Bus Shite

[dollywobbler]

(Ooh did you know the Leyland National was actually a Crossley?)

 

Pray tell

 

Did you know the LN was style by David Bache, who also knocked out the handsome Rover P6?

 

The National was designed by Michelotti was it not?

[mk2_craig]

I give you this:

 

 

That looks like a very neat little device. I wonder why they didn't manage to sell thousands?

[quicksilver]

I give you this:

That looks like a very neat little device. I wonder why they didn't manage to sell thousands?

That's a Dennis Domino, basically a shortened double-deck Dominator chassis so it seems rather over-engineered for a midibus. From what I've heard their performance was abysmal. Dennis's next attempt at a midibus was a lot more successful of course.

[rml2345]

Domino's were spectacularly over engineered for what they were and pretty heavy.

I bet they were bloody expensive too!

 

 

(Ooh did you know the Leyland National was actually a Crossley?)

 

Pray tell

 

Was Crossley not a dormant Leyland group company that they renamed to become the "Leyland National Bus Co."?

The AEC Bridgenaster was a Crossley as well...

[Inspector Morose]

^ in one. Crossley was a dormant company by the time of the National. A new company was needed as it was a joint project of Leyland and the National Bus Company. Instead of all the hassle of setting a new company up, Crossley was dusted off and re-named the Leyland National Bus Manufacturing Co Ltd.

IIRC the first four Bridgemasters were badged Crossleys and indeed was a Crossley design but production ones were built and badged AEC.

 

Indeed, the front and rear styling of the original National was by Michelotti, Mr Bache might or might not have had a hand in the tidying up of the Mk 2 styling. I've never got to the bottom of that one, even talking to some of the people who worked on the Mk 2 and Mk 1 projects.

 

Oh and there are 4856 rivets in a National (10.3m)

 

I have no life.

[simmo]

Whytes Airport Services, Heathrow staff and passenger buses from thirty years ago:

 

[quicksilver]

Fords and Nationals, excellent, but what the hell is the thing in pic 4? I've never seen one of those before.

[rml2345]

I had no idea either but a quick Google says it's a Reeve Burgess bodied Shelvoke & Drewry something or other. 

 

http://www.flickr.com/photos/1cliffie1/8075269113/in/photostream/

[simmo]

[Peter Patina]

Mk. 1 Nationals still look absolutely superb. Externally perfect in every dimension and from every angle. A stirring sight on a country road.,esp. in NBC leaf green n' whitetop  Dual-Purpose livery.

 

It's the design that got me into design.

[Junkman]

Preserved ex-Munich public transport 1968 MAN 750 HO M 11 A anyone?

 

[rml2345]

 

They sound bloody lovely. 

[Junkman]

Precombustion chamber Diesel.

[Conrad D. Conelrad]

There was a lovely National item on the local news tonight. Since 1998 a man has been driving one full of computers around the Isle of Man teaching kids about... uh, computers and has just been named an 'innovator' by Apple. He says he will keep doing it as long as the bus keeps running!

 

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-isle-of-man-25959810

 

[Volksy]

 

They sound bloody lovely. 

 

Don't seem to hang about either!

[Grundig]

 

They sound bloody lovely. 

 

Nah.... this is how a proper bus sounds 

 

[Split_Pin]

I think it was someone on here who has a recording on You Tube if a beautifully driven 510 engined National belonging to WJC Buses. Brilliant sound, very nasal sounding. Bit like Kenneth Williams I suppose.

[Felly Magic]

A Scottish liveried restored Y Type stickbox Leopard has turned up on the bay of evilness, for sale in Casvegas, Yorks, and it is a tidy old thing, price is a bit salty at £10k though

[Stroller133]

I love the chug chug sound of that national when ticking over. I thought I remembered that about them and that just confirmed it. When I was about 13 I use to buy a 'dayrider' ticket on a Saturday and try and go on as many buses as I could.

[quicksilver]

Time to post here again. I have an ongoing project to scan in all my old 35mm prints from the days before I went digital. Many of these haven't been looked at in years and the albums are stored in no particular order so what turns up next is always a surprise. I've just completed one from the summer of 1998 when I just 12 - the quality is often rubbish but high-res scanning and post-processing can make them look half-decent. Plenty more on flickr but have some Ford chod as a taster.

 

Ken's Ford by quicksilver coaches, on Flickr

 

More Star quality by quicksilver coaches, on Flickr

[dollywobbler]

Good grief that Transit looks grim!

[Grundig]

 

 

Ken's Ford by quicksilver coaches, on Flickr

 

.. A teasing glimpse of a Neoplan Skyliner too   

[quicksilver]

.. A teasing glimpse of a Neoplan Skyliner too 

It was a German one, the only photo I have shows half of it with the front cut off cos in those days I waz FOTOMONG. Most are out of focus, too far away and/or with bits missing and worthy of an ebay ad, but very occasionally I managed to get it right.

[Felly Magic]

Old shite vehicle builders name?                   CHECK

Copy of a Marshall Body Design?                  CHECK

Chassis based on a Dennis Lance SLF?      CHECK

Poor quality Turkish Cummins engine?         CHECK

Ford Cargo steering column & stalks?          CHECK

Turkish build quality?                                      CHECK

 

Ladies & gents I give you my old BMC Condor 225 SLF, the engine lasted 2000 km before it shat its oil pump and seized, another in the fleet had its booster socked wired in reverse, so when it was boosted it fried the ECU's. Several had faulty Voith 4 speed boxes, they were dreadful buses, with no weight on the front end, and stupidly light steering, and virtually no suspension, however, the body structure is nigh on nuke proof, made from pig iron, and these friggers weigh 12 tonnes unladen! One made mincemeat of a Lexus that pulled out in front of the driver, bus just had a cracked screen and a split fibreglass front corner & broken headlamp, was back out the next morning!

 

 

[oman5]

proper bus shite.^^

[morris_ital_lover]

Did BMC's get bought anything other than school runs? Unfortunately it seems BMC have gone bust, finally taking the Sherpa into the history books.

[HillmanImp]

[Felly Magic]

I tried advising an operator up north not to buy one of the ultra rare service bus spec Condors from Tom the Dwarf of York, but the daft sod bought it because it was cheap, ignoring the fact that it had been stood for over 2 years, and parts back up is nil, and there is only 1 dealer, Knottingley Trucks. Where I worked, we had 50 of the feckin things and at one point 8 of them at Leeds yard were 'spares', as we needed them to manage output daily. Some days we actually didn't have enough for output, so one of the Mercedes Benz Varios would end up being used on the lightly loaded services. I was in charge of maintaining the feckers, and every day I was liaising with either Longmoors, Knottingley Trucks, BMC UK, Cummins, or Voith for some fault. It didn't help that the BMC area fitter was a big, useless fat plank either, who to be honest wouldn't know what an engine was if it hit him on the head. MPG was piss poor too, my run was about 45 miles a day if that, and it would use over 220 litres of diesel a week. I don't think the Voith box helped that in 1st, they would all go into the red line before changing up, then the yawning chasm in the 2nd ratio would mean the engine laboured. Deffo should have been fitted with 5 speed ZF's at least. Mine even had a massively under reading speedo, when it was showing 56 mph, it was actually doing 65, the digit tacho and satnav confirmed this, so I always went by that. 

 

Also when these were new back in 2006/7, they were £95k plus VAT, which is nothing for a 57 seater fitted with seatbelts and a CD player. Optares equivalent was over £150k plus VAT, so that explained a hell of a lot.

 

Fuckin shitheaps!

[Felly Magic]

Here we have the infamous Breezeblock, a Scania N113CRL, an ex demo that ended up with Rider Leeds in the 'Superbus' fleet for use on the Scotthalls & Garforths. It had 2 steps up into the cab, as you sat on top of the fuel tank, which needed to be big, as Scanias like a drink. It originally had large square headlamps, but after a smash, parts could not be sourced, so boggo BMAC indicators and cheapo round headlamps were bodged to fit. It was fairly fast, but not that nice to drive, and yes the bodywork was built by those masters of style, East Lancashire Coachbuilders, to a Scandinavian design

 

[Grundig]

 

A Bristol RE - not in Bristol though