Ex-State vehicles - An Post, ESB vans, etc

Blue850

Forgotten about this thread, spotted this last year

chevyv8

Blue850 wrote: »

Forgotten about this thread, spotted this last year

yep , i am esb staff, and worked in the garage foer 22 years in leopardstown, that was a project of ours, it came out of polefield, very small mileage for its year, we worked on it , getting it road worthy for a show in the RDS, the hardest part was getting the original esb flash in gold sorted, we put new brakes, new tyres, it still had its original tyres from the 50s on it and these were cracked to hell , it got new seat coverings, anything that was needed was done, i remember taking her out for a test and the bloody brakes were next to non nothing, frightened the life outa me on stillorgan dual carriageway. i sent a chap out to fill her up with petrol and he rang me , he couldnt find the filler, i left him for half an hour, he couldnt find it anywhere, its ubder the drivers seat, talk about health and safety.we got new canvas for it , all the brass fittings were polished up by myself, that took ages, its a petrol engine 4 cylinder job, no power steering, good memories of it, i have loads of photos of esb stuff. thanks for bringing back some good memories there man,:D:D

Davy

chevyv8 wrote: »

yep , i am esb staff, and worked in the garage foer 22 years in leopardstown, that was a project of ours, it came out of polefield, very small mileage for its year, we worked on it , getting it road worthy for a show in the RDS, the hardest part was getting the original esb flash in gold sorted, we put new brakes, new tyres, it still had its original tyres from the 50s on it and these were cracked to hell , it got new seat coverings, anything that was needed was done, i remember taking her out for a test and the bloody brakes were next to non nothing, frightened the life outa me on stillorgan dual carriageway. i sent a chap out to fill her up with petrol and he rang me , he couldnt find the filler, i left him for half an hour, he couldnt find it anywhere, its ubder the drivers seat, talk about health and safety.we got new canvas for it , all the brass fittings were polished up by myself, that took ages, its a petrol engine 4 cylinder job, no power steering, good memories of it, i have loads of photos of esb stuff. thanks for bringing back some good memories there man,:D:D

What are the brackets for that are mounted on the front?

chevyv8

Davy wrote: »

What are the brackets for that are mounted on the front?

i take it you mean the ones on the front bumbers and wings. that landrover was originally used in polefield depot of the esb, its where the timber poles were kept, they were covered in some form of cresote to stop them rotting , but that stuff was highly flamable . the landrover was a fire tender , just in case... those fittings were for the hoses with the brass fittings, at the back of the landrover there is a water pump and a water tank for holding water to put out fires.as i said it was kept in polefield all its life and if memory serves me right there was not 15,000 on it.. i will see if ihave more photos of it when we were working on it.:D

Blue850

Davy wrote: »

What are the brackets for that are mounted on the front?

Carrying the firehoses like this one

chevyv8

bang on the nail. :D

101sean

There's a quite a few Series 1 fire engines around as they led such a cosseted existence in heated garages. Several were in service with various Counties until fairly recently, chatted to one owner last year who said the current whereabouts of them are all known. They were also popular with factories etc like the ESB one.

kev1.3s

there was a series 1 firetender in powers the land rover specialist's in wicklow some years back and also a esb series 2 landrover in hills of arklow around the same time. Wanted that s 2 so bad at the time but alas I was only 14 or 15! Wander where it is now?

chevyv8

kev1.3s wrote: »

there was a series 1 firetender in powers the land rover specialist's in wicklow some years back and also a esb series 2 landrover in hills of arklow around the same time. Wanted that s 2 so bad at the time but alas I was only 14 or 15! Wander where it is now?

the ESB had a few landrovers , the leopardstown garage serviced all the vehicles out leopardstown , bray and wicklow depots. there were 2 mid 7os landrovers that i remember very well, both of these vehicles have since been long sold off, the one from wicklow/bray i remember bringing it over for to be sold , it had no 2nd gear or reverse in it, it was bought by some company who deliver drink to folks houses. as far as i know its still being used in rathfarnham...

1948Wolseley

renny4 wrote: »

hi i just bought zs 3514 today

Cool!

Do you have any pictures?

trad

Citroen Guru wrote: »

I repaired and strengthened the chassis where it had bent when it was delivered on a spec lift.

From memory (if this was the Pearse St 2CV) the bend in the chassis would have been caused by the occupants, one was called Yogi, can't remember the other guy but to say they were overfed was an understatement.

SilverBullet

chevyv8 wrote: »

kev1.3s wrote: »

there was a series 1 firetender in powers the land rover specialist's in wicklow some years back and also a esb series 2 landrover in hills of arklow around the same time. Wanted that s 2 so bad at the time but alas I was only 14 or 15! Wander where it is now?

the ESB had a few landrovers , the leopardstown garage serviced all the vehicles out leopardstown , bray and wicklow depots. there were 2 mid 7os landrovers that i remember very well, both of these vehicles have since been long sold off, the one from wicklow/bray i remember bringing it over for to be sold , it had no 2nd gear or reverse in it, it was bought by some company who deliver drink to folks houses. as far as i know its still being used in rathfarnham...

Buddy of mine bought this for the beer deliveries, blew the head gasket and was parked up in his garden in Rathdarnam for a couple of years, has since disappeared, must find out what happened to it

chevyv8

SilverBullet wrote: »

Buddy of mine bought this for the beer deliveries, blew the head gasket and was parked up in his garden in Rathdarnam for a couple of years, has since disappeared, must find out what happened to it

cant be gone that long, seen it last year some time, id be interested in finding out about it.:cool::cool:

101sean

It'll be either in someone else's garden waiting to be restored or be spread around a number of other Land Rovers as spares!

kev1.3s

Also there was a guy just outside Aughrim who had a forward control and some early 2dr range rovers doe's anybody know what became of them? sorry for going off topic.

Gmin

There was an ex ESB Leyland truck in the grey/blue and yellow livery at the side of the road between Dundalk and Jonesborough last time I travelled that road.Not sure if it had a Hiab but if I recall correctly it was twin rear axle and had ballast weights on.

renny4

1948Wolseley wrote: »

Cool!

Do you have any pictures?

not yet would take too many pic as its in so many bits . any tips on where to get parts

Capri

kev1.3s wrote: »

Also there was a guy just outside Aughrim who had a forward control and some early 2dr range rovers doe's anybody know what became of them? sorry for going off topic.

Anyone remember the (Sahara gold ? ) RR 2 door the Gardai had with a big blue light / telescopic searchlights ?
I still have same blue light/searchlight unit off a Ford D-series V8 I bought from Limerick CC some years ago - gearbox blew in Tipp, got her towed to Abbeyleix where a friend kept it in his field till I moved it on.

Carazy

bijapos

SNAP! From Durrow '09.

hi5

An old p&t van being restored here

http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=277674

Blue850

double snap, Moynalty 2006, its a replica of an ESB van, I think it originally belonged to a bakery.

Blue850

From the National Library archive

kev1.3s

hi5 wrote: »

An old p&t van being restored here

http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=277674

Any more recent updates on that p n t van? What stage is it at now?

trevorbrady

I saw it in 2010, in storage. There has been an awful lot of work gone into it and an awful lot of replacement metal but I think it's on hold at the moment. I'm sure the owner will get back to it some day, it'll be nice to see a genuine P&T van rolling again

kev1.3s

I hope so it would be a shame to see all that good work go to waste. I think that the end of the Celtic tiger put a lot of these projects on ice.

trevorbrady

I just remembered this: taken mid to late '60s in Connolly's Garage, Kilkenny. My dad is the kid on the left, during his apprenticeship as a mechanic

the eagle eyed amongst you will spot it's a P&T van they're posing in front of...

mk1esc

thats bloody mad trevor, to see an old photo of one....great bit of history for the owner of the van

mk1esc

there was an old mk1 transit from 1968 on ebay a few weeks ago, it was an original fire department job from ireland..he was looking £1500, it looked like it was complete with a big pump in the rear etc....if i had the dosh i would have bought it and given it life again

gigtown

Just picked up a 05' 2.5 LWB. It's an ex-ESB van. The yellow is gas!

Anyway, I was just wondering if anybody new anything about restrictors on ex-ESB vans. Loses all acceleration at 110km. Not the turbo or the EGR valve according to the mechanic.

Any help appreciated.

Thanks.