A couple have turned up here in the fire fighting role as I knew them and described previously. 
Carryfast:
A couple have turned up here in the fire fighting role as I knew them and described previously.
Excellent! And 6x4 too, so right up your street. You’d need something like those in Egypt. Here’s the pic for easy ref. The banner is in Dutch and it says FTF fire-engine in Egypt. Robert 
robert1952:
Carryfast:
A couple have turned up here in the fire fighting role as I knew them and described previously.Excellent! And 6x4 too, so right up your street.
If I’m not mistaken they look very much like what we were building and exporting to numerous export customers in the day with the Middle East being one of our biggest markets. From memory,with the exception of Carmichael,there were very few,if any,other fire truck makers that took advantage of the package which the TM contained,at least in road going spec,to go head to head with products like the FTF or US types like Pierce.With Carmichael usually being known for the more specialised 6x6 and 4x4 off road spec types similar to those used by the military.With,as I said,ours being tractor unit conversions to drawbar rigid spec which is why I’d guess that those in the photo are less likely to be the latter manufacturer’s at least.
robert1952:
From Commercial Motor 03/02/78■■■■■■■ E290 for Bedford
THE TOPWEIGHT Bedford TM 3800 is now available with a ■■■■■■■ engine. Timed to coincide with the launch of the new Formula E290 engine. (see story below) the Bedford announcement has ended speculation that an alternative power unit to the two-stroke Detroit Diesel 8V-71 was on the way.
Because of the low-revving characteristics of the new ■■■■■■■■ a change of rear axle has been necessary.
The French-built SOMA hub-reduction design gives way to a single-reduction Rockwell, as the SOMA range does not include a high enough ratio. The ten-speed Spicer splitter box is retained, however.
Bedford has not yet built a chassis with the new ■■■■■■■ — all the installation design • work was done with the ‘old’ 290 — so no kerb weight figures are as yet, available.
However, the Detroit Diesel, at 1,090kg (2,3951b), is a very light engine, so the ■■■■■■■■ at 1,160kg (2,560Ib), is going to add a weight penalty.
There are no plans to offer any other engines in any other chassis at the moment.And as we know, the Fuller was retained too! Robert
As I said on the Kent thread, it was the lack of SOMA axle that made me think it had a ■■■■■■■ between the chassis rails.
newmercman:
robert1952:
From Commercial Motor 03/02/78■■■■■■■ E290 for Bedford
THE TOPWEIGHT Bedford TM 3800 is now available with a ■■■■■■■ engine. Timed to coincide with the launch of the new Formula E290 engine. (see story below) the Bedford announcement has ended speculation that an alternative power unit to the two-stroke Detroit Diesel 8V-71 was on the way.
Because of the low-revving characteristics of the new ■■■■■■■■ a change of rear axle has been necessary.
The French-built SOMA hub-reduction design gives way to a single-reduction Rockwell, as the SOMA range does not include a high enough ratio. The ten-speed Spicer splitter box is retained, however.
Bedford has not yet built a chassis with the new ■■■■■■■ — all the installation design • work was done with the ‘old’ 290 — so no kerb weight figures are as yet, available.
However, the Detroit Diesel, at 1,090kg (2,3951b), is a very light engine, so the ■■■■■■■■ at 1,160kg (2,560Ib), is going to add a weight penalty.
There are no plans to offer any other engines in any other chassis at the moment.And as we know, the Fuller was retained too! Robert
As I said on the Kent thread, it was the lack of SOMA axle that made me think it had a ■■■■■■■ between the chassis rails.
And you were right. I’ll try this method for ‘sexing’ other TM photos! 
Cheers, Robert
The Bedford Blitz. Surely it has to be a ■■■■ take? Not very PC at all lol
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The idea of using the old Blitz name on it for the German market was understandable which was used on Opel trucks from before the war.But it’s anyone’s guess why they then defeated the object by branding it as a Bedford instead of Opel in Germany. 
The word ‘blitz’ is heavily loaded in English because has come to mean ‘invasion’; but the word in German remains an ordinary everyday word for ‘lightening’. Robert
Would it not be in the realms of a possibility that the increase in weight due to the ■■■■■■■ would be compensated for by the single reduction Rockwell at the back end having fewer whizzy things in the axle? After all it was only 70kgs!
gazzer:
Would it not be in the realms of a possibility that the increase in weight due to the ■■■■■■■ would be compensated for by the single reduction Rockwell at the back end having fewer whizzy things in the axle? After all it was only 70kgs!
Sounds logical. robert
An unusual one.
Indulge me gentlemen… I know it’s not a TM, but, its LHD and with a “high roof sleeper” it’s unusual, and it may have a DD in it…not sure if there is KM thread ? but if it offends anyone I’ll remove it…
Fergie47:
Indulge me gentlemen… I know it’s not a TM, but, its LHD and with a “high roof sleeper” it’s unusual, and it may have a DD in it…not sure if there is KM thread ? but if it offends anyone I’ll remove it…
Now that’s interesting! It’s a KM with what looks like an retro-fit sleeper and as you say it has LHD. You may be right about the Detroit too, because you could get RHD KM artics with DD + 9-speed Fuller. Love to know what drive-line it actually had! Robert
robert1952:
Fergie47:
Indulge me gentlemen… I know it’s not a TM, but, its LHD and with a “high roof sleeper” it’s unusual, and it may have a DD in it…not sure if there is KM thread ? but if it offends anyone I’ll remove it…Now that’s interesting! It’s a KM with what looks like an retro-fit sleeper and as you say it has LHD. You may be right about the Detroit too, because you could get RHD KM artics with DD + 9-speed Fuller. Love to know what drive-line it actually had! Robert
I might be talking out of me arse here, but bair with me for a moment, now I might be going blind, but that looks like a Volvo chassis to me, the wheels on the front axle and the halfshaft are most defo Volvo build… could it be just a re-cabbed Volvo then…? 
Cheers, Patrick
pv83:
robert1952:
Fergie47:
Indulge me gentlemen… I know it’s not a TM, but, its LHD and with a “high roof sleeper” it’s unusual, and it may have a DD in it…not sure if there is KM thread ? but if it offends anyone I’ll remove it…Now that’s interesting! It’s a KM with what looks like an retro-fit sleeper and as you say it has LHD. You may be right about the Detroit too, because you could get RHD KM artics with DD + 9-speed Fuller. Love to know what drive-line it actually had! Robert
I might be talking out of me arse here, but bair with me for a moment, now I might be going blind, but that looks like a Volvo chassis to me, the wheels on the front axle and the halfshaft are most defo Volvo build… could it be just a re-cabbed Volvo then…?
Cheers, Patrick
Ah yes! And that registration number looks more South American than European to me… Robert
robert1952:
pv83:
robert1952:
Fergie47:
Indulge me gentlemen… I know it’s not a TM, but, its LHD and with a “high roof sleeper” it’s unusual, and it may have a DD in it…not sure if there is KM thread ? but if it offends anyone I’ll remove it…Now that’s interesting! It’s a KM with what looks like an retro-fit sleeper and as you say it has LHD. You may be right about the Detroit too, because you could get RHD KM artics with DD + 9-speed Fuller. Love to know what drive-line it actually had! Robert
I might be talking out of me arse here, but bair with me for a moment, now I might be going blind, but that looks like a Volvo chassis to me, the wheels on the front axle and the halfshaft are most defo Volvo build… could it be just a re-cabbed Volvo then…?
Cheers, Patrick
Ah yes! And that registration number looks more South American than European to me… Robert
It does indeed Robert, quite handy them lot with a set of spanners then it seems…
pv83:
robert1952:
pv83:
I might be talking out of me arse here, but bair with me for a moment, now I might be going blind, but that looks like a Volvo chassis to me, the wheels on the front axle and the halfshaft are most defo Volvo build… could it be just a re-cabbed Volvo then…?Cheers, Patrick
Ah yes! And that registration number looks more South American than European to me… Robert
It does indeed Robert, quite handy them lot with a set of spanners then it seems…
That’s what it is then- an 88 or F10, with a KM cab on it. The sleeper conversion looks very neat- as if that is what Bedford would have done, if they did not have the TM on the drawing board (see how I brought the thread back to the original subject ). I reckon the cab has probably come off a knackered Bedford chassis- it was probably built years previous, when its original chassis was worth the effort then, when that died, the cab was still good enough to see another life on the Volvo.
[zb]
anorak:pv83:
robert1952:
pv83:
I might be talking out of me arse here, but bair with me for a moment, now I might be going blind, but that looks like a Volvo chassis to me, the wheels on the front axle and the halfshaft are most defo Volvo build… could it be just a re-cabbed Volvo then…?Cheers, Patrick
Ah yes! And that registration number looks more South American than European to me… Robert
It does indeed Robert, quite handy them lot with a set of spanners then it seems…
That’s what it is then- an 88 or F10, with a KM cab on it. The sleeper conversion looks very neat- as if that is what Bedford would have done, if they did not have the TM on the drawing board (see how I brought the thread back to the original subject
I owned both an F88 and an F89, I’m trying to imagine the height that the engine sat in the chassis , and I recon that cab is sitting far too low for a Volvo engine, plus the engineering to couple it all together would have needed more than an old shed in a yard somewhere…now, I’m guessing that if they are Volvo axles then that’s what’s been fitted, just the axles… that’s more likely without too much adaption…
Fergie47:
I owned both an F88 and an F89, I’m trying to imagine the height that the engine sat in the chassis , and I recon that cab is sitting far too low for a Volvo engine, plus the engineering to couple it all together would have needed more than an old shed in a yard somewhere…now, I’m guessing that if they are Volvo axles then that’s what’s been fitted, just the axles… that’s more likely without too much adaption…
That’s probably more like it then, although I would not say any engineering feat was beyond a South American cobbler.