Givealittle page for Te Puke's vintage fire engine

Te Puke Volunteer Fire Brigade's1938 Ford V8 Fire Truck in Saturday's Christmas Float Parade.

A vintage fire engine bought by Te Puke Volunteer Fire Brigade at the start of the year has been seen out and about quite a bit recently.

The fire engine was at last Friday's Te Puke Sports' grandstand opening and took pride of place in Saturday's Seeka Te Puke Christmas Float Parade on Saturday.

With its profile lifted, it's no coincidence that the brigade recently launched a Givealittle page to help raise funds for the engine.

While some necessary work has been done on the vehicle, the main thrust of fundraising so far has been to secure a permanent home for the vintage engine at Te Puke Fire Station.

Fire and Emergency New Zealand has given its support in principle to the idea.
Deputy chief fire officer Dale Lindsay was the driving force behind the fire engine's purchase.

''We've got some fantastic pledges of support from local firms,'' he says. ''We are waiting for a quote for the shed now, but the plan is we should have enough to build it early in the New Year, while the Givealittle page is to provide an ongoing source of funding.''

He says the main focus for the fire engine has been to make sure it is safe and to get it registered and warranted.

Some of the work was done by Martin Carey at Electrodip.

''He had it in his workshop and donated a quite a bit of time to getting it safe, so it's roadworthy now,'' says Dale.

''It's had a new set of tyres and we put a new exhaust on it. We've fixed the brakes, checked the engine, made sure the drive train's all good and checked the wiring. [Fire brigade volunteer] Keith Merritt did some of the wiring.

''It still looks pretty much the same as it did when we got it. It's an old truck that hadn't been driven on the road for quite a long time.''

The fire engine is a 1938 Ford V8 Fire Truck and is a similar model to a fire engine that was in active service in Te Puke until the late 1960s.

The earliest record of it being in New Zealand comes from when it was registered with the Upper Hutt Brigade. In 1958 it went to Patutahi, near Gisborne.

In 1971 it was transferred to the Southward (Car) Museum Trust.