Workshop Makes Luxury Coaches And Fire Trucks

Press, Volume XCVII, Issue 28671, 22 August 1958, Page 19

Workshop Makes Luxury Coaches And Fire Trucks

_ ? I1^ n ’^ )uses the Timaru City Council and 20 high-speed aviation-type fire engines for various parts of New Zealand, have been designed in a Riccarton workshop. The first few vehicles of the two big orders arfc under construction and they will be on service in a few months.

The Timaru buses are among a fleet of 17 the motor bodybuilding company of G. B. McWhinnie, Ltd., has built for the City Council there in the last eight years. The buses are 30ft long and will seat 36 persons each on foam rubber squabs mounted in tubular frames. Work on the newlyordered units is just beginning (the first is in the skeleton stage). When completed, the buses will be worth approximately £6500 each. It is hoped they will be on the road by Christmas.

The fire trucks are heavy streamlined vehicles with steel bodies and high-powered engines that will take them to speeds in excess of 60 miles an hour. Fullyequipped. they have swivelling searchlights, "flashing warning lamps, and sirens. Nine of the trucks will have 500-gallon water tank capacity and foam tanks; and the other 11 will have 1000-gallon water capacity and foam tanks. The vehicles will be fitted with heat exchanger units to keep the engines cool when pumping is proceeding while the truck is stationary. On his return from active service after World War 11, Mr

George McWhinnie began operations as a motor body builder in a disused stable in Sydenham. Mr Eric Sutton joined as a partner and now the • firm, which shifted to Riccarton in 1951, employs a staff of 20 tradesmen and others.

The firm has built bodies for ambulances, vans, refrigerated trucks, four luxury motorcoaches, and specialised units with extensive fittings for the Country Library Service and the North Canterbury Blood Transfusion Service.

Buses have also been built for the Wellington City Transport and the publishers of the “Southland Daily News” in Invercargill. Hot and Cold on Tap

Into the luxury vehicles went, among other things. 52,000 rivets,' and hot and cold running water. A world-famous American bus passenger fleet had cold running water, but the New Zealand body builder and operator claimed their buses to be the only ones in existence with hot water (used mainly for beverages and dishwashing). Mr McWhinnie designs vehicle bodies for the motor chasses himself. Asked if he had a draughting room, he said: “There,” and pointed to a leaning bench about half the size of an average kitchen table, attached to his office wall.