Y-6 1920 Rolls-Royce 'Fire Engine'.

[GHOSTHUNTER]

Y-6 1920 Rolls-Royce 'Fire Engine'.JPG (55.43 KiB) Viewed 2177 times

I consider this as the most fascinating model in the 'Yesteryear' range because of the way it came to market and the subject chosen, a real Rolls-Royce 'Fire Engine'.

The real car did indeed exist, based on a 1921 Silver Ghost chassis (not 1920 chosen by Matchbox), and because it was a fairly late car, the wing line is much more swoopy than that used on the model, but it is because of how the model was created that dictated the use of the chosen castings. The model as introduced in early 1977, used the whole base and wings casting from the Y-7 1912 Rolls-Royce, the windscreen casting from the Y-2 'Prince Henry' Vauxhall and a slightly modified plastic ladder moulding from the #35 Merryweather Fire Engine. An early prototype model even used some of the main body from the Vauxhall.

REAL rolls_19.jpg (47.77 KiB) Viewed 2177 times

The real car has sadly been mislaid but the bell does exist.

I will have to complete this when on my VAIO, the Macbook is rubbish for what I need to do next...!

Ghosthunter.

[Moyboy]

With a little bit of refinement this model could have looked heaps better. Just look at those wheels on the original vehicle - surely they would have been easy to reproduce instead of silly gold 12 spokes.

[matchboxmarcel]

A nice old photo of the real car, thanks for posting.
I remember this was considered to come out with a trailer.
Preproduction samples were made by Ken Wetton and pictures of that model were pubished in MICA allthough the model does not to be part of the more well-known MOY collections.

marcel

[Fox]

I think I read André saying that no real Rolls-Royce corresponding to this model existed...
May be I'm wrong. No matter. I'm happy to learn every day, and I thank you for that Kevin.

[GHOSTHUNTER]

Hi Mick.
As you know, the 'Fire Engine' was hastily put together to replace the proposed Talbot Van as #Y-6 and so the accuracy of the model suffered due to little time for development. To make an approximation model of the real car, it was easier, quicker and cheaper to create the model from parts already in production.

Hi Marcel.
Ken Wetton took his prototype models with Him when he left Lesney in early 1979, to add to his very large private model 'Fire Engine' collection. I don't know what happened to this collection when he passed away in late December 1981.

Hi Stephane.
There certainly was a real car the model was based on but sadly it was not available at the time the Lesney team went to the village in Kent (Borough Green), to get photos and drawings etc, but the details were supplied from old records still kept from when the 'Fire Engine' was disposed of many, many Years ago and for their efforts, the Village was presented with an example of the model mounted on a Wooden plynth by the Lesney team, shown below.

Borough Green presentation model_zps9djqqpwq.jpg (25.11 KiB) Viewed 2156 times

Ghosthunter.

[Idris]

A lot of history here.

[matchboxmarcel]

A lot of history here.

GREAT article !
Thanks Kevin, I did know Ken passed away but did not know that this was dec 1981.
Hope his models were not trown into the bin.

marcel

[ritchie]

A great thread for this model, thanks!

[kwakers]

A 17 year old Rolls being put into Fire Service for only 5 short years after all that work on her. What a fascinating story and a piece of early U.K. Firefighting history!! I am betting that any "Modern" 1943 replacement for that Rolls could never muster the same 60 miles per hour road speed, and would never be as dependable as that stately old "Ghost" was when it was pressed into service.
As a veteran Antique car collector, it amazes me that the trail went cold on finding any sign of that early Rolls even so many years later. Chances are high that the Fire Truck still exists (Maybe in pieces) somewhere in the U.K., or perhaps even here in America because of the demand for parts for ANY early Rolls Royce Automobile of that vintage. Thanks for this interesting Post on Lesney's Y-6 Yesteryear, and also for the follow-up article on the real life Fire vehicle which inspired it to be created. What a Great piece of History you have detailed for us here......Cheers! kwakers

[GHOSTHUNTER]

The model was first introduced in early 1977, it stayed in production until mid 1978, then production was suspended while the tooling for the baseplate was modified to show the 'Y-6' model number which upto this point only showed the 'Y-7' number, because the baseplate was borrowed from the Y-7 1912 Rolls-Royce and they did not check this when the 'Fire Engine' went into production. Production resumed in late 1978 with the new baseplate now showing 'Y-6 & Y-7' and production continued into the early 1980's. It was technically catalogued until 1988, but it is not clear if the models were actually being made or just pulled from stock. There was a Three model 'Gift Set' introduced in 1986 which included the Y-6 'Fire Engine' but the specification of these late versions are not a lot different from 1984 made models.

So this would appear to have been a popular model and with such a long production period, you can expect a number of versions with casting modifications to exist and there are some models that fall into the Hard to Find category.

Ghosthunter.