It's only fitting that a fire truck that once helped protect Kangaroo Valley has come back home.
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A Blitz truck dating back to 1942 is now back in Kangaroo Valley after being limbo in Central West of NSW.
The latest chapter of the Blitz's journey started last year.
Members of the Kangaroo Valley RFS got a message last year alerting them that the Blitz had been put up for sale online.
Brigade captain David 'Dusty' Smart said the chance of getting the Blitz back to the village was an opportunity they did not want to miss out on.
"We had gathered for a few refreshments on Anzac Day last year and it was suggested we pool our resources and get the Blitz back," he said.
Their bid was successful and the Blitz was returned to the village.
"It's an interesting old beast of a thing," Dusty said.
"It's a bit rough and ready inside but it still goes."
From the farm shed it has been kept in for the past months it was driven, not on a main road, down to the Kangaroo Valley Show recently and put on display.
The Blitz created lots of interest.
"Lots of the old-timers were happy to see it and it made their day," Dusty said.
These long term residents may also be called upon to help gather background information.
The Blitz still has its original Kangaroo Valley and Shoalhaven Shire Council signage.
The truck was bought from a farm in Bathurst.
Dusty does not know how the Blitz ended up in the Bathurst area.
"I have been in the brigade for 39 years and it was not here when I started," he said.
He does have memories, when he was younger, of seeing the Blitz near the primary school, but thinks it left the village by the late 1960s.
They are now working on a restoration project and are seeking corporate partners.
The aim is to get the truck up and running and house it undercover at the Pioneer Village Museum.
"They are keen to have it at the museum," Dusty said.
Dusty added they would still want to make the Blitz available for community events like all the local agricultural shows.
The restoration team is also keen to get parts for a Blitz that people may have sitting around their sheds.
For more information on the project, including becoming a corporate sponsor, people can contact Dusty on 0412 865 638.
He describes it as a good and positive community campaign.
Money donated to brigade was not used to purchase the Blitz as the restoration project is totally separate from the unit's firefighting role.
About the Blitz
Canadian Military Pattern (CMP) trucks were a class and a coherent range of military trucks, made in large numbers, and in numerous variants, by Canada during World War II, compliant to British Army specifications, primarily intended for use in the armies of the British Commonwealth allies, but also serving in other units of the British Empire.
In Australian service (almost always with the No. 13 cab), these vehicles were known as the "Chev Blitz" or the "Ford Blitz".
Most CMP trucks were manufactured by the Canadian Chevrolet division of General Motors, and Ford Motor Company of Canada.
The two manufacturers were able to quickly ramp up their Canadian production, by utilising their large amounts of reserve production capacity that had remained idle ever since the Great Depression, and through an unusual act of collaboration between the two rival companies, including the use of interchangeable components.
Following British convention, CMP trucks had right-hand drive even though most of them were built in Canada, which primarily used left-hand drive vehicles.
The CMP specification proved versatile, and it formed the basis of a wide variety of different truck types and even some armoured vehicles.
Encompassing a bewildering variety, there were no less than ninety types of CMP army vehicles, on twelve different chassis, including three different types of wireless trucks, four ambulance types, and thirteen field workshop vehicles.