Hazell’s had their own Fire engine.

This 1964 Hazells Land Rover Series 2A Fire engine was once the pride and joy of the Hazell’s Workforce and the Temporary Fire men . It disappeared from Aylesbury when Hazell’s ceased trading in around 1991 and went to a sister company in the British Printing Corporation (BPC Paulton’s) .

A security guard that was based there purchased it from the group in around 1995 and after only taking it to one or two local shows in Somerset, it was parked up.

It wasn’t until January 2019 when he spotted my Facebook page-click here or more info Hazells Motoring Club that they discovered what the “HWV” stood for on the door. Once he worked it out by the powers of Google, he then discovered the company Hazell, Watson and Viney. He messaged me on the 26th January to make me aware that he owned the Fire Engine and the rest is history.

Being registered in 1964 some 55 years ago it still only had 3351 miles on the speedo equating to just 53 miles a year. It was even still sat on its original Avon Traction Mileage Tyres.

For More information on Hazell Watson and Viney click HERE

Adrian and his Fire Engine

circa 1985

I went to see the Land Rover in Somerset on the 2nd February where it had been for over 24 years and met the then owner. It had already been submitted to a local auction in Shepton Mallet on the 10th February , so i made another trip down to the auction with the intention and hope of being its new owner.

It was in a sorry state and had been kept in an open garage for the entire time. At some point some local kids had been on it and taken the keys and some parts , but luckily it hadn’t been vandalised. The only original items that had gone missing were the ladder and the shovel.

I had a good a good look round it whilst i was there, and i could see alot of surface rust and all of the black paint on chassis components and the axles but i couldn’t jack it up or move it. and the steering was seized. But i had no idea whether it was going to need a new chassis or any major works.

Unfortunately a telephone bidder put in a bid higher bid than i was happy with as i had no idea of the extent of work needed to bring this vehicle back to life. I lost the Fire Engine and i drove home a little deflated.

I kept in touch with the previous owner and he informed me in April that the new owner had been in contact with him and wanted to find out some of its history. He was given my number and we had a long chat.

Later on that month the new owner contacted me to say that he had sorted all the brakes out and had the head off and got the Fire Engine Running but he needed to raise some funds fast so it was listed on an online auction and it ended that coming Saturday evening.

I immediately found the auction listing and watched it. On that saturday evening, my son and i sat down in the living room, locked the dog in the kitchen and set up the laptop, our phones and the Tablet so we had all eventualities covered. i put a bid in at the last minute and i won it. At this point my parents never knew that it was up for sale again.

The next day i looked up how i could get this back to Aylesbury but trains looked long winded and expensive. The owner offered to Deliver it that day if i paid his fuel so eagerly i agreed and after a long slow journey on a trailer up from Somerset it arrived at last.

Within half an hour i added some petrol and a new battery, checked the levels and with the Trade Plates off i went to drive it to surprise my parents . I just turned up on the drive and the look on their faces. My parents met at Hazell’s in 1965 and they had great memories of such a great company to work for.

The previous owner hadn’t done any electrical work and i found that the Horn, indicators or wiper didnt work. I stripped and cleaned the wiper motor and repaired various indicators and fixed the horn wire.

The battery charging light was on and i found a spring for one of the brushes had fallen out of the Dynamo, so i rebuilt that .

Even though this vehicle is MOT and tax exempt, i MOT’d it as i do with all my classic cars. This MOT Certificate aided retaining the original registration.

I serviced it and  topped up all the axles, and hubs.

Over the next few Months i gathered more history and worked on retaining its original number plate as there were no documents or history . This involved joining the Series 2 Club and having it inspected to check all its ID including axle numbers and dating on the fusebox, wiper motors and so forth.

I took the drivers door lock apart so i could find the key number as the keys had been lost. i managed to find replacement keys

I gave the Fire Engine its Debut at the Chiltern Hills Vintage Vehicle Rally on Sunday 19th May 2019 for more information on the chiltern hills rally click here 

I worked hard trying to get the red paint matched as we did not have a paint code for it. It was Converted into a Fire Tender by Sun Engineering (Richmond Ltd) and was resprayed red over its original Mid Grey how it left the Land Rover factory in Solihull.

We would like to find out more about Sun Engineering so if you would like to see more and may have information please click here

After a few trips taking removable panels to paint specialists a colour was formulated and is now called AJF RED.

Wanting to keep the Land Rover as original as possible, i only wanted to tidy it up or restore items that could be removed.

I was invited to the Festival of the Unexceptional with it and i removed all the wheels and restored them back to Limestone on the inner and the Red on the exterior

To be continued