open.
Fortunately, Adrian managed to acquire BKX 454 B in 2019.
He remarks ‘I haven’t done any bodywork apart from adding a tailgate and also notes that the passenger front wing is a slightly different colour.
However, on meeting a retired Buckinghamshire Chief Fire Officer Adrian was told the county brigade ‘borrowed it for a few weeks and they once stuck it in a - which would explain the colour difference’.
Above all, the pictures the effort involved in saving a priceless example of automotive and social history.
WITH THANKS TO – ADRIAN FELL
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