RE: PH Carpool: Thornycroft Nubian Major

[W124Bob]

williamp said:

Thats great. Well done. Are you going to get a 6 wheeled range rover as a rapid response vehicle? My work experience was at an airfield, and sometimes invovled riding around in one of those.

Theres a mint Range Rover 6x6 fire vehicle sitting in the old goods yard next to the railway at Aynho.

[Digga]

When I was abouttwo or three years old, I had a Ladybrid book of lorries and, apparently, some of of the first words I uttered were truck names. I very quickly got proficient at spotting trucks too.

I did struggle with "Thornycroft Nubian Major" and have scarecly heard the name since then, so this is a bit of a blast from the past for me.

Not sure if the OP has answered the question raised earlier; who is "we"? Do you have a collection of vehicles and are there a few of you involved?

[evosport]

I think this was originally based @ Farnbourgh, my partners father was chief fire officer there, and this was his pride & joy.

[Roadster25]

williamp said:

This is the big problem I have with the fire brigade. When I become president, they will all be known as fire engines, not "appliances"

Anyhow, has anyone seen these:

So 1980s, so fantastically futuristic.


And there is one for sale! Come on James, do the decent thing: buy one, then let us have a ride in it!

I remember sitting in one of those as a cadet at RAF Cottesmore some time in the late 90s. Apparently the Elise of fire engines, if the crew were to be believed.

Best bit (at the time) was the joystick to control the water cannon on the front.

[monkers]

We bought the Nubian because of its rarity; it is a unique prototype model that was originally built for evaluation purposes. It was the first we had seen in over three years of searching, and for one to come up in such good condition made it a 'must'

eerrrmm, "a unique prototype" "It was the first we had seen in over three years of searching, and for one to come up in such good condition made it a 'must"

Surely it was the ONLY one that could have come up it being unique and all that!!

[heightswitch]

Any petrol head who truly loves power loves these things.

My other loves are AEC Militants and Scammel explorers.

This is a good example of power (the pet crow also makes the video)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ztS6JTJ6IJY

This is why 6x6 is needed watch how quickly this thing gets across the grass and lays the foam

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tu89SIBDizQ

[jdizl]

DaveL485 said:

Please tell me the big water cannon on the top works....???

you betcha, 5000 gal per minute through that at 200 psi!

james

[jdizl]

heightswitch said:

Any petrol head who truly loves power loves these things.

My other loves are AEC Militants and Scammel explorers.

This is a good example of power (the pet crow also makes the video)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ztS6JTJ6IJY

This is why 6x6 is needed watch how quickly this thing gets across the grass and lays the foam

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tu89SIBDizQ

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_vZjI942qbI&feature=related
the link to out matador! great to see there are PHers who're into their trucks too!

thanks james

[jdizl]

monkers said:

We bought the Nubian because of its rarity; it is a unique prototype model that was originally built for evaluation purposes. It was the first we had seen in over three years of searching, and for one to come up in such good condition made it a 'must'

eerrrmm, "a unique prototype" "It was the first we had seen in over three years of searching, and for one to come up in such good condition made it a 'must"

Surely it was the ONLY one that could have come up it being unique and all that!!

sorryy, shouldve been more specific. it was the first nubian of any sort we saw in the said 3 years of searching..

james

[jdizl]

Digga said:

When I was abouttwo or three years old, I had a Ladybrid book of lorries and, apparently, some of of the first words I uttered were truck names. I very quickly got proficient at spotting trucks too.

I did struggle with "Thornycroft Nubian Major" and have scarecly heard the name since then, so this is a bit of a blast from the past for me.

Not sure if the OP has answered the question raised earlier; who is "we"? Do you have a collection of vehicles and are there a few of you involved?

we is me and my father, were a good team. i usually act banksman and he driver, but thats not fixed when were on private land..;)

and yes we have an extensive collection of vehicles, including 6 green goddesses, an AEC matador, militant and an 0854 airfield mat

two bedford RL wreckers

two bedford RL AFS pipe carriers

a bedford MJ

3 alvis salamanders

1 alvis stalwart mk1
and the list goes onn.........

otherwise the main group we are involved with is a wartime firefighting re-enactment group called http://nfs-afs.org.uk/ based in nottinghamshire

james

[jdizl]

williamp said:

This is the big problem I have with the fire brigade. When I become president, they will all be known as fire engines, not "appliances"

Anyhow, has anyone seen these:

So 1980s, so fantastically futuristic.


And there is one for sale! Come on James, do the decent thing: buy one, then let us have a ride in it!

sory williamp, not quite my cup of tea! you can have a ride in one of our other things though:')

james

[jdizl]

xxplod]8 FOU said:

Sooo, as a, ahem, airport vehicle etc, can you run it on red diesel?
That'd save a few bob at 80p /litre!!

You'd never be caught if you did!

not so sure, sounds a little sketchy.. i think our steam cleaner is about the limit for red diesel!

james

[jdizl]

evosport said:

I think this was originally based @ Farnbourgh, my partners father was chief fire officer there, and this was his pride & joy.

yes it was! do you think he has any information on it? it sounds like itwould be interesting to talk to him sometime!

james

[jdizl]

HorneyMX5 said:

I love old trucks. You need to bring it home to the Basingstoke Festival of Transport, there's always a few interesting Thronycroft vehicles assembled there.

Nick

basingstoke it a little far for us, Nick - were based on the wirral! you could probably see it at its next planned outing at the end of July at Welland Steam Rally in the malvern hills
http://www.wellandsteamrally.co.uk/

thanks James

[jdizl]

Whitean3 said:

So surely I'm not the only one thinking that a wee bit more POWWEEERRR! wouldn't be too difficult to achieve

it doesnt need anything more from the engine - it'll happily go faster than you want it to, cruising at fifty no prob, topping out 70-80mph 6 feet up in the air grappling with a massive steering wheel isnt too appealing...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dGp9gWv_KK0&lis...

^^^ speak of the devil, theres a video i took from in the cab on the way back from collecting it!

james

[jdizl]

GTiFrank said:

Brilliant carpool! Will always remember my ride in a green goddess at lasham airfield. "easy to drive" was not the 1st thing that sprang to mind though!

we're used to green goddesses too, we have six. and when i say easy to drive, its GG's im comparing too, not a kia cee'd or something!

gotta love goddesses though...

james

[jdizl]

Tedz said:

Excellent, thanks! Surely one bit to add to the "Things I Hate" section, would be parking the thing?!

nahh, it goes on top of most things..


thanks for commenting!

james

[jdizl]

Vilhelm said:

Badass. I want it.

i want it more -_-

james

[jdizl]

Low Pro said:

What a machine!!! im pretty sure Thornycroft made tank transporters too, great Carpool tho!

indeed they did, the thornycroft mighty antar is vice god to me! 18 litres of rolls royce beaut!

james

[jdizl]

nxi20 said:

The mere sight of the title of this story transported me back to 1974 when I worked in a garage over the summer holidays & the owner had just bought one of these (a straight 8 petrol version, I'm pretty sure) to use as a heavy haulage recovery truck. We hacked off everything aft of the cab, installed a 300 gallon fuel tank, an enormous winch & reinforced the rear tow hitch for a swan-necked towbar. It did about 1 or 2mpg when hauling 25 tons and the first time it went down a steep hill with a load on the back the brakes all caught fire.

Happy days

Edited by nxi20 on Thursday 16th February 15:03

Edited by nxi20 on Thursday 16th February 15:03

thats right, some were fitted with the rolls royce b81 straight 8 with around 240hp, they make one of the best sounds ive ever heard.. in fact it went in a load of things including the alvis stalwart -thats where i know it from.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BiwCSB_S9XI&fea...
^^this ones ours

what happened to your one in the end?

james