It has been a while since I had written about old trucks on this blog, as naturally there were so many more cars to cover. However, I had always wanted to write about this 2001 Hino Ranger FC, which I saw entirely by chance - since the majority of trucks have a lifespan of 20 years, seeing one that was older than the lifespan is always a treat!
Hino Heavy Industry Co. Ltd was spun out as an independent company in 1942, where it made various armoured carriers during the war. The 'Heavy' name was dropped and the company took its name from the location of its headquarters in Hino city (within Tokyo prefecture). Hino made both trucks and cars, but car manufacturing ended in 1969 when it amalgamated with Toyota. Establishing itself as a manufacturer of heavy vehicles, Hino entered into various partnership agreements in various countries over the years. Today, Hino trucks continue to be prevalent in Singapore and to a lesser extent, buses.
The fourth-gen Hino Ranger appeared in 1989, where it was known as the Cruising Ranger. A facelift occurred in 1994 known as the Rising Ranger, where headlights became more rounded and grille design was changed. A final facelift happened in 1999, where it was now known as the Space Ranger. Rangers came in various sizes, denoted by different alphabets; for light medium trucks, they were designated as FC, FD, FE and GD. This unit is a Rising Ranger FC (despite being manufactured in 2001), and was powered by a 5307 cc J05C i4 diesel engine. It weighed 6440 kg and had a maximum laden weight of 10100 kg.
This particular unit is currently owned by the Singapore Civil Defence Force, where it saw service as a Large Monitor Vehicle (LMV): it is equipped with a water cannon at the back. It was put into action during a large fire at an oil refinery in Pulau Bukom in 2011 and still sports the older SCDF vehicle livery. Currently, it is off the road: as a fire-fighting vehicle, it is apparently exempt from being scrapped after 20 years even though the current LMV is a newer Isuzu Forward truck.
Production of the fourth-gen Ranger FC ended in 2001, although export models and special use versions continued to be manufactured until 2004 at least. Similar Rangers of this generation also existed in Singapore, though all were gone after 20 years. It is amazing that this humble Hino Ranger has seen service through fierce fires and that SCDF has continued to preserve it till today. I am not sure when it will be coming out again, but hopefully this has been informative in the existence of this life-saving truck!
No comments:
Post a Comment