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Coachbuilder, Manufacturer, Equipment maker · Worcester, United Kingdom · 1849–2018

Carmichael & Sons

Worcester coachbuilders founded in 1849 who turned to fire engines in 1947 and became Land Rover's approved fire-appliance converter. Carmichael built the Redwing range on the Series chassis and invented the six-wheeled Range Rover in 1971 — the Commando conversion that underpinned the RAF's TACR2 crash tender.

History

Carmichael and Sons was founded in 1849 as a coachbuilding firm by the Carmichael family, originally of Pershore, Worcestershire, and settled at Gregory's Mill Street in Worcester. For its first century it built specialist bodywork, much of it for agriculture. The Second World War brought a change of direction when the works was directed to produce portable fire pumps, and in 1947 the company built its first complete fire engine, for the Worcester Fire Brigade. Exports followed from 1952 with an appliance for the New Zealand Fire Service, and in 1962 Carmichael entered the airfield crash-tender market.

From the mid-1950s Carmichael was Land Rover's approved fire-appliance converter, a relationship that ran for decades. Its Redwing range on the 109-inch chassis — the normal-control FT/5 and the forward-control FT/6, with extended cab — became a staple of works, airfield and rural brigades at home and in export markets including Malaya, New Zealand and Trinidad, and served the British Army Fire Service. In 1971 the firm went further and built the first six-wheeled Range Rover: the Commando, a 775 mm rear body extension carrying a third, unpowered axle. That 6x4 layout was adopted by the Ministry of Defence for the TACR2 airfield crash rescue truck of 1977, with bodies built by Carmichael themselves as well as by Gloster Saro and HCB-Angus.

The company traded as Carmichael Fire and Bulk Ltd in the 1970s. It went into receivership in 1992 and was rescued by Trinity Holdings — then the owner of Dennis — which kept the Carmichael name and marque separate from Dennis's own fire range; the business was subsequently known as Carmichael International Ltd. That company was liquidated in 2004, its assets passing to AMDAC Carmichael Ltd, which in turn was liquidated in 2016; the successor, Carmichael Support Services Ltd, was renamed CSS Fire Vehicles Limited in January 2018.

Sources disagree about the end of the story. Terberg's own account is that CSS Worcester, formerly AMDAC Carmichael, ceased trading on 18 July 2018 and that Terberg DTS UK Ltd bought the remaining assets, stock, intellectual property, drawings and records from the liquidators, transferring them to its Gloucester fire and rescue division, which now provides parts and aftersales support for the Carmichael range. Wikipedia's article instead describes the business as continuing to manufacture and gives a website belonging to Simon Carmichael International Group. What is not in dispute is that fire-appliance manufacture at the original Worcester works has ended and the Carmichael name survives as a supported marque rather than an independent firm.

Imagery

Not a Land Rover: a 1956 Karrier Gamecock with Carmichael fire-engine body, new to Ruston Bucyrus of Lincoln, at the Lincoln Transport Museum in 2014 — typical of the firm's wider fire-appliance trade.
Not a Land Rover: a 1956 Karrier Gamecock with Carmichael fire-engine body, new to Ruston Bucyrus of Lincoln, at the Lincoln Transport Museum in 2014 — typical of the firm's wider fire-appliance trade. kitmasterbloke, via Wikimedia Commons · CC BY 2.0 ↗
A Hong Kong Fire Services Department Dennis Sabre with Carmichael 'Major Pumper' bodywork — Carmichael export work after the firm came under the same ownership as Dennis.
A Hong Kong Fire Services Department Dennis Sabre with Carmichael 'Major Pumper' bodywork — Carmichael export work after the firm came under the same ownership as Dennis. Can Pac Swire, via Wikimedia Commons · CC BY-SA 2.0 ↗

Vehicles in this registry (3)

Sources & citations

Maker record updated 2026-09-10T04:48:15.996Z · status: researched