In the early 1930's the Department of Road Transport and Tramways (D.R.T. & T) developed a standard single deck bus design. The body was designed to be suitable for fitting to the chassis then being manufactured by the various suppliers in the UK. They had 34 seats for passengers and front and rear entrances. With the driver being located in a separate cabin forward of the passenger saloon, the buses soon became known as the "Half Cabs". The first of these buses commenced operation in 1934, while the last remained in service until 1953. 79 examples were built on AEC, Albion, Dennis or Leyland chassis.

Six Dennis single deck chassis were purchased between 1936 and 1938. The first two buses were bodied by Syd Wood of Bankstown and the remaining four by Waddingtons of Granville.

492 was built by Waddington's and registered m over o 1492 in the government fleet. This bus and the other three in the group (496, 499 and 503) were delivered with Dennis four cylinder diesel engines. These engines soon proved difficult to maintain. Spare parts became almost impossible to obtain from the United Kingdom, once World War II had set in. Perkins and Leyland engines were tried with very limited degrees of success. Accordingly the mileages travelled by the Dennis buses were very low as compared to other buses in the fleet. 492 only clocked up 137,584 miles, despite the very heavy use of the bus fleet in World War II.

The bus was withdrawn from service on 21 June 1947 and languished at Leichhardt bus workshops until sold on 17 March 1949 to Punchbowl Bus Company. In the early 1950's this company sold it to West Bankstown Bus Service at Greenacre. In 1958 it was finally retired and a grazier at
Warren, NSW purchased it for use as a hay shed.

In 1978 the body shell and chassis was discovered and arrangements made to tow it to Sydney. Restoration was completed through grants from the Australian Bi-Centennial Committee, the NSW Heritage Council and through volunteer work by members of the Association.

SPECIFICATION

ENGINE: 4 Cylinder Dennis diesel 6.5 litre capacity, bore 4.6", stroke 5.9", 82 B.H.P.

GEARBOX: 5 speed overdrive.

DIFFERENTIAL: Worm drive.

BRAKES: Lockheed hydraulic assisted by a Dewandre vacuum servo.