Some of the things you see on the road here are even a bit more improbable than usual. Like this London double-decker bus, getting towed. Well, a lot of these did find their way to the US, to be re-used for one thing or another.
From the tie-dye drapes in the upper window, and the fact that this is Eugene, I’m guessing it was used like so many other old buses here, for living in and/or camping. Or just to take out to the Oregon Country Fair once a year.
Although it’s still mighty original for a hippie bus. Where’s the psychedelic paint job?
We finally got around it far enough to catch the front end. It’s an AEC RT, once a mainstay in London. It was fitted with either a 7.7 litre or 9.6 litre AEC diesel engine and a preselector epicyclic gearbox. That’s not going to be easy to get serviced in Eugene, although a lot of these buses were re-powered after arriving in the US. I’ve seen at least one or more with a big-block Chevy V8 and THM. Much easier to find parts and keep running.
We’ve never had a CC on the RT, but here’s Roger Carr’s CC on its near-immortal successor, the AEC Routemaster.
Sadly, it’s probably being towed to the nearest scrap dealer. Too bad for something to make an unlikely trip and have a second life half a world away and then still be worked and worn to smithereens, but them’s the breaks.
I would love a two story camper, though.
It’s an AEC Regent alright, but that’s a low-bridge body. It was originally RLH60.
http://i.ebayimg.com/images/g/hrgAAOSwQjNW-Z7Z/s-l1600.jpg
More details here: http://www.countrybus.org/RLH/RLHa.html
These were used on routes with low bridges, so didn’t have the usual Park Royal type bodies.
All I see is 13’7″+ and cringe. :-O
A mate of mine has or had a AEC single decker house bus on his property with the 9 litre engine and preselect box it still went when I last saw it clattery old thing with a lumpy loping idle
I’d forgotten that idle – now I can’t un-hear it!
Neat find – hope it is getting towed to a new owner who will give it a proper going over and get it back on the road.
Love that scene
They even provided a plausible explanation for a low bridge route – I wouldn’t expect that much logical reasoning in a Bond movie 🙂
There was a 1962 Routemaster on a regular route here in my town in Southwest Japan until a couple of years ago. According to an acquaintance who works for the bus company, it overheated at least twice a week in the hot humid summers here and finally became too much of a maintenance burden. It is now part of an amusement park’s decor as a photo background. At least it gets washed and waxed now and then.
What an unsual thing to find in the States…given the tow, I think the old bus’s future is in some doubt. Perhaps it’ll be restored, doesn’t look too far gone, or perhaps the final stop has arrived.
I went to school on one every day – not a happy memory .
It would be sad to see a classic old bus get scrapped. Here’s hoping that it gets restored, or otherwise brought back to its original state of dignity. There’s a few of these around Toronto pulling sightseeing duty during the summer – they’re always a pleasure to see, though I have yet to ride in one.
It’s just a tad disorienting to ride upstairs in one. Because of one’s height off the ground, any side-to-side motions are greatly magnified.
Some Routemasters are still in service as Sightseeing bus in Hamburg/Germany.
Anyone know where the bus was going or who the tow truck belonged to it shows SEMPER Fxxxx on the rear of the tow truck. This bus ex London Transport RLH60 had been stored at Chula Vista CA for many years the oiwner lived in Mexico.
Bob Martin (England)