Fire Engines Photos

This generation of flat-fronted AEC cabs combined with Merryweather's bodywork made for a tidy, purposeful looking appliance. My old brigade only ever bought one, an 'F'reg, despite having a good few of the earlier AEC Mercury / Merryweather appliances in the fleet. Our one kept the slam-shut hinged locker doors and also had a full body red paint job which would have pleased Rob J and many others with a liking for full body red livery. It certainly was a very smart looking appliance. First one I drove with full air brakes and power steering ... but had a crash gearbox if my memory serves me correctly.

Added by Keith Richardson on 11 December 2022.

It seems the AEC chassis with the Ergomatic tilt cab appeared in 1966, about the same time Ford introduced the D series which was also a tilt cab, modeled on the phenomenally successful Budd cab used by Ford with their US built C series. Originally a Leyland design, the Ergomatic tilt cab was phased in to AEC products after the two truck builders merged in 1962. Like most mergers, it took time to rationalize the product range, and there were still a lot of differences even several years later. The AEC was a “premium” chassis and it took a few more years before Merryweather started to offer pumping appliances on less expensive but more popular chassis like Bedford and Ford. This, along with the failure of their new series of turntable ladders, the popularity of Snorkels, and the more advanced ladder designs from both Magirus and Metz all contributed to the firm’s demise.

It might have been the firm’s success with their hydraulic ladder introduced in 1959 which sowed the seeds of disaster. It was of course more profitable to sell ladder trucks than pumpers, so building pumps became a lower priority, mainly selling to city brigades which could afford expensive AEC chassis. Great business, but it meant that they largely ignored county brigades, which bought much larger number of pumps, and - although they bought AEC ladders because they had no choice - they bought Bedfords, Commers, Dodges, Dennises, Fords and Karriers instead for their pump and water tender fleets.

Added by Rob Johnson on 16 January 2023.

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