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A Green Goddess


Jimh

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On the grounds that:

 

1. If it waddles like a duck and quacks like a duck then it is probably a duck and

 

2. whenever they appeared on the news the military were operating them

 

here is the Green Goddess we've just bought. The blue lights and two tone horns have been removed already. I popped the blue covers off the lights before I took it out on the road - I could do with as few reasons as possible for Her Maj's Finest to stop me for a chat.

 

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The longer term aim was to try to return it to as close to AFS spec as possible. I'll do the trick with the indicators as we've done on all the others so it can get its trafficators back and not be defaced with Rubbolite indicators at the front.

 

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And do the same at the rear. The thin blade LED lights should be pretty low key and allow me to use the original lights rather than those horrid modern ones.

 

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As with all Goddesses this one has done a sky high mileage. Reading the log files and maintenance records that come with it gives an insight into what the Goddess fleet must have cost the tax payer.

 

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Its paintwork isn't great and I'd rather it didn't have the Operation Fresco stripes down it but it will do for now. At least it is straight enough so it can be driven around while it is waiting its turn in the queue.

 

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For those who know their GGs here's the maker's plate.

 

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The cab. It is a surprisingly easy tub to drive. The Bedford straight six is super sweet. On the road they seem happy to buzz along at 50mph all day and this one seems to do around 12 to the gallon even with the ignition not exaclty spot on. The distributor does seem to be a bit of a weak spot on them.

 

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That'll be handy for something, I'm sure.

 

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It has some of its kit but most of it has gone missing.

 

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Junior likes his new toy anyway. Apologies for the poor quality picture (even by my standards) but I was leaping out of the way at the time.

 

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I know that GGs are ten a penny and they are unlikely to ever be unusual or rare but you are struggling to argue with the value for money that they offer. A very road worthy vehicle in very presentable condition with a very, very full service history for £1500 can't be a bad thing. As a first MV they represent a very low cost option. It's also nice having something that you don't need to spend years rebuilding before you can play with it.

 

I'd never driven one before, I'd never been in the cab and it had been some years since I'd even seen one but I've always fancied a Goddess. It is one of the few symbols of the cold war which I can (i) afford or (ii) find space for.

 

So is this a restoration blog? Sort of - there are a few jobs needing doing right now which I will try to make a little more detailed than the Scammell one. I'll start with the crankshaft oil seal.

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Do you have a copy of "The Green Machine" by Holliss and Thompson ISBN: 0 907700 19 5 ? If not you could have a glance through my copy if we meet up sometime.

Not much info on yours other than it being chassis 6657 and Home Office Stock, but quite alot of background detail and pictures.

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Hi JimH,

 

Lovely truck.

I would be in seventh heaven if I had that parked in the backyard, so why the interest in rarity. It's a great British truck, last you will see in this condition. For that money, be very, very, grateful that you have been so lucky to secure it!

 

I had a Bedford RL Cargo for a while and really liked it, it sounded good, I loved the seating arrangement and it did everything demanded of it and would love another one.

 

Even the brilliant 'Fleet Data' people didn't have any data on this one. Yours must have been kept in a special place of its own!! It wasn't on the Marchington list in 1995 (well, at least, I can't find it).

 

However , have to agree the yellow line does nothing for the aesthetics!!

 

Regards,

Mike

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Even the brilliant 'Fleet Data' people didn't have any data on this one. Yours must have been kept in a special place of its own!! It wasn't on the Marchington list in 1995 (well, at least, I can't find it).

According to the maintenance records that came with it:

 

1/55: Constructed

4/57 - 3/67: Membury

8/69 - 6/71: Steventon

8/73 - 7/75: Dunkeswell

6/81 - 8/87: Raydon

3/89 - ?: Steventon

 

The entries in the vehicle log book for the 77/78 firemen's strike has it in Poole.

 

The maintenace records after 1989 don't give a record of where it was stored although there is a Marchington site modification programme record dated 4/98. The last maintenance record is 5/02 which I assume was them digging the old birds out again for another industrial squabble. There don't seem to be any records from the strike.

 

The only other thing of interest (other than what on earth were they doing to these things that in 3500 miles this one is on its third engine) is that there is a scribbled note on the inspection record dated 7/9/83 saying "Returned vehicle from army FSD 83"

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The places listed Steveton etc were Home Office stores depots.

From its final stay at Steveton which is not far from the former RAF Abingdon it went to Marchington. If you look on Google earth you can see the Steveton Depot. I can tell you she operated in London district during Fresco 2002/3 having been delivered to 1st RWF at North Camp Aldershot for training. The FSD 83 may have been after issue to the Army for crew training. In addition to the national strikes Op Burberry No77 to jan 78 and Op fresco 2002/3 there were many smaller strikes involving just one county, Merseyside Essex spring to mind. Plus we were on the brink of strikes at least a dozen times since 1977 and units were issued with GGs to carry out crew training.

TED

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