Duncan76

Well after a few weeks of hard graft by Tony, 32's co-owner, it's back together and almost ready to set sail again under its own steam! There are still a few things to tidy up here and there and as yet it has no canopy. But over the recent weeks, the list of jobs is quite staggering: After painting, the vehicle is now back together again and looks fantastic! Although not exhaustive, the list of things to be done was large and included: New tyres - we've fitted 12.00 x 20 Goodyear G388s which are slightly larger and more modern The wheels have been painted Carburetter cleaned and rebuilt Manifolds cleaned and re-attached, a difficult job as the exhaust manifold is in three pieces and you need an octopus to help hold it and re-attach!! Exhaust painted in high temperature black The rear body has been re-attached The steps have been fitted to the tailboard Mudflaps fitted Radiator canvas cowel replaced (the last one was missing) The new indicators are fitted in their original position on the cheek panels (rather than on the wings as with the vast bulk of RLs) together with the complex backing plates The headlining has been painted New wipers and arms fitted Tilt frame painted and fitted Flashing amber lights fixed and wired up Headlining painted Hopefully, the first outing of the newly restored 32 will be next weekend (15th-16th July) at Derby Emergency Services Show.... Duncan.

Hi Scott, Some good pics! I chose to give it a miss this year as I took the green goddess to Earl's Barton Fire and Rescue show last weekend so two on the bounce would have broken the bank I think!! Also the timing was better last year when it was at Belvoir. Looks good though, might reconsider next year - is it planned for it to be the same weekend? Cheers, Duncan

Hi Declan - welcome! I bought my GG - a fellow PGW, PGW 326 - about 18 months back and have had great fun, so I hope that ownership suits you! Lots of help, encouragement and advice on here. Lots too on RSOLES if you follow the link below and join - they also try to keep a database of surviving vehicles and it may mean you can find a fellow owner close by to chat to and perhaps go to a few shows with: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/rsoles/ Yours I suspect wasn't built in 1956 - like mine, it was probably bodied by Willowbrook in Loughborough (body number 54571) and rolled out of the Bedford factory somewhere between Sept 1953 and October 1954. There was a delay in getting so many vehicles bodied after they were built (about 10 different body builders were involved) and a good number were bulk registered in 1956 like yours and mine. If you make contact with Brian on RSOLES, he will be able to give you more info and possible tell you where it went during the various fire disputes in the 70s, 80s, 90s and 00s..... Any paperwork you have with it may also tell you where it's been! I have a blog for mine which shows the progress made over the past months: http://pgw326.blogspot.co.uk/ Cheers, Duncan.

On the expensive side for bits but then again they have parts that are often in the 'hard to get hold of' category. I bought my S3 109 ambulance from them 5 years ago and have bought many parts since and have had no worries with them - I find them easy to deal with. Parts are delivered speedily and are usually a masterpiece or wrapping!! Duncan.

A few things done over the last few cold, winter months ready for the summer season... I managed to get hold of some brand new, unused ex EFS Duraline hose, so I now have a few rolls to squirt some water and save the faff of drying the canvas hose! Last summer, having seen an advert for a GG in Ireland which had some fitted, I had some 'locker locking discs' made by a casting company in Derbyshire. They made a mould in wood then cast some rather nice aluminium discs which now I have found some padlocks to fit, secure the contents of the lockers and save me storing it all in a garage! I also refurbished the roof-mounted tools - the shod lever and ceiling hook - so they have been painted and oiled and replaced. Bloomin heavy.... I finally got around to painting the exhaust silver so it looks much better than it did and refitted the silver ring around the dash panel which had been hanging around the house for over a year! I also managed to find some battery charger and heater sockets to replace the blobs of filler which were left when thy were removed in the mid-90s. Just a few more things to do including painting the wheels..... Duncan.

Well some progress recently. I went down to do a few days sanding and lend a hand over Easter. The rear body has been removed to allow the chassis to be blasted and painted. The side boards and tail board have been sanded and repaired and the numerous holes in the cab roof and doors have been filled. The indicators on the wings have also been removed and the holes filled in preparation for the re-fitting of the indicators where they were originally fitted onto the cheek panels, quite unusual for RLs. In recent days, the clutch has been removed and replaced and the exhaust is the next in line for attention. The cab has been sanded in readiness for repainting. Duncan.

Hi Dan - I'd guess it's a brigade or divisional formation badge but I have never seen one like that before and a quick internet search doesn't throw anything up. Have you tried contacting the REME museum? They might know... Duncan.

Thanks Ernest and Dave, always good to have ideas! I have publicised the acquisition on RSOLES but I haven't asked specifically about the Scottish petrol carrier. I know that word has been put out on other fire groups but the SMVG sounds like something worth a go! Duncan.

Hi Howard, Yes - it certainly seems to be in good condition! I did have a really good crawl all over it when it was up at RAF Scampton last November but if anything, I think it's better than I thought! The tilt should be in three parts - roof and sides, front and back - as is normal for an RL; I think Tony has some contacts there for that. The tilt frame - unless we can find an original, he has access to a genuine frame to act as a pattern to have the frame made up from scratch. In the medium - long term, yes it would be nice to have at least one section of can racking made up. It would be fairytale to find one lurking in someone's garden or shed but I think that's unlikely and they would have gone for scrap long ago. Given the time and cost, it's a much lower priority. Having the extinguisher holders made up is a higher priority! We only have photos so far but GYL 29C (a sister vehicle) is on SORN according to the DVLA and was on the road until recently. We have tried to track the owner, so far without luck...... Cheers, Duncan.

Thanks Ted (and everyone else for the nice comments). Hopefully, in the not too distant future, it will look something like those photos again! In lieu of getting hold of a genuine tilt frame, we'll have to have one made up in the coming weeks and months. The extinguisher holders are interesting - we have a few photographs and are getting closer but really could do with seeing the real thing, hence why we have tried (unsuccessfully) to find the ownder of GYL 29C. N.O.S. - as you can see, the low-profile 'sproting' tilt was a Clywd FB addition some time in the 90s. Duncan.

Hi Jamie, If I remember, you have joined RSOLES too? A few folk on there have hard copies of the various manuals available including for the pump. If you message me your email address, I can pass on a PDF of the normal vehicle user manual if you need that. Cheers, Duncan.

Having bought a green goddess in 2011 and having said firmly that would be quite enough, a friend and I have now purchased an ex-AFS Bedford RL Petrol Carrier, GYL 32C. It's a relatively rare beast - only one of I think 5 RL petrol carriers made and one of about 10 in total (the other 5 were Commer Q4s) - they were made to carry pack fuel in jerry cans for AFS fire columns. Sold out of Home Office service in 1988, it then made its way to Clywd Fire Brigade as a foam carrier (and possible later a LPP carrier) where it had a tail lift fitted. Then it eventually passed via another owner or two to the RAF Firefighting Museum at RAF Scampton from whom we bought it as although in good condition, it was non-core and taking up space that is badly needed for their ever-expanding fleet of RAF appliances. As it has spent much of its life indoors with the Home Office (most of the other petrol carriers sold that year had less than 2,000 miles on the clock) then Clywd Fire Brigade then the RAF Firefighting museum, it's in remarkably good condition so much of the restoration work is cosmetic. The delivery voyage was last Saturday although by the time we had it running properly after a long period of inactivity, it made the journey south from Scampton under cover of darkness before the snow hit on Sunday. As with my goddess, we will blog progress: http://afspetrolcarrier.blogspot.co.uk/ Here it was on Saturday: Work commenced on Monday with removing the tail and side boards to dry them, removing the headlining to remove the redundant wires and bolts in the roof (and knock out the large dent!) and removing the truck-style wing mirrors to be replaced with slightly more suitable items. There are a fair few holes in the cab roof to fill though! A new tilt frame and tilt will be required too. As a petrol carrier, whilst the rear body is very similar to the AFS GP vehicles, there are a few oddities such as the shrouded wiring, fire / blast wall behind the cab, extended front bumper to accommodate foam extinguishers and shielded fuel tank: Eventually, the extinguisher holders and perhaps a jerry can rack or two will need remanufacturing but this is difficult as only photographs now exist although there is another petrol carrier - GYL 29C - that was running around in Scotland I believe until recently (DVLA show it as SORN now) which does have the extinguisher holders. Cheers, Duncan

Wow! :shocked:

Hi Chris, Welcome, I have seen your messages on RSOLES as well! Which RL have you got? If I recall from the Green Machine, there were relatively few later RLs. Is it in decent condition or needing restoration? Any pictures? Duncan.

I pay £500 per year to store the goddess under cover in a large barn at a caravan storage place. Access to power, water and light and behind a swipe-card gate. The barn's big enough to get the thing in and out easily too :thumbsup:. Duncan.

I've always understood the white bumper numbers to be the fleet numbers allocated to vehicles kept at the Home Office depot in Branston, near Burton-upon-Trent. My goddess which was kept there has the fleet number G57 which is also on the accompanying paperwork and record books. Duncan.

Hi Iain, That sounds very interesting! I'd have no real worries with it being on show, my current goddess has had quite a bit of work on it in the last few months so looks pretty good and is now pretty much fully kitted out too. Do drop me a PM with his details or for me to provide you / him with mine! Cheers, Duncan.

Copies of the Green Machine can be found but as it's out of print, they fetch quite hefty sums now. One of the authors is on RSOLES and for about a tenner will sell you an scanned CD version of the book. Duncan.

Hi All, Although the green goddess is currently stored at a very nice place under cover about 20 miles from where I live, it is a little on the pricey side and a little far away for an evening's work. It also would be even more pricey were the fleet to expand - something which might be nice in the future! Before I trek around some local farms in the area toi hunt for space, is anyone aware of anywhere in this area which might have suitable undercover storage? Duncan.

Hi! You may wish to make contact with RSOLES - http://groups.yahoo.com/group/rsoles/ - it's a web-based community / bunch of nutters and although it's primarily aimed at owners of Bedford RLs and Green Goddesses, there are many members who have a wider interest in the AFS and it's vehicles. As it says on the front page: Preserving, owning, showing Bedford RL RS and all derivatives therof. Without being too rigid about it, we also welcome owners of related vehicles such as AFS Gypsy's BSA's Matchless and even Commers. Certainly a couple of people on there might be able to help with build dates or perhaps where it has been in its life. Cheers, Duncan.

Hi Iain, I do - I'm based in Oakham but my GG is kept up towards Grantham if that's any use. PM me if that's of interest. Is there anything in particular you want to see / measure? Duncan.

In my 1978 series 3 Land Rover ambulance - an old size 10p piece, an empty Lambert and Butler cigarette packet and a mid-80s pay and display ticket for a car park near Swindon.....

A few pics from Cranwell Flying Club's 'fly-in' day at RAF Cranwell at the weekend when I took PGW 326 along. Blessed by great weather, the Spitfire is G-MKVB, a 1942 mark Vb owned by the Historic Aircraft Collection at Duxford (http://www.historicaircraftcollection.ltd.uk/spitfire/).

Just Googled the 'mission vigipirate' on the front of the Land Rover - seems to be some kind of anti-terrorism operation, the link to the French Ministry of Defence shows a video with a Land Rover in used at the Eurotunnel terminal being used by an Engineer Regiment: http://www.defense.gouv.fr/terre/diaporamas-sonores/mission-vigipirate-eurotunnel-de-calais/%28language%29/fre-FR#SearchText=mission%20vigipirate#xtcr=1

Well, show number two is over and done with. Despite many shows falling victim to the poor weather, the East of England Show at Peterborough went ahead, despite the non-stop rain on the Friday! Saturday dawned dry and sunny, so what better weather for 326 to start playing up again. Poor running suggested ignition problems, so a quick clean of the plugs was in order. This made no difference at all, so a mile or so later, I stopped again and not only cleaned the plugs fully, but also took all the leads off and cleaned and checked these too. The plugs were filthy although one plug lead came apart when I touched it. Then, the HT lead exploded after I unscrewed it. Besides, there were only 4-5 strands of wire poking through the washer at the cap end, so no wonder the spark wasn't great! A scrabble around the road proved fruitless until, after much cursing, a sweep of the chassis rail elicited the 'acorn'. One back together and the HT lead shortened and stripped so some wires were actually touching the cap contact, it ran sweet as a nut. I then met up with the owner of RXP 558 for a mini convoy down to Peterborough where we arrived late, after my breakdown and a long stop to take on board another £100 worth of fuel (now with added Ethomix in addition to the Valvemaster). The field was soggy, we joined a few other ex-AFS vehicles and a collection of red fire engines. Saturday saw small numbers of people to be honest, kept away by the rain and these straightened economic times perhaps. That said, the afternoon was hot enough for my head to burn whilst sitting listening to one of the excellent live bands! After evening meal and a few beers with the Royal Navy recruiting team in the Elgoods beer tent (Golden Newt highly recommended), I settled for a night out of the rain on the surprisingly comfortable bench seat at the back of the cab. Sunday started wetter but cleared up during my bacon butty; crowds seemed bigger with the collected fire engines attracting interest. Sadly, again it was too wet for any action in the parade ring. Then it was a mini convoy back home, with enough time to clean the mud off the tyres and to remove all the locker contents to give the lockers and hoses an airing in the afternoon sunshine before coaxing 326 back into the barn.