YHY 80

YHY80 is owned by group member Alan Neale.

YHY80 was built and delivered to Bristol Omnibus Co. as a bus-bodied dual purpose seated vehicle with 41 seats and a Gardner 5HLW engine.

The bus was delivered in 1957.  It was rebuilt and modernised by Bristol Omnibus Company in 1972 as part of a trial batch of seven vehicles.

The modernisation included fitting a larger 6-cylinder Gardner engine, updating the exterior look of the vehicle, similar to the latest Bristol RE vehicles. The interior was also updated with flourescent lighting, opening up the cab area to resemble the RE vehicles and incorporating formica interior trim.  

Due to the introduction of the Bus Grant Scheme when it became cheaper to buy new REs than to update old vehicles, this modernisation programme was cancelled with only the seven initial vehicles being completed. This vehicle then worked in OMO (One Man Operation, as it was then known) livery and National Bus Company green for the following five years.

It then was used by the Weston Carnival Club for carrying disabled children on outings before being sold to a car dealer who intended to remove the engine for use in a boat and scrap the remains. This never happened and the vehicle was left in a field at Lower Langford, Somerset for just over a year. Finally it was bought by the Bristol LS 3004 Group and rallied for a number of years. It was then laid up and major engine repairs undertaken in the mid 1980s.

For a number of years now the bus has been undergoing major restoration and is not currently on the road.

Technical stuff:

Manufacturer:  Bristol Commercial Vehicles

Type:  LS5G (originally)  LS6G (since 1972)

Chassis No:  119141

Registration No: YHY80

Date of first registration: November 1957

Fleet No: 2922 (1957 to March 1961)

                  2004 (March 1961 to August 1966)

                  2922 (August 1966 to 1972)

                  3004 (1972 onward)

Engine: Gardner 6 cylinder

Body manufacturer: Eastern Coachworks

Body type: DP41F until 1972, then B43F

Body Number: 9668 series 2

Original operator: Bristol Omnibus

Withdrawn: 1977

Subsequent owners:

• Weston Carnival Club, 1978
• Omerod Cross, Axbridge (car dealer) by June 1981
• Bristol LS3004 Group by August 1982

Livery:  Bristol Omnibus

Livery details:

• Delivered with dual-purpose seats in a bus body and green livery
• Equipped for one-man-operation April 1958
• Repainted with a cream roof, December 1959
• Repainted into bus livery August 1966
• Rebuilt in 1972 with a 6-cylinder engine, 43 seats and a rubber-mounted flat windscreen
• Repainted into one-person-operation livery (cream with green relief) 1972
• Repainted in to National Bus Company green livery between 1973 and 1975.