June 2018 saw a “new” old vehicle added to the fleet of Byeways Vintage Bus Hire of Aldington, Kent.
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It’s a 1952 AEC Regal IV with Park Royal half-deck coach body, one of 65 built in 1952-53 for British European Airways and operated by London Transport.
I bought it in a semi-derelict condition back in 1991 from near Bicester Airfield and it was driven to storage in Essex – later stored at the premises of the former Nostalgia bus in Mitcham, then to Romney Marsh in 2004.
Serious restoration commenced replacing rotten timber, stripping panels and interior trim. New moquette to the original pattern was sourced from Holdsworth, who happened to still have the original on file from 1952.
The coach passed its Certificate of Initial Fitness (COIF) in June 2018 at the Gillingham GVTS. The examiner said: “When I did the COIF course, they told us about half-deck coaches and said we’d never ever see one. Then this comes along.”
There’s four of these coaches known to exist complete with seats and interior fittings, two of which we have.
Roy Gould, Byeways Vintage Bus Hire of Aldington, Kent
