Fire engine

In the early 1970s, the TVH (TVL) invited tenders for the manufacture of sixteen fire engines from three domestic car-body manufacturers. Kulmala Veljekset gave my design team the job of designing the body of a fire truck.

The car will be built on the chassis of an American heavy truck (Fargo Ford International) with body panels up to the windscreen. The aim was to reduce the cost of building the vehicle body and give it a modern look.

The body we designed was constructed as follows:

A) The sheets were bent in one direction only, abandoning the expensive ball surface shapes.

B) The reinforcement of the body was done in the roof section (aircraft plane construction), because no welds or bolt holes were allowed in the car's beams.

C) The roof and wall sections were built in jigs in separate pieces.

D) The body windows were enlarged, improving visibility.

The construction costs of the body we designed fell by 15 percent. The low price of the car and the carefully drafted photos of the new look led to a positive outcome for the client.