Burning with desire for piece of history? Buy a Green GoddessChris Benfield
ONE careful owner, serviced regardless of expense, never knowingly driven above 50mph and capable of pumping a pond dry in minutes… anyone for a Green Goddess?
The Government has decided it is time to pension off its vintage emergency fire fleet and is put-ting 40 up for sale to test interest. Offers of at least £3,500 each, plus VAT, are being invited for the vehicles, which do less than 10 miles to the gallon of petrol but create an air of national emergency wherever they go.
If they sell at that price nearly 1,000 more might be made available. All were built between 1953 and 1956 at the old Bedford plant in Dunstable, Bedfordshire, to equip the Auxiliary Fire Service, a civilian volunteer force created as part of the planning for a nuclear attack on Britain.
After it was disbanded in 1968 its “Bedford self-propelled pumps” were put into storage. The Army has used them only when called on for emergencies, such as flooding and the 1977 and 1992-93 firefighters’ strikes. Most have done less than 3,000 miles.
A new Fire and Rescue Services Act allows the Government to requisition the red vehicles owned by local authorities.
Douglas Landy of Lincolnshire contractors Witham Specialist Vehicles, handling the sale, said yesterday: “This is a unique opportunity to acquire a piece of history in superb condition. Green Goddesses is a good nickname for these quite magnificent pieces of machinery.”
The sale officially starts next Monday. By then details of the eight-ton, four-wheel-drive vehicles, and how to bid, will be on website
http://www.witham-sv.com. The sale is also likely to be advertised in publications for farmers, who may be interested in their 900-gallons-per-minute pumping capacity.
Mr Landy, of Witham’s, can be contacted on 01476 861361.
15 February 2005
