-

20

Restoration of a

In May 2007, after a long period of searching, I found the vehi-cle I had always wanted to own – a Land Rover TACR-1.

The ‘Truck, Aircraft Crash Rescue mk 1’ or TACR1 served onairfields of all three British armed services during the 70s and80s. It was designed by HCB-Angus, the fire appliance builder,to be first on the scene of an accident with the objective of get-ting the aircrew out of the aircraft as rapidly as possible whileusing 100 gallons of foam carried in an internal tank to subduethe fire. Larger vehicles would then extinguish any remainingfire when they arrived. (For a full article on the type see‘Windscreen’ Spring 2008 Issue 118 page 33).

As a specialist vehicle the numbers produced were low (89 intotal from 1970 to 1975) so I knew my chances of finding onewere slim as it was not much more common that the famedLand Rover Series IIa SAS ‘Pink Panther’. This was to be bornout as I spent over two years looking for an example to restorewithout success. I had not been without projects while waitingfor a TACR-1 to turn up having owned and restored many ex-

military vehicles from Scammells to Land Rovers over theyears. However I had promised myself that one day I would owna TACR-1.

Why a TACR-1?Why the interest in this particular vehicle? Well I’m sure we allhave our own particular reasons for being drawn to a vehicletype, be it just the ‘look of it’, some sort of connection to it (e.g.served with it, father owned one etc…) or due to an interest in aparticular period or event. In my case the seeds were sown in themid 1970s when I was a small boy and the TACR-1 had justcome into service. My farther was ex-Royal Navy but stillworked for the Fleet Air Arm as a civilian Aircraft Technician atRNAS Culdrose. As such I distinctly remember the TACR-1(though to me it was just a fire engine at that time) from visits tothe Air Station for Air Days where I could get up close to suchmachines. I think the combination of the extra big chunky tyresand its very distinctive ‘Dayglow’ paint finish had meenthralled.

LandRover TACR-1By Paul HazellThe finished vehicle just before departure to ‘War and Peace’ 2008

21

Restoration of a

Over the years I forgot the idea until about 30 years later when Istumbled across an advert for one in an out-of-date Land Rovermagazine and on impulse rang up to see if it had sold. “Yesmate, went months ago for scrap money” was the reply. I hadthat ‘I hope it was saved’ feeling come over me and felt deter-mined to fine another to preserve now the idea ofowning one was rekindled.

An example is foundTwo years later after afruitless on-and-offsearch I had just aboutgiven up hope of find-ing one when onceagain I typed in‘TACR-1 for sale’ intoGoogle. As if bymagic one popped up forsale at the well knownHuddersfield Land RoverCentre. It looked tidy in thephotos with only minimal modificationsmade from the original spec – a good basis for a restoration; butit wasn’t for sale for scrap money this time! I rang up and spoketo Mark Griffiths at the centre who was extremely helpful and afire engine enthusiast himself. A conversation along the lines of“Yes we still have it, yes we except credit cards…” followed andI was hooked. I paid a refundable deposit over the phone tosecure it and travelled up the following weekend fromHerefordshire with a trailer behind my Defender to take a closerlook…

Mark was extremely helpful and generous with his time showingme around the workshops and the varied and interesting classicLand Rovers he had for sale. I had a good look over the TACR-1and despite its hand painted finish and missing fittings and fix-tures it had clearly had considerable money spent on it during itssecond life as a civilian fire appliance on a Scottish woodlandestate some years earlier. The majority of the chassis ‘rot’ com-mon to Land Rovers of this vintage and particularly to theTACR-1 (due to the highly corrosive protein foam it carriedwhich inevitable got slopped everywhere) had been addressed toa good standard with a new sub-frame for the fibreglass 100 gal-lon water tank and a replacement rear cross-member and out rig-gers for the chassis. This combined with it incredibly lowmileage of 5500 which seemed to be correct judging by all theold MOTs since de-mob as well as its rarity meant it seemed tobe worth the more than £3k asking price. A deal was struck and30AG45 was mine…

30AG45 was an ex-RAF example, which served briefly at RAFChurch Fenton from 1974 to 1975 then moved to RAF Linton-on–Ouse (The stations major role being the training of futurefast jet pilots) until1989 when it was retired. Then after a brief

period with an enthusiast had a second life becoming a civilianfire appliance on an estate in Scotland until 2002 after which itwas retired for the second time.Having got the TACR-1 home I began to assess it in more detail

and plan the restoration. In the past Ihave always restored avehicle before showingit but the TACR had acurrent MoT and wastaxed so I thought Iwould take it out for theremainder of the showseason to check its reli-ability and see whocame up to talk. I ser-viced the vehicle anddecided to fit a new setof the correct size tyresrather than the ratherpuny ones on the truck.The TACR-1 one wasbased around the one-

ton 109” and as a result had up rated suspension, axels and tyres(see Windscreen issue 118). This meant that it was shod withmuch larger 900x16 tyres rather than the 750x16s fitted to thestandard long wheelbase 3/4ton Land Rover. It was quite a huntfor the tyres as they are now an unusual size. After much trawl-ing around on the web ‘Unity Tyres Co Ltd’ of Bristol were ableto supply from stock and were delivered the next day for a littleover £500 for a full set. Originally the TACR-1s were fitted withroad biased Avon Rangers but fairly soon after going into ser-vice bar-grips of the type fitted to the Land Rover 101 werebeing fitted. Later still continental style treads were fitted. Thisis the pattern that Unity Tyres were able to supply – the earlierpatterns are now both discontinued. I had to go to a commercialvehicle tyre fitters to get the new carcasses on the rims, as thesize was just too large for the usual tyre workshops.

First outingThe first un-restored outing was to the MVT national at KembleAirfield in the summer of 2007. Showing the vehicle un-restoredwas very worthwhile as it showed up various minor mechanicalfaults (leaking oil seals and the like) and as hoped people cameup and chatted to me about the TACR-1, both Land Roverenthusiasts and those who had served with the type. Beltring(the ‘War and Peace’ show) proved to be the most fruitful as Imet three fellow owners (though none of the others had theirvehicles with them at the show). This is typical of Beltring – arare vehicle such as the TACR-1 becomes almost common!However this lead me to many of the unique but missing piecesof equipment that were fitted to the TACR-1 meaning a muchmore accurate restoration could be achieved when the timecame, and as is so often the case in military vehicle preserva-tion, I gained several new friends in the process!

I was still finishing the restoration of a clas-sic car over this period so work on theTACR-1 did not start in earnest untilJanuary 2008. I always like to set myself adeadline with a project as I have foundwithout this when you hit the inevitable lowpoint in a restoration it is all too easy to letit slide as your enthusiasm wanes. I set anambitious target of the 2008 MVT nationalshow in June six months away.

LandRover TACR-1

TACR-1 as purchased from Huddersfield Land Rover Centre in May 2007

Transporting the new project home

22

The restoration begins…The major task on this project was the body. Although itwas basically sound some panels were bent and there wasthe inevitable many layers of paint to strip. Once the vehi-cle was up on axel stand with the wheels off I set aboutremoving as many fittings as possible to make strippingthe rear fire fighting body of paint a little easier. The latercoats of NATO green under the brush painted red werefairly easily removed using a combination of a heat gunand ‘Nitromors’ but the original Weidolux Daylight Redfluorescent finish proved very hard to strip from the alu-minum panels. After many unpleasant evenings and week-ends much of the cab and body was bare metal. Ferrousparts were sent for sand blasting, a technique unsuitablefor aluminum as it can distort panels and leave a pittedfinish.

I am lucky enough tohave a large workshopof steel girder construc-tion in which I fitted anover head chain hoiston a mobile cradlesome time ago meaninga vehicle body can beremoved single-handedand craned to a differ-ent position in theworkshop. This maderemoving the rear body(or ‘top hamper’ in fireappliance parlance) amuch simpler and safertask than it would oth-erwise of been. Withthe body removed Icompleted the paintstripping, straightenedand repaired bent pan-els and started work onthe chassis cab.

Above: Restoration underway with ‘top hamper’,wings and engine removed and the cab re-sprayedin primer

Left: ‘Top hamper’ partially stripped. A time con-suming and unpleasant job but the secret of agood paint finish

Below: Chassis painted, engine back in, cab re-sprayed and interior painted

The pump, which sits just behind the cab betweenthe chassis rails driven from the vehicles PTO, wasremoved and cosmetically restored, as it wasknown to be working properly having tested thepump pressure before the restoration was started. Iwas loathed to take it apart unless it was absolutelynecessary as the pump body is aluminum but thestuds holding it together are steel - a combinationthat is usually very reluctant to come apart withoutbroken studs, stripped threads and much swearing!With the body off some small areas of corrosionwere revealed on the chassis so these were cut outand new steel welded in where necessary.

At the front of the vehicle I removed the front grillpanel and after sand blasting welded in new steel atthe base where it had corroded. The front wingswere also removed, both to ease access to theengine bay and for repair. The outer wings werebadly bent as the doors, which are designed to open180 degrees to help speed access in and out of the cab at thescene of a crash, tended to slam onto the clips designed to holdthem in the open position and as a result bend the wing. Thesewere replaced with new outer wings bolted to the original innerwings. The door retaining clips were fitted with lighter springsto prevent the same thing happening again. The engine wasremoved and required little more than a new fuel pump, an over-haul of the carburetor, a service, cleaning and re-spraying in‘British Engine Blue’.

Electrical systemsThe original 12 volt wiringwas sound as was the addi-tional wiring HCB-Angusfitted as part of the workconverting the Land Roverchassis to a crash tender foradditional lights and thesiren etc. However in typi-cal Land Rover style a greatdeal of additional wiringhad been added over its lifeto varying standards - thisDIY wiring was all removedas part of the restoration.HCB-Angus also fittedquite an extensive 240 voltwiring system to the TACR-1. This is an entirely sepa-rate system that was pow-ered in the fire station via a‘snatch lead’ (i.e. a mainslead that is connected to the vehicle in the station that is pulledout when driving off for a ‘shout’). This mains voltage wiringloom was installed to pre-heat the engine oil and coolant, tricklecharge the batteries, heat the cab and keep the water tank, pumpand associated equipment warm to prevent freezing. The waterheater on the engine, the cab heater and the battery charger fittedin the cab behind the pump gauges were all still serviceablewhen tested so were rewired and refitted. All the other heatingelements were unserviceable so were not reconnected. (Does anyone have the plug that was designed to fit the socket on the backof the vehicle i.e. the snatch lead? I’d quite like to be able tocharge the battery and warm the cab the night before those earlyseason shows using the original set up!)

What Colour?I was now reaching the point where the vehicle could be re-sprayed. Originally I was very keen to re-spray the vehicle in itsoriginal Weidolux Daylight Red fluorescent finish (RAL3024) –the same colour as used by Dyno-rod the drain cleaning firm infact! However as I looked into this I gradually found that it was-n’t going to be practical. The finish requires that the vehicle issprayed white first as the fluorescent paint is translucent (hence

the chassis cabs intended for conversationto the TACR-1 were delivered from LandRover to HCB-Angus in white), then sever-al coats of the fluorescent colour wouldneed spraying followed by a UV resistanttop lacquer to give a gloss finish. Even withthis lacquer the fluorescent paint fades insunlight leading to a patchy finish (have alook at an older Dyno-Rod van and you’llsee what I mean). The fluorescent finishwas also extremely expensive and not reallysuitable for DIY spraying so reluctantly Iruled it out.

The restored interior but ripped seat still to be replaced

Left: The rear crewman’s seat of therestored vehicle. Note the speaking tube onthe left of the alcove to allow communica-tion with the cab

Below: Door in fully open position to allowquick entry and exit. The vehicle is a SIIIbut is fitted with SII door hinges for thisreason - the SIII type will not allow thisdegree of opening."

23

24

Another option was NATO green with a yellow visibility striptypical of the type in the late 70s and early 80s. My other halftalked me out of this informing me ‘a fire engine should be red’.I learnt long ago not to argue with her…

This left Signal Red (BS537) a very bright and slightly orangeshade that suits the vehicle well and was used on the very earli-est TACR-1s and again in the 1980s on the RAF examples. Thepaint was supplied by Jeeparts UK and was to their usual highstandard. I sprayed all panels first in etch primer, then a palegrey undercoat then several top coats of Signal Red. Over theyears I have gradually mastered spraying – the secret beingplenty of space, preparation and very light sanding betweencoats.

With all the separate panels left to harden the cab interior wasrepainted in Eau-De-Nil (BS216), which is common to all postwar crash tender interiors in the RAF. I did this by brush paint-ing having sanded and striped where necessary the cab interior.When new from HCB-Angus the interiors were sprayed, but inservice they were regularly repainted with a brush so I thought Iwould do things the same way. Lockers interiors were also fin-ished in the same Eau-De-Nil colour.

In the rear body racking is fitted on each side for the hoses sothey can be stored in a ‘zigzag’ pattern rather than rolled. Thismake them extremely fast to deploy when at the scene of a crashas the racks are angled downwards and the lay-flat hose essen-tially falls out when the branch pipe (the foam gun on the end ofthe hose) is unclipped from its bracket. On the nearside howeverthis racking was entirely missing so I fabricated a new set fromsteel using the offside rack as a pattern (they are mirror imagesof each other).

The engine could now be bolted in and the body panels and tophamper refitted. This was a rewarding period when the vehicleseemed to come together very quickly!

This just left the finishing touches such as markings. I still had afew small jobs to do such as stripping and repainting the foambranches and fitting new seats but the Land Rover was essential-ly finished and ready to show at the MVT national show in June.I have now found the vast majority of the original equipment forthe TACR-1 (it is quite an extensive list and is given in issue118) with a few items still to find or in the pipeline. For instanceI recently managed to purchase an ‘as new’ Lucas acorn bluebeacon which has now replaced the one shown in the photos.When the weather improves (I’m writing this in early January) Ihope to take a ‘parade’ style photograph with all the kit laid outfor ‘inspection’ in front of the vehicle. Maybe the editor willindulge me and publish the shot in OP in a future issue?

I’m delighted with the finished vehicle, which is reliable andworks as it should projecting water an impressive 60ft whenpumping at full pressure. I’m now rather hooked on crash ten-ders and have recently purchased a much bigger project – a verytatty 6x6 Thornycroft Nubian Mk7. This will take considerablylonger to restore but I hope to be able to show the two togetherin the coming years.

I’d like to particularly thank the following for their help withthis project:

Steve Shirley of the Manston Fire Museum www.manstonfiremuseum.comAidan Fisher the HCB-Angus archivistSimon Dickinson – fellow TACR-1 ownerRAF Museum Hendonwww.rafmuseum.org.ukMark Griffiths of the Huddersfield Land Rover Centre www.landrovercentre.comFinal note: Owners of TACR-1s have recently got together andcreated a TACR-1 register, which can be found at www.tacr-1.co.uk. The site, administered by me, deals with all thingsTACR-1. If you are an owner of a TACR-1, served with the typeor are just interested please pay us a visit, you may even be ableto contribute more information!I can be contacted on: scammell.man@virgin.net

Left: 30AG45 was supplied in Weidolux Daylight Red fluores-cent finish when new in 1974. Note the black bonnet to reduceglare into the cab.Below: Hose racks: left the original, right the fabricated oppo-site number