The Smallest Ever Fire Engine

Amanda challenges us to come up with our version on photos of Red and Green for this week’s Friendly Friday Challenge.

I look through my files and trust me to find something different – I know it’s not a seasonal choice but I hope a red fire engine on a green lawn will count ok.

And at the time I noted down the story of the said vehicle and I retell this below for your interest/amusement. (However, if you can’t be bothered, I won’t be offended).

Dave Reilly is a bit of an eccentric. I came across him at the Dean Castle Classic Car Show in 2013. He was wearing a fireman’s uniform and standing beside the smallest fire engine I’ve ever seen.

I looked at the vehicle and asked him, “Well, what do you have here?”

He spoke out proudly, “This, my dear Sir, is a Morris Minor fire engine. It’s one of only four that exist in the whole world. There’s only one original Morris Minor fire engine that was actually in use in the Morris car factory at Oxford in the 1950’s – the other three are replicas”.

I asked, “Is this the real one?”

“No!”

I thought that was a conversation stopper. Boy! Was I wrong? 

“I built it myself”, he announced with pride, “I started with an old shell of a Minor body with no chassis, no interior, no engine not even the bulkhead. I took me five years to complete the project. Now I show it at car shows and, what’s more, I use it on the roads every day. I take it to my work in Bellshill”

I have to say Dave then gave me an enthusiastic description of the whole build process – including the sourcing of many of the parts and accessories. Dave is an ex-fire fighter and he always wanted his own engine. He does work with other mates restoring full size engines for display but this Morris Minor is his own ‘baby’.

Now from my work days in dealing with the emergency services, I knew it was against the law to have a blue flashing light on a private vehicle. So I asked him, that if he drove this fire engine to his work, had he ever been pulled over by the police.

This had happened only once. The police officer had first asked, “Is this your vehicle, sir?”

After checking his license, tax and insurance, he queried the flashing beacon. So Dave had given him the grand tour of his vehicle. In the Dean Park, Dave then gave me that very same tour. Dave had pointed out all the items which would indicate that this was in fact a real emergency vehicle – flashing light, bell, ladder, search light, hoses, fire extinguishers, etc, etc, etc, etc. The day he was stopped by the police he was probably lucky he wasn’t done for wasting police time.

Having proved it was an emergency vehicle, he convinced the police officer that this was technically a ‘preserved emergency vehicle’ (?) and so was legally allowed to sport that flashing light. He said the policeman then just walked away back to his patrol car.

I suspect Dave had simply worn him down. The officer probably put out a message to all cars telling them not to pull over a Morris Minor fire engine, unless they wanted to be tied up for the rest of their shift.

Good on you Dave! And everyone like you! Keep up the good work!

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Thanks to Amanda for setting the Friendly Friday Photo Challenge – Red and Green.
I know I haven’t gone for Holly and Ivy …. but I will wish you all a Happy Holiday Season and send my best wishes for 2021