I Bought a 1956 Ex-Military Fire Engine During Lockdown!

[@nomadic-brit]

Everything works on her as I rebuilt her in 2011 .She was taken back to bare metal painted proper green and I used plates on her roof for strength.Used Madeline for charity work and she raised £40,000 for an animal hospital for waggytails in Poole Dorset .Now I’m a truck driver in USA but Madeline who was my Yorkie of 16 years and the inspiration to buy and rebuild the GG and Madelines spirit is still with me

[@Madeinwem]

I drove one of these Green Goddesses during the Fireman's Strike of 1977-78. I was based in Dundee (Rodd Road). It was an experience! rushing to fight a fire at speeds of up to 30 mph!

[@johnbratley6926]

Finally a little tale from ancient history. My own brigade, Birkenhead Borough were fighting a huge woodland fire one very hot summer, early 60's ? They had all 5 of their pumps deployed supplemented by their 2 goddesses and the land rover light pump. Mutual aid was provided by Wallasey Borough, Cheshire County, Liverpool City and Bootle Borough. Wallasey and Cheshire supplied another 3 goddesses and everybody provided station cover or were in attendance at the fire. Within days pumps were breaking down one after another. It turned out the Home Office had about 300 goddesses stored in hangars at Blackpool airport and so 8 of them were sent to supplement firefighting operations. It took a week to extinguish and another week of damping down. I believe Liverpool City sent Birkenhead a bill for the repairs to their appliances.

[@adamcrane6306]

Hello PerksAuto

[@johnbratley6926]

After the Civil Defence and Auxiliary Fire Service were disbanded the Home Office had a stand at an emergency services show at the NEC. They were selling fully equipped goddess's, some with less than a thousand miles on the clock, for the princely sum of £800 each. Hundreds were sold abroad. Some UK brigades bought them as relief appliances but the FBU wouldn't touch them on safety grounds.

[@98Blackbess]

I have restored two of these and currently working on a third. That windscreen washer bottle that you refer to as 'a bodge' is the same on ALL goddess'. The roof repair is simple as is the bulb replacement in the spot light. Please note that you will require the correct bulb for it operate as it should. The vehicles i have restored all contain the original fitment bulbs in the cab and locker lights and i have never had to replace any through failure, and both vehicles live a full and busy life. The cut wire to the left of the cab is probably the old co-ax for the roof aerial. The rest of the wiring was fitted at the same time as the washer bottle. It is almost identical in all goddess' I think you may find it hard to replace the hazard switch with a push pull. When you take the cover off the switch panel, you will see what i mean. One modification you would be wise to do is remove the dynamo and control box and replace it with an alternator which again is simple half hour job.

[@perksauto2458]

Thanks for you comment. Interesting to hear about the windscreen washer bottle. What an eye sore! I have considered adapting it into a smaller bottle and sticking it in the left glovebox to get it out of sight. I have actually decided to stick with the original locker bulbs so I have them on order and only change the interior lights to led as they use less power and have a frosted glass cover anyway so you will never know. The spotlight bulb cost me almost 25£ and was a right pain to find, I’ve also had to buy a new piece of glass for the spotlight but all that will be shown in an upcoming video. I’m wary of changing the dynamo as I am aiming to her as original as possible and use new old stock to fix any broken compartments rather than modern updates. Thanks for the idea though. The wiring is...... something else! Thanks for the watch.

[@blakewood8475]

Love the green goddesses didn’t know they got sold off

[@kevinwigham3033]

Just seen this , as started looking for one to spend my Raf pension on ! I drove one of these on Bristol downs, before I'd passed my driving test curtesy of our Mt driver, as was asigned as a Radio operator on one of these at Redlands in Bristol on the 1st fireman's strike. Good work chap , love to see it when your done. All the best.

[@nathanhookings1393]

Great videos so far. I bought a GG about 18 months ago and I am steadily working through it. Hopefully your videos will save me lots of headaches. Looking forward to the next one. Cheers

[@perksauto2458]

Cheers mate. Glad you’re finding them useful. The main thing I have learnt is to triple the time you think it will take to get a job done and every screw is probably rusted through. See you on the next video.

[@daveu88sanderson8]

Hi First time I have seen your video, you have chosen a project and a half,good luck with it. I've had the privilege of driving and operating one of these ladies, some close call when trying to stop and turning corners. I got 36mph out of one on one call, breathtaking. You take of your Green Godess, I look forward to seeing her when she is complete.

[@johnbratley6926]

They were absolutely horrendous to drive. Turning a corner with a full water tank (no baffles) at anything over 10 mph was asking to be tipped on it's side. 40-45 mph flat out, if you're lucky. Primary purpose was to act as a water relay in the aftermath of a nuclear war. Firefighting was a secondary purpose.

[@richardspeed7135]

Wow, but good for u mate bloody interesting project

[@perksauto2458]

Thanks for the comment, next video coming in a few weeks where I finally get to replace the roof!

[@dfcvda]

How did it go? I found one but not sure if i should buy.

[@williamstephens9945]

It's a Green Goddess! 🤣😂

[@wooburn_off]

I’m taking it you can drive that on a normal car licence? Ive been looking at trucks and I was surprised to see these are quite reasonably priced

[@MrJezza31]

Very interesting! We are a similar age with the same interest in vehicles, I've been musing buying one of these for a long while. What addition (if any) would I need to my licence to drive it? (Would it be exempt from weight restrictions due to historic status?)

[@DBonnick11]

One of my favourite appliances unfortunately don't own one yet

[@perksauto2458]

Its a work of love and money pit but cracking bits of kit. Finally getting around to installing the new roof, new video should be up in a few weeks.

[@leebolton6162]

Im thinking about getting one, what a great looking beast, any information would helpful. Ie thngs to look for when buying one, also are the roof wood.so on

[@perksauto2458]

Apologies for the delay Lee, I hope you found what you were looking for, If you need any further help send me an email!

[@bohemoth1]

SWEET

[@michaelprobert4014]

Where did you go ?

[@philipbriggs2717]

Easily done. I bought mine almost by accident off fleabay too!

[@perksauto2458]

Have you still got her?

[@philipbriggs2717]

@@perksauto2458 Yes I do. Good honest truck. Bit faded, but I'm currently oiling the paint prior to giving her a good polish. She goes and stops, but I need to change all the oils next. Unfortunately Corona has limited my access!

[@perksauto2458]

@@philipbriggs2717 Good luck with the polish, would love a before and after pic if you can (you can ping it into my email).

[@nomadic-brit]

She was going to be crushed by a company as they had already sold the number plate and we’re going to get the pump etc out for scrap metal

[@nomadic-brit]

There was at least 2 owners after me

[@tamberp]

I mean, as far as bored ebay purchases go... 😆 I must say, that tow-bar doesn't look like it was up to much, though, even before it got bent.

[@tamberp]

And as far as that push-pull switch for the beacon goes, they're still available from the likes of AES. (www.autoelectricsupplies.co.uk/product/246/category/48) You will, I believe, have to fit an isolator for the blue lights that's out of reach of the driver, just to ensure that they're disabled while on the road in order to remain legal. (Which is probably why the switch has been removed in the first place.) Or you could just pull the fuse, as required. Battery isolator, I'll second. It shouldn't be a great trouble to fit; I went for one of those red-key operated ones and stuck it out the side of the passenger's seat base so that it can be switched on and off from the driver's seat. (...but, mine's a standard RL, so that might be different for you.)

[@perksauto2458]

The tow bar was definitely an add on by a previous owner and I have no idea what they would of been towing with it because it is pretty flimsy. Thanks for the heads up on the isolator. I'm not sure if that applies for a fire engine that is still functional as a fire engine; I think there is a strange loophole that I remember learning about on another guys channel. Great idea for the battery, In this model the battery is under the bench seat so I can stick on it, much easier than a clamp connector.

[@tamberp]

@@perksauto2458 It's apparently worse than I thought: "Preserved emergency vehicles are not officially permitted to have blue lights attached to them when on the road, even if they are completely covered up and inoperable. Usually common sense prevails and if there is no way of being able to see the blue light unit then the police are happy." Perhaps some little fitted canvas bags for the beacons? 😆 And on the note of the battery switch, I figured that the easier it is to use, the more likely it is *to* be used. My installation doesn't exactly blend in like it's original, though.

[@stanleyjones3454]

PerksAuto Underneath the foam seating is where the battery is (directly behind the passenger seat). if you lift up the seating you can open the compartment and see the battery. In my Goddess i have the isolated key hole just underneath it. So the front of the seating area. I don’t know if it is already there on Bedford Green Goddess Fire Engines? Mine is PGW?

[@perksauto2458]

@@stanleyjones3454 Hi Stanley thanks for the comment. Had a double check but apparently these didn't come with battery isolators so its something I will have to look into. Currently tossing up whether to spend 10 quid on a generic switch or 50 on an actual Lucas isolator.

[@nomadic-brit]

Wiring was not me either

[@nomadic-brit]

I didn’t do the windscreen bottle