Firstly I said in my last post that the Dart was sold..........well there's been a change of plan on that front.
Given the ongoing issues with the double decker (throttle cable still remains to be fixed thus still no MOT), and with the work which will be required on the Volvo's bodywork (more on that in a moment), I've decided to keep the Dart as my back up vehicle for the 2013 season. Also, the original reason for sale was that there wasn't enough space to keep all three vehicles together........well that situation has now changed such that keeping all three is no longer an issue.
So, the Volvo bodywork. It has become apparent that the bodywork, in particular the internal framework, is suffering from rust/corrosion issues. I don't believe it is so bad that it cannot be sorted but it does mean that once I start, well it'll be off the road till its dealt with. As it is currently on the road with a years MOT and six months tax, I'm not going to make a start on stripping down the outer panels until the double decker gets on the road. So to that end I am using it for at least the first couple of bus rallies.
I took 302 to the South East Bus Festival, an add on to the Heritage Show at the Kent County showground in Detling near Maidstone at the beginning of April. Aside from the £200 fuel bill she performed very well indeed - I lost count of the cars we overtook on the M25 and M20 - going uphill too!!
There were a couple of photographers on Detling Hill (A249); I could see why they'd chosen the spot as they were able to park in a layby and capture vehicles going slowly as they struggled up the hill........I had to purposely slow down to give them a chance of a decent image as we were still doing the legal limit of 60mph!!
I came across a couple of people who worked for Harris Bus and would have driven 302 when it was new. Not only did they enjoy a trip down memory lane but they were able to share a few points of interest with myself.....all the more interesting as I joined Harris Bus just after the Volvo's left the fleet and so only experienced them as a teenage passenger.
That's all for now - the next event is the London Bus Museum "spring Gathering" (commonly referred to as "Cobham").
