Firing on all cylinders
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(der readers will remember that
catchphra se by, I think, either Max Miller or Paddy Ashdown, that went, "Nice one Cyril!" It came to this aged mind when I learned that Cyril Metson of Ramsey, Huntingdon has become an interim award winner in the Scania Transport Trust Awards for his restoration of a 1942 Austin K2 fire tender, complete with pumps and associated fiddly bits. Now how did he manage that?
Well, he bought the tender at the
Peterborough Vintage Commercial Vehicle Auction in September 1990. Since then he has spent more than 2,500 hours lovingly restoring the vehicle, adding trailer pumps and memorabilia, The vehicle, produced by Austin Motors, first sow service with Durham County Council before the war followed by a post-war stint with Durham Fire Brigade, when it was converted to a mobile canteen, putting out the fires in men's bellies instead of on roofs.