AEC: Buses

January 1944.

February 1921.

1925.

1930. Single motor trolley omni bus with English Electric Co.

March 1930. AEC Regent 51-seater operated by the Lewis Omnibus Co between Watford and Rickmansworth.

March 1930.

9th May 1930. LHS.

9th May 1930. RHS.

1937. AEC STL Double-Deck Bus. Reg No: EGO 426.

Exhibit at the Oxford Bus Museum.

Reg No: WKG 284.

1962. AEC Reliance. Reg No: 8031 PT.

Reg No: VLT 66.

Prout's Tours. Reg No: WYP 203G.

Reg No: MJP 59K.

Note: This is a sub-section of AEC.

General

The first major customer was United Automobile the outside sales were made by Daimler. These vehicles carried Daimler on the radiator and many of them had Daimler engines.

In 1926 an arrangement with Daimler chassis were built at Walthamstow and then at AEC in Southall.

During World War I AEC had built 8,000 Y-Type chassis for the war department.

New models were K-Type of 1919 and later the larger S-Type.

Vehicles for the other than LGOC were later known by type numbers 301-K, 401-S and 501 for Y-Types.

The NS had a drop frame of steel designed to lower the centre of gravity and to hopefully persuade the Metropolitan Police to allow the upper deck to be roofed.

G. J. Rackham's design was the first new six-cylinder overhead camshaft engine. Fitted into 416/426 chassis. Coach operators enjoyed the smooth and powerful engine.

1929 Regal Single and Regent double-deckers arrived.

A six-wheeled version The Renown was taken up by LGOC and became the best selling six-wheeler on the market.

1931 AEC developed a reliable 8.8 litre engine.

1932 AEC buses were offered with fluid transmission greatly easing urban bus driving.

London Passenger Transport Board was created in July 1933 and took over all tram, trolleybus, local bus and coach operations in the London area.

Q-Type designed by Rackham as a double-decker sold mainly as a single-decker.

Before the war AEC started to experiment with engine positions. They had built an underfloor-engined bus and an underfloor-engined railcar for the Great Western Railway.

1939 150 of London's RT-Type met a new specification for a larger engine (9.6 litres) and air brakes.

1943 Joint work with English Electric to produce trolleybuses - see AEC-EEC Trolleybus

1944 Over 3,000 diesel buses have been produced by this date and in regular service with the London Passenger Transport Board.

1949 The Regal IV was introduced with a similar design it had standard pre-selector gearbox and air-brakes.

This formed the framework for either a bus or coach, gaining a larger seating capacity.

By 1954 AEC had built a total of 4,650 London RTs.

From 1951 to 1953 a London version was made.

1950's the commercial vehicle industry was critically aware of weight saving. Therefore lighter versions of the Regent III were introduced over the former models.

1958 the Routemaster was produced.

This design featured coil suspension, independent at the front, automatic transmission, and power steering.

1962 AEC sold out to Leyland Motors who had already acquired by now, Crossley Motors, Maudslay, and Thornycroft, therefore having most of the monopoly on the overall market.

AEC continued as a separate entity and next launched the Renown 250 of this model were built.

1970 a new rear-engined coach named the Sabre was exhibited at the Commercial Motor Show. It featured a V8 engine, however the chassis never got beyond being a prototype. The Swift continued to be produced until 1975.