The English-built Dennis - with an eight-cylinder Rolls Royce motor under a wooden frame covered in aluminium - was Dunedin's first purpose-built covered-in fire engine.
Restoration society secretary John Ingram said the engine was delivered new to its new home at the Central Fire Station in 1954 and remained there until the mid-1970s, when it was transferred to Invercargill.
It was later moved to Edendale, where it was used as a back-up when other engines were out of action.
For the past 15 years, the Dennis had been stored by the Invercargill Fire Brigade Restoration Society and, after about a year's negotiation, was finally returned to Dunedin on ‘‘permanent loan''.
The engine, which had suffered a ‘‘fair battering'' over its years, would be restored by volunteers from the society over the next two years at a cost of ‘‘tens of thousands'' of dollars, Mr Ingram said.
Dunedin firefighter Jeff Woodford, who drove the engine in the 1970s when it was posted at Dunedin Central Fire Station, was on hand yesterday when the society, of which he is a member, took delivery of the Dennis.
Mr Woodford was looking forward to seeing the engine restored to its former glory.
