What bus is this?

What is it. AEC yes, but the owner claims 1930's, I have my doubts. Still runs a treat! SA registration.

Lang

Lang, that appears to be an AEC Regal MK III from the late 1940's/early 1950's.
It's the rarer (IMO, anyway) full-cab version, rather than the more common half cab, the form that I have seen them in most. In fact, it appears to have had a conversion from half-cab.
They were produced from approximately 1949 to 1954.
Great old rig .. but slow (70kmh) .. dreadful Armstrong steering .. 40 acre paddock steering lock .. built like the proverbial brick dunny .. and virtually unbreakable.
The amount of them that have survived is testament to their robust design.
I rode to school, and on school excursions, on many of these old girls .. Guys, Albions, AEC's, and Leylands. I was always fascinated with the half cabs that rarely wore bonnet side curtains, and you could watch the engine going, "charrump .. charrump .. charrump .. charrump" .. with all the whirling, exposed components such as fuel pump drive and fan, spinning .. as you were waiting in line to board ..

www.busaustralia.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=10&t=30383

Onetrack,

Does look like a conversion - to get an extra seat or school bag rack? - as the front left cowl and window looks bit dodgy.

I am awaiting a price from him.


The red one number 10 photo in this gallery looks like a similar original style (though with a pommie body builder instead of Australian)

ccmv.aecsouthall.co.uk/p823877392

Lang

Lang, I don't really understand why the conversion to full cab was done. I can see no real advantage. The bus blokes state it came about, when the pressure was on to change over to driver-only operations, with no conductors. However, I fail to see why the full cab had an advantage in that respect.
I can understand the removal of the rear door and the moving forward of the front door .. but a full cab conversion from half cab, leaves me nonplussed.
One has to be careful comparing Pommie bus bodies and Australian ones, they are completely different design in many respects.

On some of those old jiggers they added an extra seat in the lefthand front with from memory 2 seats. They may have also found it easier for the passengers to pay the driver their fare. Just a thought. cya Tim

The destination box on the side of the body above the windows suggests it was originally from the Dept of Interior, ACT, fleet.

If you put the photos on the Bus Australia ATDB forum, someone there may recognise it.

Lang, I don't really understand why the conversion to full cab was done. I can see no real advantage. The bus blokes state it came about, when the pressure was on to change over to driver-only operations, with no conductors. However, I fail to see why the full cab had an advantage in that respect.
I can understand the removal of the rear door and the moving forward of the front door .. but a full cab conversion from half cab, leaves me nonplussed.
One has to be careful comparing Pommie bus bodies and Australian ones, they are completely different design in many respects.

One of the issues with these "half cab" buses was that they had a full width bulkhead behind the drivers cab and the near side gap, that made it almost impossible for the driver to see passengers, let alone collect fares when one person operated. One solution to was to put a window diagonally across the open section to provide a "desk" that the driver could aceess by turning just 90 degrees to his left. The other solution was to fully enclose the front, which also gave it a more modern appearance.

This conversion would have been done after its service in Canberra, either with another operator or as part of the motor home conversion.

Beaver 's comment smake sense , the bus we have here which is identical leaves no opportunity for keeping an eye on the passengers , it looks more like that the driver was tucked away from distraction in the original version such as ours , also remembering anything done would need to be temporary as the bonnet would have to be accessible for engine servicing. This is very easy when the half cab /original design was in place

What went on at the front re destination?

Is that air scoop original? Did they have an external destination board or have one in the left front window?

The air scoop is not original, but looks like a modification using the original destination equipment.

Rather than displaying destination names on the front, they had two small boxes with roller blinds which just showed numbers. The routes in those days all ran to the city centre (Civic), but the actual buses would operate one route in and then another out as a "through run" and both numbers were shown. These buses were also unusual in having a destination box on the offside as well as the nearside.