Oxford Diecast - NDEN001 - Truck, Dennis F-Series - Fire and Rescue - OLB 728

Specific Item Information: The name Dennis is synonymous with fire appliances and yet the two brothers Raymond and John started out in 1895 in a Devonshire village on a path which would lead them to producing cars, lawn mowers, buses and lorries as well as fire appliances. They started producing the F series of fire engines in 1946, with the F12 being the most popular. In those days, its construction comprised a wooden frame with an aluminium skin. It appeared in both rear and side pump versions and was used widely throughout the UK.

Prototype History: The 'F Series' of fire engines went into production in 1946, with a variety of different models, the most familiar being the F7 and the F12, the latter, introduced in 1950, being the more popular with a larger production run. Soon after its introduction, most English Fire Brigades had ordered the F12, Middlesex being the best customer with 21 of them. For lightness, the F12 body had all aluminium panels attached to a wooden frame. It was powered by a straight-eight B80 MkX 5.7-litre Rolls-Royce petrol engine producing 195bhp. This gave the machine a good turn of speed, achieving 60mph in about 45 seconds with top speed easily in excess of this..

The F12 was popular with the crews and considered the finest appliance of its day, particularly with its heated cab, a big improvement over other fire engines such as the Leyland. By the time the F12 went out of production in 1959, 336 examples had been built..

This Rolls-Royce straight-eight powered Dennis F12 was first registered to Somerset County Council in November 1953. It appears to have served in Taunton until the mid ‘70s when it was passed to B Passey & Sons in Benson Oxfordshire. It joined the Stondon Collection in 1997 and comes with a current V5C, original buff logbook and a comprehensive instruction book on the Dennis F2 and F12 Fire engines.

Road Name History: A fire department (American English) or fire brigade (British English), also known as a fire protection district, fire authority, or simply fire service is a public or private organization that provides predominantly emergency firefighting and fire protection services for a specific geographic area, which is typically a municipality, county, state, or special district. In the United States a fire brigade is the private firefighting organization of a company or enterprise, operated under rules from OSHA. A fire department usually contains one or more fire stations within its boundaries, and may be staffed by career firefighters, volunteer firefighters, or a combination thereof (referred to as a combination department).

A fire department may also provide fire protection or fire prevention services, whereby firefighters visit homes and give fire safety advice and fit smoke alarms for members of the public. In many countries fire protection or prevention is seen as an important role for the fire service, as preventing a fire from occurring in the first place can save lives and property.

From Wikipedia

Manufacturer Information: Established in 1993, Oxford Diecast is a British Company that specializes in high-quality die-cast metal vehicles. Produced in various scales, the firm's models are marketed as collector items, gifts, and promotional products. Their largest production goes to OO scale (1:76) and in 2015 they introduced railway products under 'Oxford Rail' brand.
Their N-scale collection is using the 1:148 scale ratio as most British manufacturers.