Great vehicles, they were a welcome change from seeing Dennings and Australs. I'm wondering how many of these ones belonged to Clarrie Skennar as well? I'm thinking most, if not all.
Have been trying to find a previous list of Coachtrans and Skennars, alas i believe this has all been deleted from Fleet lists. I would like to know a little more of the history of the Inter I have of Clarries'.I Forget its CTA no.
Was talking to Iveco salesman on Tuesday, he was aware they built the chassis at Rocklea for Skennars and they are now building in Dandenong the 14.5 m chassis with a Cummins and Allison, will be interesting to see how these are accepted in the large Citybus market, getting back to basics should be a great winning formula.
The last 2 photos are what eventually became (1) 01CBL at Caboolture Bus Lines.
Would you have a look at that K-Whopper hallin' that Wriggle Wagon hes got it to the floor and looking for more!
Posts here are my opinions and thoughts only.
Maladjusted wrote:Have been trying to find a previous list of Coachtrans and Skennars, alas i believe this has all been deleted from Fleet lists. I would like to know a little more of the history of the Inter I have of Clarries'.I Forget its CTA no.
Was talking to Iveco salesman on Tuesday, he was aware they built the chassis at Rocklea for Skennars and they are now building in Dandenong the 14.5 m chassis with a Cummins and Allison, will be interesting to see how these are accepted in the large Citybus market, getting back to basics should be a great winning formula.
I have the Coachtrans list containing buses from Sita and Baumanns (Coomera Valley Coaches) along with J Hill from the nineties etc . A friend of mine use to work for them in the hay day and has the info which he forwarded to me a long time ago. I will shoot them over to you when I dig them up. I also can give you that fleet/rego no. for your International/GBW coach. There is a Coachtrans list available but not all buses were ever listed on it. Many of the vehicles are actually missing. There was never any Skennar list to my knowledge, but could be wrong.
These are awesome photos, I love seeing the old coaches come out from those members that like to show them. They certainly were a very nice coach. I would love to see more GBW coach photos if anyone has any. Great photos
A lot of the old girls had twin choofers. double the pipes + double the noise + double the smoke = double the driving enjoyment
'GM 2strokes, still the most efficient engine ever developed for converting fuel into noise'.
Food has replaced sex in my life now I can't even get into my own pants
Yes I know, it doesn't make too much sense, but hey, that's the way Clarrie would have got it built it by International and GBW.
Mr Skennar obviously was a bit of a hoon back in his day, after he left the truck side of things and by surprise to Bus operators at the time, got the licence to operate. He proceeded to gain a reputation by having loud buses by putting lukey mufflers on them combined with fitting the biggest possible motor.
Some great photos post the Skennar era. All the GMs were turbo-charged and some had twin exhaust stacks up both sides at the rear. Clarrie had a reputation as being a bit of a show off.
A lot of the old girls had twin choofers. double the pipes + double the noise + double the smoke = double the driving enjoyment
It became a very common theme when the requirement for vertical exhausts came into being, some vehicles were even retrofitted. It was more often that not found on the GBWs as well as Denning Monos and yes, usually ones with no turbo on the GM.
The Inspector wrote:I think this is my only digital pic of a GBW coach however I have atleast 1 or 2 prints somewhere aswell which I can scan when I find them.
Here we have Warwick Charter Coaches 685.BSN (MAN 22.380) in Goulburn st, sydney. 7/10/06
I used to empty those two blue garbage bins back when I was doing a Saturday night/Sunday morning garbage run in a rear loader. Thanks for the memory, they were part of the run that I did cleaning up all of Chinatown and Haymarket!
And the coach looks good too, a 10 speed Roadranger in that would be fun too!
Did you purchase the one from Bigcam? It fas the wings on it though I also prefer the Square one with GM on top and POWER underneath
Would love to hear some stories of your involvement with the runs and the Deluxe period as well!
A bit about the GBW Coaches featured above. All were ex Skennars (except the 2 axle which was new to Ipswich Pioneer). Starting from the top photo:
175 CTA was ex Skennars 083 NUS. It went on to become Priscilla in the Olympics Final Parade) Originally powered by 8V92, 5 speed o/d fuller.
174 CTA was ex Sklennars 774 OQV and was Clarrie's personal coach, Cummins powered with Allison Auto.
171 CTA was ex Skennars 861 PBT Cummins powered with 5 speed o/d fuller. Coachtrans repowered it to GM.
788 BIW was ex Skennarss MO 5441, later 057 AQP in the Skennar Fleet, 8v92 5 speed o/d fuller and went to Kings Kempsey then to Bundaberg Coach Tours.
676 CEJ (ODU ??? originally) was sold by Clarrie to Greyhound (along with 6 others) back in mid 1970s with a swap of licenses - Skennars got sole rights to the Sunshine Coast, in return Greyhound got Rockhampton, Longreach and Mt Isa licenses. This coach went to SA with Greyhound and then returned to Kings (Newcastle) then to Bob Warren (Landliner) in Brisbane.
TV 1231 was ex Skennar MO 5370, later 674 APP. (8v92 with 5 speed o/d drive fuller). It had the nicest interior of all the GBWs. It was lovely to drive. Went to Kings Kempsey then to AAC - no idea where it is now.
691 BJJ was 677 OIV in the Skenat fleet (GBW Body 32) 8v92b with 5 speed o/d fuller.
Special note about 083 NUS and 677 OIV - these were both on a DenAir Chassis.
If maladjusted wants to PM me with some details of his Inter then perhaps I can assist with further history.
I have to make correction to my previous post above about one of the GBW photos at the top of this post. It has played on my mind all weekend so I have checked my photos and records - the Coachtrans registered 171 CTA was ex Skennar MO 9810, new in 1985 (originally fiited with 8V71 and 5 speed o/d fuller). There were four very similar looking smart looking coaches with the sloping panel from the roof to the destination box built in 1985/1986/1987.
861 PBT (Cummins, 5 speed o/d fuller 53 seats)
MO 9810 (8v71, 5 speed o/d fuller 45 seats)
CBS 00 (Cummins)
405 PMG (8V92, 5 speed o/d fuller).
Sorry about the mistake, I don't claim to be perfect.
Cheers
Old Coastie
