gcsmather Posted July 1, 2010 Share Posted July 1, 2010 Greetings all I have often viewed the postings and thought it was time to come on board. My main interest is in cold war vehicles and radios. The most military is a series 2a ambulance from 1966, bought from a collector in Notts who had restored her beautifully. Have some of her history including time at Windsor and use during the ambulance strike. She carries a range of Clansman sets including a 320, 351. 352, 353. Separately I have a 19 set mk III bought in the 1960s from a dealer in Yorkshire when they could be had for a few pounds, a PCR3, AR88, Eddystone EC10 etc. i have two Green Goddesses, PGW 347 or Jenny who served in Manchester with an army crew in the 1977 fire strike and in Stirling in the 2002 strike with the Royal Navy, and NYV 853 or Primrose, actually a Yellow Goddess, from the Northern Ireland fleet. Jenny has a 'Mould' transceiver. I have two police vehicles, an ex Thames Valley Omega V6 traffic car now rebadged as an escort vehicle for fleet and SXF 305. She is a Bedford 4 tonner with Control Unit body built for the Police Mobile Columns intended to provide law and order after a nuclear attack. In this they parallelled the fire columns made up of Green Goddesses which would bring water and firefighting to devastated cities, and forward medical aid units. SXF 305 is now re-equipped with the Pye VHF UHF and 'last ditch' short wave transceivers used at the time. We believe that after the Mobile Columns were discontinued she was transferred to Thames Valley Police and then, semi derelict, was rescued by a film company. rebuilt on an AFS lorry chasis, and used in the TV series Heartbeat. She is possibly the last one left with the original fittings, operator chairs and desks, pump up aerial masts etc and generates a lot of interest especially among the ex Home Offic DTELS staff who seem to abound in Newbury where she lives now. The period when we faced nuclear attack and had to prepare to pick up the pieces, and the vehicles used for this, seem to me worth capturing and preserving. Look forward to trying to contribute to HMVF occasionally. Best Graham M6GMR Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Snapper Posted July 1, 2010 Share Posted July 1, 2010 Welcome to the Friendly Forum. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chevpol Posted July 1, 2010 Share Posted July 1, 2010 welcome to this happy place!!! Nice collection of vehiocles, nice to see a PMC vehicle preserved All the best Mark Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
airportable Posted July 1, 2010 Share Posted July 1, 2010 Hi Graham. Sadly you have brought back mostly happy memories of my Fordson Civil Defence coms. truck which I had to sell last year. Restoration cost getting very high. It was still complete with all the internal fittings, lights, seats, map table etc. etc. I understand it may be broken to restore a flat bed!! Have you got the radios set up in the Landi? Welcome to the forum, Andy. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tony B Posted July 1, 2010 Share Posted July 1, 2010 Welcome to the growing family Graham Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
private mw Posted July 1, 2010 Share Posted July 1, 2010 hi welcome to the forum ,:-) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gcsmather Posted July 2, 2010 Author Share Posted July 2, 2010 Hi Andy Haven't ever seen a Fordson comms truck in the flesh but have heard a lot about them - one of the Home Office guys at the Newbury Radio Rally remembered driving one (and like all similar, the splendid queues that built up behind him!) Fraid the radios are not mounted in the 2a. They seem to like their temporary billet on the stretchers. But have been pondering investing in an FFR and did lust after one of the GMC Sierra Forward Air Control Posts in the Boys sale - looked as though it was either withdrawn or bundled with another in the online sale, certainly not obvious what happened. Graham Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
airportable Posted July 2, 2010 Share Posted July 2, 2010 Fantastic truck. Sadly I was not in the digital or camera age when I was restoring mine so very few pics are arround. I do have I think a old book that shows the interior of a truck the same as I had in use. If I can find, scan etc. the pics may be of interest to folks. Andy. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chevpol Posted July 2, 2010 Share Posted July 2, 2010 Graham, there were 2 types of civil defence corps radio type vehicles, one was a radio truck, and the other was a ops vehicle. If you go onto my site, under other collections there is a section for civil defence. On there is a radio truck and a couple of ops fords. Basic difference was Radio had side door, Ops rear. Hope this helps Mark Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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