AEC Regal VIs - Perth style

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Herbert
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AEC Regal VIs - Perth style

Post by Herbert »

In the early 1960s AEC released an export-only underfloor-engined chassis called the Regal VI, featuring the AH590 engine & epicyclic gearbox. The very first chassis, no 001, entered service in Perth as MTT 500 in October 1962. Perth took delivery of 75 (500-519, single door; 600-654, 2-door). The last AEC to enter service in Perth was a Regal VI, MTT 654, which is now preserved by the Bus Preservation Society of WA. Both Melbourne and Adelaide bought the chassis, and some left-hand-drive chassis were also exported as ACLO Regal VIs.

MTT 500 was withdrawn prematurely and sold to Smithfield Coach Imports NSW, registered KOV997. It would be interesting to learn of its fate considering it was the very first of this type.

All these photos by Bruce Harris from the Ian Kerr Collection.

MTT 510, 508 and 624.
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MTT 501 in January 1981; it was withdrawn 10 months later. The early 500s had half-drop windows.
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Also photographed 10 months before its withdrawal is MTT 514. The later 500s featured Beclawat windows.
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Mmmm that driver looks awfully familiar. MTT 606, perhaps posed, on Marangaroo Drive in what its driver would still insist is called Allinjara, now part of Ballajura. The first half of the 2-door batch of 55 were delivered in the first MTT livery which was basically the Metro livery with dark green around the windows. When they were re-painted into what was called the "light-top" livery with cream around the windows, they retained their double-beading making them, in my opinion, much more attractive than the later 600s, like 624 below, that were delivered new in the "light-top" livery.
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MTT 624 in the livery it was delivered.
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Swift
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Post by Swift »

I saw one of these at the 1995 pope visit at Randwick racecourse.It was the only AEC I saw there and it had very faded light blue Perth livery.
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Ben O
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Post by Ben O »

Swift obsessor wrote:I saw one of these at the 1995 pope visit at Randwick racecourse.It was the only AEC I saw there and it had very faded light blue Perth livery.
I have a pic of the Moruya Bus Company (from memory, MO 8668) at the popes visit. It is still down at the Moruya depot unregd in pretty good condition. I think this might be the vehicle you are refering to. The only problem is that it is a Worldmaster and not a Regal. Here is a picture of the way it is now.

http://www.busaustralia.com/gallery/dis ... pos=-10634
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Dennis96
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Post by Dennis96 »

Unfortunately 007 Herbert's photos didn't come up.

That's an ex MTT (Perth) 400 series Leyland Royal Tiger Worldmaster in the second shot. It would be great to get it back to Perth and into preservation.
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Swift
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Post by Swift »

Ben O wrote:
Swift obsessor wrote:I saw one of these at the 1995 pope visit at Randwick racecourse.It was the only AEC I saw there and it had very faded light blue Perth livery.
I have a pic of the Moruya Bus Company (from memory, MO 8668) at the popes visit. It is still down at the Moruya depot unregd in pretty good condition. I think this might be the vehicle you are refering to. The only problem is that it is a Worldmaster and not a Regal. Here is a picture of the way it is now.

http://www.busaustralia.com/gallery/dis ... pos=-10634
It was an AEC .The badge was in good condition!That is one of the things that stuck in my mind.It had the same paint scheme (and in the same condition!)as your photo.
There is no way in the whole wide world that Swift obsessor would confuse a Leyland with an AEC 8)
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Dennis96
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Post by Dennis96 »

Beg to differ old chap, but the unregistered blue bus with 007 on the desto in the picture above is not an AEC Regal VI. - Unless somebody in NSW has tarted up MTT 500 to masquerade as a Worlie.
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Swift
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Post by Swift »

Dennis96 wrote:Beg to differ old chap, but the unregistered blue bus with 007 on the desto in the picture above is not an AEC Regal VI. - Unless somebody in NSW has tarted up MTT 500 to masquerade as a Worlie.
I know.just that the one I remember 10 years ago at the late Pope John paul II (Carol Wojtila) visit for the beautification of Mary McKillop was an AEC.
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Dennis96
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Post by Dennis96 »

Thought you were referring to the picture of the derelict MTT 400 series Worldmaster.

None of the MTT's AECs ever ran in a blue livery, so any you may have seen in NSW in blue must have been repainted after withdrawal from MTT service.
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Swift
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Post by Swift »

Dennis96 wrote:Thought you were referring to the picture of the derelict MTT 400 series Worldmaster.

None of the MTT's AECs ever ran in a blue livery, so any you may have seen in NSW in blue must have been repainted after withdrawal from MTT service.
I'll have to dig up the photo i took of it to check it's paintjob in detail.
Forgot to mention,it's nice to see that soiled Leyland still has it's front hubcap in place.Wish the CAV chrome surround headlights were there though.
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Herbert
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Post by Herbert »

If it was owned by Smiths of Moruya (MO8668) then it is ex-MTT 436 (air-change Leyland Worldmaster new in December 1961).
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Ben O
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Post by Ben O »

007herbert wrote:If it was owned by Smiths of Moruya (MO8668) then it is ex-MTT 436 (air-change Leyland Worldmaster new in December 1961).
It was brought into NSW by Smith's, Moruya. Then was sold to Moruya Bus Company and was used on the Congo school run. Then it was deregd and last year was basically given to Marshall's, Moruya with the whole business. It is now sitting under an open shed awaiting preservation. THe inside is dirty but still has original wooden fitting and light fittings.

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Busman
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Post by Busman »

Back to the photo's, I'm honestly not being parochial, but I think Adelaide's Mk VI's look better!
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Post by Swift »

Taken by me in 1995 at Randwick Racecourse during the Pope's visit.
Shocking photo ,I know but the only one.
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Dennis96
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MTT PERTH AEC RFEGAL VI IN SYDNEY

Post by Dennis96 »

Great shot of a bus a long way from home. Let anyone who criticises it come up with a better shot of that bus at Randwick.

Somebody has added a windscreen wiper to the left hand front windscreen. These buses only had a wiper in front of the driver in MTT service.
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Herbert
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Post by Herbert »

Thanks Swifty for the picture - the quality is fine considering its of one of my old favourite types of buses!

Whilst this is definitely an ex-Perth AEC Regal VI, it is from the second batch which were two-door and featured a drop-end chassis. You can just make out that the last window is slightly larger.

Thanks again for searching for the photo and posting it to the Board: greatly appreciated. :)
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Post by Herbert »

Here's a Bruce Harris pic of it in service with the MTT (no 436) in 1980:

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RK215
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Re: AEC Regal VIs - Perth style

Post by RK215 »

Herbert wrote:In the early 1960s AEC released an export-only underfloor-engined chassis called the Regal VI, featuring the AH590 engine & epicyclic gearbox. The very first chassis, no 001, entered service in Perth as MTT 500 in October 1962. Perth took delivery of 75 (500-519, single door; 600-654, 2-door).
So, the Perth Regal VI had the AH590 engine, which made it non-standard. When announced in the third quarter of 1960, the Regal VI was fitted with the AH690 engine. And to the best of my knowledge, the AH590 was never offered as a standard option. Still, AEC most likely would have done the basic engineering both both the AH590 and AH690 at the same time, so meeting Perth's special requirement should not have been difficult. The AH590 first appeared as a standard fitment on the Reliance 2U, released mid-1961.

I guess that Perth's choice of the AH590 aligns with the fact that most of its Worldmasters were fitted with the O.600 engine, in that case a standard option, but I understand one that was rarely exercised.

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Dave Wilson
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Post by Dave Wilson »

Did the MTT Perth have any Regal 1Vs?
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Post by RK215 »

Apparently so; 23 of them.

This came out recently in the Royal Tiger thread, see:

http://busaustralia.com/forum/viewtopic ... c&start=50

Herbert kindly provided some details, and also a pointer to his Perth fleetlist website at:

http://www.perthbus.info

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"23"

Post by mjrs23 »

RK215 wrote: Apparently so; 23 of them.
"23" of them my favourite number :)
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Dave Wilson
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Post by Dave Wilson »

May we have a photo of a Regal 1V - if possible. I love these old MTT buses they have style.
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Herbert
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Post by Herbert »

G'day Dave. I'll dig some out when I get home to Australia late next week.

In the meantime, here's the direct link to the 23 Regal IVs: http://www.perthbus.info/prequery.php?qid=40030&cid=40

RK215: regarding Perth Regal VIs having AH590s: that's what the official MTT information says. However, when the engine on the Bus Museum's 654 (Perth's last AEC to enter service), it was noted that the engine itself was marked AH690. I cannot recall there being any difference in sound to any of the Regal VIs, so I wondered whether they did infact all have AH690s.
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Herbert
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Post by Herbert »

Dave Wilson wrote:May we have a photo of a Regal 1V - if possible. I love these old MTT buses they have style.
Dave, have been meaning to get around to such a thread. Better still, there's a new development:

http://www.busaustralia.com/forum/viewt ... 537#179537
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