Brighton's CM trophy at Showbus rally
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GREY-GREEN TRAVEL of London sponsored the Great British Showbus Rally at Hillingdon for the first time last weekend.
The rally, the eighth, attracted entries from bus preservationists, bus operators and municipalities, as well as bus manufacturers and dealers from up and down the country.
Among the demonstration vehicles on display were MAN's 12.3-tonne SR 280 coach in right-hand-drive form, a Mosely Unicar-bodied Bedford YMT, a DAF Plaxton Supreme coach and a Volvo B58 Plaxton.
The Volvo was fitted with fully automatic transmission and air-over-steel suspension. Volvo now offers the Allison MT644 four-speed automatic gearbox on the B58 and some vehicles with this option have already been supplied to operators.
The fully-automatic B58 is, surprisingly, cheaper than a B58 chassis with pneumocyclic semi-automatic transmission. In the service bus section at the Rally, the best prepared pre-1972 double-deck bus was judged to be a West Midlands PTE 1972 Willowbrook-bodied Daimler Fleetline. The original body fitted to this bus was destroyed by fire and the vehicle consequently rebuilt.
First in the single-deck bus class for vehicles registered before 1972 was a Gosport 1971 Bristol RELL/ELW bus at Fareham Omnibus Co and the first coach in this class, a 1971 Western SMT Bristol RE with Alexander 'M' type coachwork.
The Commercial Motor Trophy for double-deckers newer than 1972 went to Brighton Corporation for its well thought out and well prepared Leyland Atlantean with East Lancs bodywork. Best newer coach was a Ford 'R' Series with Duple Dominant Z body owned by Ralph's Coaches and used on contract to the Sheraton-Heathrow Hotel.
Best single-deck bus was a 1975 Leyland Leopard vehicle operated by Essex independent Hedingham and District omnibuses.