British Classic Buses
in New Zealand (Page 3)
British Classic Buses
in New Zealand (Page 3)
SOME QUICK LINKS WITHIN THIS WEBSITE; Home Email Events Diary Halfcab list THE TRANSPORT HOBBY SHOP Links Small-Ads Classic Irish Buses
OR CLICK HERE FOR THE COMPLETE WEBSITE MENU
Lots of Bus Books, Models and DVDs for sale here;
with many other road, rail and air transport items.
Last updated 25 April 2010
Here is a third page of (older, archived) material about buses of British origin in New Zealand. The latest material is on Page One.
New Zealand buses Page One is here and Page Two is here.
CARAVAN CONVERSIONS
Mat and Molly Foster emailed to say "Hi, just found your site and think you are lacking pictures of one bus - ours ! We have a 1954/55 Seddon bus converted to housebus. We bought the bus in July 2006 and have spent every waking minute rebuilding so, although its old skin got lots of new parts, we are now living in him full time. Still a few things to be done but we will do that as we go travelling around New Zealand. So far we have not seen any other Seddon Mk6 on the road or no pictures of one to compare to ours. So if you get anything, that would be cool. It's a Seddon Pennine 1954/55 with Perkins R series straight 6 diesel (is this a 6534?), David Brown 4 speed box, 2 speed Eton diff, approx 9.2 metres long and round about 7.5 ton."
Mike Butler from the NZ Bus Museum website (http://www.geocities.com/nzbusmuseum/) kindly sent me this;
"I have done a bit of research on XR1171. It is a 1955 Seddon Mk.6HR with Mulliner B30F body new to Gisborne City Council Transport Department as number 1. It passed to Findlay Motors, Taupo in 1969 (believed to be Number 8, but not confirmed). When Findlay Motors were taken over by Hawkes Bay Motor Co. in 1973 it became their Number 78. In 1976 it went to Turly Motors, Te Aroha, followed by a brief spell with Katikati Bus Co. in 1980-81, before becoming a movan. The original registration is unknown, but its 1956 plate was P.1208, in 1961 it was P.1119, and its permanent registration in 1966 was EM2195."
Thanks Mike, and thanks also to Mat & Molly for sending the picture. Here's another photo of it;
Meanwhile here are some more pictures they kindly sent me of other caravan conversions. Below is a 1952 Leyland Comet, still with original engine but not fired up or moved since 1997.
And here is another Leyland Comet, named the "Country Comet".
Next is a 1954 Foden with a Commer TS3 2-stroke supercharged 3,261cc engine. Again this has not been started for 3 years, but they told me "we are going to attempt to get it up and running next weekend".
Whenuapai Bus Co. of Kumeu bought three Fodens in 1953 (Fleet numbers 19-21, EN 6948, 6950 & 6951), and another two in 1954 (numbers 22 & 23, EN 6949 & 6952), so it looks likely that this could be one of the latter pair. All five were bodied locally by Hawke (B41F).
Now we have a series of Bedfords, of various types. If anyone can provide some clues to identity I'd be interested to hear from them.
Stephen Reed wrote to say "You had a question on your website about a Bedford bus registration HP 3561. This was a NZR Road Services bus fleet number 4900, built 1975, body B38D." Thanks very much Stephen.
Next we have an example of the charismatic 3-axle Bedford VAL. Quite a few Bedford VAL 14 chassis were delivered to New Zealand in the mid 1960s and were bodied locally for various customers (particularly Suburban, Midland Motorways, and H & H). My good friend Richard Haughey kindly informs me that this is in fact a VAL 14, chassis number 1238, with a Hawke B52F +17 body, delivered to Greenhalgh Blue Buses, Auckland in February 1967 as their fleet number 7 (they bought one other VAL in 1964, fleet number 10).
And finally an AEC. Could this be another ex-Wellington Reliance? Please let me know if you can identify it.
Thanks again for the pictures. There's obviously hidden treasure out there !
CLARKS OF KAWAKAWA
Dale Tringham published this picture on an e-group in 2004 and kindly gave me permission to reproduce it here.
He said "A shot of Clarks of Kawakawa in New Zealand - January 1999. Two classic local buses still in use - DY 7468 and ER 9684, which I presume to both be Bedfords". Clarks Coachline (Perry and Maama Clark) certainly had some interesting vehicles, but I have no information about these two. Can anyone throw further light on the subject ?
GUY HALFCAB
Joan Mitchell emailed to say that she believes that she and Neil have the only Guy halfcab to be made in New Zealand. It was made in 1946, so the old girl can celebrate her 60th birthday this year!
She says "We purchased the bus back in 1977-78 after looking specially for a 1/2 cab to convert into a motor home for the family and we found this particular bus at Cambridge Travel Lines who were using her on school bus routes around the area. We managed to purchase the bus without realising how rare it was and, as the years have gone by, now we know it was the only Guy Arab 1/2 cab made in NZ. The story goes that Suburbia Bus Company in Auckland imported 3 double decker Guy chassis into NZ. Two of these were made into full-fronted buses and ours was the only one as a 1/2 cab, and is the only one left registered for the road."
"The bus's present power plant is a Leyland 400 power plus, with a 6 speed overdrive transmission from a 1963 Leyland Super Comet coupled to the original Guy wormdrive back axle with 6.25-1 ratio, giving it a comfortable cruising speed of 50 miles per hour, compared to the original Gardner engine and transmission - flat out at 37 miles per hour. We are presently thinking of selling the bus after 28 years of owning her so if you know the right person for her, let us know. We also have the original workshop manual for this bus."
----------
FOOTNOTE
This vehicle appeared for sale (location Tauranga, Bay of Plenty) on the Trade me Motors website in 2008, with the following details;
Once in a lifetime opportunity for Museum or serious Bus Collector. One survivor of 3 only imported chassis, with one off Suburban Buses Te Papa Auckland Built Body. All history, photographs and documentation since new. This owner has owned bus for 30 years plus. Registration on hold, Leyland 400 power plus engine, 6 speed overdrive gearbox, bus in good running order. Spacious older basis livable interior, sleeps four, requires some interior redecoration, gas stove, fridge, water tanks and 230-volt power supply. Will be sold as is where is.
The sale closed on 23 May 2008, apparently with no bids having been made.
RARE THAMES
Rick Brenchley of Gisborne writes "I am currently refurbishing this 1956 Thames bus, possibly the only one on the road today, as most were Bedfords. We are going on a 4 month working holiday around the south island of New Zealand in March 2007."
Good luck with the trip Rick, and thanks for the picture. Does anyone know the history of this vehicle ?
"SCOOTER" THE SEDDON
Back in 2007 Richard and Michelle emailed to say we might like to see a picture of their bus. It's a 1955 Seddon Mk6/2 with Mulliner body. First owner was Birkenhead Transport, Auckland (from 4 Oct 1955 to 27 March 1969), who also put the Bedford nose on it. Birkenhead imported two of these Seddons fully-assembled from England, EW 5604 in 1954, and this one (EW 5606) in 1955. Richard and Michelle are the eighth owners, and the bus has been repowered with a Isuzu 6bdi and a 6-speed box. They say she "hums along the highways quite nicely".
In October 2008 they sent me the above updated picture of "Scooter", and it still looks in first class condition. Thanks to Richard and Michelle for the photos, and congratulations to them for their efforts in maintaining such a fine vehicle.
LONDON RTL
Joe Goodin from New Plymouth called me in 2005 to ask for repair information for his wonderful ex London Transport 1948 Leyland Titan RTL68 (JXN 391). I'm not the man for technical stuff, but I knew someone who could help. He was also looking for an authentic London Transport driver's uniform !
This is almost certainly the only RTL ever to come to New Zealand and, by my reckoning, the fourth oldest surviving RTL in the world - only RTLs 43, 47 and 48 (all in UK) pre-date it. Whether it was actually built at the very end of 1948 or January 1949 is not clear, but it's a pleasure to see it in use. Thanks Joe.
SOME PHOTOS FROM AROUND THE ISLANDS
Vic Brumby periodically sends me pictures that he has taken in New Zealand, and here is a selection. He sent me these three in 2003, when he was working his way down from North Island, exploring and generally foraging for vehicular oddments. To start, we have a glorious Bristol;
Seen in Taupo, North Island, this Bristol KSW5G originally served with Wilts & Dorset as their No.341 (HHR 823), the last of the type to be delivered to the company in 1951 (though many more were to follow in subsequent years). It was still in the fleet in 1963, but at some stage thereafter two girls and four boys set off in it from London and travelled through 30 countries in Europe and Asia before arriving in New Zealand 2 1/2 years later. Their stated intention was then to take the bus to South America and continue their tour but Gerry Hopkins tells me that, on reaching New Zealand, two of the party were penniless and left. The rest could not finance any further travel, so the bus was abandoned in NZ. There it was refurbished with non-standard high-backed seats and is now used for tours around the Taupo Lake area. It is a credit to the sturdiness of the Bristol KSW that it got as far as it did, and is still earning its keep.
(Paul Green tells me that it was a 5G re-engined as a 6G, chassis number 86.002, built 12/1951. Allocations; 1952 Salisbury, 1954 Basingstoke, 1955 Andover, 1963 Salisbury, 1967 withdrawn. Thanks Paul.)
Here is what I suspect is a Bedford MLZ converted to a 1 1/2 decker caravan.
And what's this ? Another caravan (EV 6832), which was originally Wellington City Transport 283, an AEC Reliance from the same 1957 delivery which included No.322 (EV 6871), currently preserved by the Omnibus Society (Thanks to Mike Butler of the NZ Bus Museum for that info).
My thanks to Vic for the interesting photos. No doubt readers will be able to throw more light on the vehicles shown.
Home Email Events Diary Halfcab list COMPLETE WEBSITE MENU THE TRANSPORT HOBBY SHOP Links Small-Ads Classic Irish Buses Website
New Zealand buses Page One is here and Page Two is here.
To the Classic Buses Home Page