AEC Regal IV 2807
Bus 2807 is an example of the first group of 350 underfloor buses. The word “Underfloor” was the terminology used to indicate that the engine was mounted horizontally under the floor, amidships, between the forward and rear axles of the vehicle. In about 1950, the Department of Road Transport and Tramways prepared a new design for a large single deck bus and purchased a Royal Tiger OPSUI/1 chassis from Leyland Motors Ltd. In 1951 the chassis was bodied as a prototype bus by Commonwealth Engineering Co. of Granville, N.S.W. The vehicle was regarded as successful. It then ordered 100 chassis, 50 OPSU1/1 Royal Tigers from Leyland Motors Ltd and 50 AEC Regal IV. On 27-10-52 the Department was renamed the Department of Government Transport. The bodies were built by Commonwealth Engineering Co. and delivered in 1953 and 1954. The Leylands were registered and issued with matching fleet numbers 2701/2720, 2731/2740, 2751, 2752, 2821/2830 and 2842 to 2849. The Regal IV’s were numbered 2753/2760 and 2770 to 2811. The buses all had “Wilson” preselector gearboxes.
While Leyland and A.E.C. are synonymous with the British commercial vehicle industry, the body design of the buses closely resemble the style of American buses of the 1950's and 1960's. Hollywood movies and TV series made in this era depict similar style vehicles in street scenes. The body type was known as "standee", a design which allowed standing passengers to see out through the small fixed windows above the opening windows of those of the seated passengers. These buses when new had 43 seats and 29 standing passengers, however this was soon altered to 27 standing (total 70). Six, numbered 2712 to 2717 seated only 37 passengers. The forward facing seats on the offside were single seats. This was an experiment and the buses involved were altered to the standard design when it was found that the concept was not popular with the travelling public.
No. 2807 was built by Commonwealth Engineering Co. and has a body dated 15-3-54. The bus was initially attached to Randwick Depot, before being allocated to Enfield, then Ryde, then back to Enfield, next to Waverley and finally to Brookvale from October 1963. The bus was retired in November 1978 after having served more than 24 years in government operation. The vehicle notched up 415,360 miles (664,576 kilometres). 2807 was sold to the Convent Christian School at Belrose, Sydney for use as a school bus.
In May 1986 the vehicle was acquired for preservation. 2807 has now been restored to resemble the appearance of the four buses that were specially decorated for the visit of Queen Elizabeth II to Australia in February 1954. They were numbers 2783 to 2786 of the same batch.
Specifications:
Engine: Six cylinder O.H.V. AEC diesel 9.6 litre displacement, horizontally mounted under the floor, bore 4.72", stroke 5.59", 125 BHP @ 1800 RPM.
Transmission: Four speed " Wilson", preselector air operated gearbox and a worm drive differential.
Brakes: Air operated foot brake and mechanical park brake.
Body: Commonwealth Engineering
Status:
Preserved, on display at Leichhardt.