Fire Engines Photos

The A series was intended to compete with light trucks, mainly from Mercedes, Opel, Fiat and Renault among others. Unfortunately it was not very successful, as the chassis cab was too heavy - which made the payload un-competitive within the legal gross weight limits in the various countries it was sold. It also suffered from having a comparatively low powered Perkins diesel engine, which did not help. Not surprising then that very few saw service with fire brigades. A handful were bought by factory brigades as light pumpers, and a few - like this example - had ET bodies.

Added by Rob Johnson on 08 May 2024.

Not sure about the Perkins. I always thought the lighter ones had a 2.4 Transit diesel and the heavier ones a 6cyl based on the 4cyl.
Both of which were poor cold starters according to legend!

Added by CraigW on 13 May 2024.

Both of these were actually supplied by Perkins. I was on the Ford of Britain sales team at the time.

Added by Rob Johnson on 14 May 2024.

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