Demonstrator by for DECCA on NI K1 60 chassis
Page 37
If you've noticed an error in this article please click here to report it so we can fix it.
OR something similar. Result: the delivery in but six months of a Dove's-of-Croydon-built demonstrator on a BMC FJK 160 (Austin 8-ton) chassis
Within two months, the installation of complex radar equipment was completed.
And last week L. F. Dove (Commercial Vehicles) Ltd., Austin House, Lower Addiscombe Road, Croydon, invited CM to inspect the demonstrator.
Dove displayed it with pride—justifiably —as "one of the most sophisticated road vehicles yet produced". It is intended for Decca sales tours of Europe and behind the Iron Curtain. Hence its left-hand drive.
And it is seldom that a home market vehicle sales organization can contribute in this positive way to the export drive.
The for'ard cabin is the demonstration room and the after cabin is a bar of which any naval steward would be proud. Both cabins are air-conditioned. Finish throughout is excellent.
To simulate operating conditions on the radar screens in the control room, Dove had to devise a method of raising two scanners 20 ft. It did so by mounting the hydraulic mechanism and rams of a forklift truck over the rear wheels of the chassis and concealing the controls in a polished timber compartment in the control room.
So the vehicle is entirely independent, a generator for 240v supply has been fitted at the rear. To minimize noise and to ensure the vibration does not interfere with customers' comfort or disturb the radar equipment, the generator is lowered to the ground by hydraulic rams when required for use.
Mr. G. E. Joseph, Dove commercial vehicles sale director and Mr. A. W. G. Ballard of Decca were responsible for much of the design and for co-ordinating the many specialist contractors required to produce the vehicle.
The BMC 8-ton series FJK 160 standard wheelbase (201 in.) was extended to enable an extra long body to be mounted.
The bodywork is built wholly in aluminium and is insulated to prevent major heat gain or loss while the vehicle is operating in extreme cold to extreme heat.