If Autoshite did buses...

[mattblack]

Spotted at Showbus at Duxford on Sunday...

 

 

 

And our transport for the day, courtesy of one O/Hs work colleagues... East lancs-bodied 1985 Dennis Dominator, ex-Leicester and Warrington...

 

[dollywobbler]

Cool! Love Nationals.Saw a few buses on the A14 yesterday, so guessed this was on. Six-wheeled Bedford VAL was a nice spot.

[ayrshirelad]

One thing wrong with the good old Leyland National.Well several really but, from the drivrs point of view,The steering.Wonderfull Not.The demisters wee another work of geniues.Any school child will tell you heat rises.What did Leyland do put the heat vents ABOVE the windscreen so hot air blew down on to the screen except it didnt.The hottest part of the saloon was the roof space.Get a good one though and they ok buses.Driven properly the 500 series sounds good.Unfortunatly most get thrashed big tiem.Revved to the limit then flung threw the gears.A misunderstood bus i think.

[HillmanImp]

There was no power steering on these. God they were hard to drive.

 

Kool as milk though. My favourite buses the Leyland Nationals. The last one i was driving was going till about 1999 under its Sainsbury livery. Was proper knacked though. Had another in proper stagecoach colours that is now in a museum in Ireland that was on a V reg. Cant remember the exact number now.

 

 

Dont think it is one i have ever driven, but is a Southdown.. But pretty fly all the same.

[ayrshirelad]

Nationals came with power steering as standard.Nbc as it was was supposed to help Leyland in designing it.Sometimes the steering is mega heavy and feels like it no got power assistance but it is there.One or two of ours were like that where as others you could literally turn with your pinky!The fact that you didnt know what the front wheels were doing is neither here nor there! Our last ones went from Killie depot anyway 1999.The last two being an ex ba mk1 reengined with a volvo engine and an x central smt mk1 rengined with a daf engine.All our mk2 had gone by then.The current youth express bus is the last National in the whole of the stagecoach uk bus fleet far as i know.Again x ba but still with her 510 engine.The mk1s lasted on Rothsay till the turn of the Milllienum before coming off the road far as my memory serves!

[brammy777]

I have only ever seen one National on the road this millenium and that was not far from Basingstoke doing rail replacement.In my opinion, stagecoachs older livery suited them proper well.Speaking of old buses, there is STILL a VR doing schoolruns round here, I honestly though they were too valuable for such work now?

[Dukestar25]

I nearly spewed up on my 'puter when i saw that National. A truly hideous, noisy, smokey tea-tray on wheels... hated travelling on them I cannot imagine it being humanly possible to drive one of these with keep-fit steering. I hear they're a b**ch to mend as well (bespoke parts, special tools required etc.)... Thanks for the memory

[Cavcraft]

Another National lover here but I've never driven one (nor any bus except an Omega!) so haven't a clue what they're like to drive.They seemed to be the weapon of choice back in the day though, Crosville seemed to have hundreds of the things and every where you went you'd see a National somewhere.

[dollywobbler]

I've only driven a National 2, and I'm pretty sure that had some sort of steering assistance. They're just a huge part of my childhood and it was great to discover that the very buses that took me to school later conveyed me home from Birmingham's nightclubs - with seemingly the same poor drivers! (Caves if anyone Midlands remembers them)

[Mr Lobster]

Noticed that there are a surprising number of old 1970's buses (Bristol VR's?) in service in Dover and the surrounding area still. Surprised me that as I thought all such stuff had been retired by now.Another National fan here, used to be loads of them in service around these parts.

[HillmanImp]

Nationals came with power steering as standard.Nbc as it was was supposed to help Leyland in designing it.Sometimes the steering is mega heavy and feels like it no got power assistance but it is there.

I stand corrected then.

 

The ones i drove certainly did not feel like they had any power steering. But then again i am maybe comparing it to some of the more modern buses we drove which were a lot easier to steer such as the horrid little Dennis Darts (almost wrote Daimler Dart there, not quite the same thing..).

 

And i am a big girls blouse.

[RedSparrow]

Last National I saw was in 2003, as a replacement service on the Brighton to Lewes train line.Green/beige livery, so was ex-Maidstone & District I think.

[Justin Case]

The last company that ran any significant number of nationals was Chase Coaches of Burntwood near Lichfield. They were running them in this suitably shite livery as recently as April 2007, when Arriva took them over and you can now travel by Dennis Dart with about 3 inches kneeroom

[stoterstangen90]

Ha, a friend of mine bought this last week.

[warren t claim]

Spotted at Showbus at Duxford on Sunday...

 

 

 

And our transport for the day, courtesy of one O/Hs work colleagues... East lancs-bodied 1985 Dennis Dominator, ex-Leicester and Warrington...

 

IIRC the shitiest Leyland Nationals didn't have power steering because they ran on RAILS.... Shite bus. Shitier train.