the full story, part 9
When I first took delivery of ‘Mary’ in November 2012, my
most depressing moment was sheltering inside her during a rainstorm and
noticing water running into the saloon from the bottoms of the window pillars.
I subsequently put in many hours and spent a lot of money (well, it seemed a
lot then…) getting the roof sealed and tidying up the interior to make it
acceptable for passenger carriage.
And of course in the meantime I did indeed carry a lot of passengers, most of whom really enjoyed the shabby-chic ambiance.
So, visiting the workshops of DB Conversions fifteen months later, it was a real shocker to see everything stripped out and all my work trashed. But I knew it had to be done; we had come too far to cut corners now. I had enjoyed a year of driving what was essentially a run-around for the fun of it but now it was serious. I remain plagued with guilt that despite doing everything by the book, my naivety had led me to carry people around in a vehicle that was legal on paper but barely safe on the road. I suppose the fact that all my trips had indeed been safely completed should give me some succour but I had only done a few hundred miles. According to the law at least, I could have done ten times that, which doubtless would have shaken her to pieces.
I wonder how many other ‘preserved’ vehicles out there hide their true condition behind the panels?
But for the first time the extent of the work required on my coach was plain for all to see. There were no corners left to cut, even if we wanted to. The frame would need to be renewed section-by-section. Suddenly the £20,000 bank loan was beginning to look like small change.
Or perhaps, a ha’peth of tar. Stripping the entire vehicle inside and out raised questions we wouldn’t otherwise have had; and putting it back together made otherwise barely-noticeable imperfections stand out a mile.
The biggest decision was about the seats. The moquette was quite badly faded but in reasonable condition and of course original. On the other hand, with the aim of everything being restored to mint condition, faded seats with a few tears were not going to cut the mustard. In any case, one of the seats was in a completely different moquette while several cushions had obviously been cannibalised from elsewhere on the ‘near enough’ principle. Anyway, they were out of the vehicle; what better opportunity to get them re-covered?
This decision hailed a bit of a turning point. Restoration to exactly as-new condition was going to be impossible. Having established there was no source of the original moquette (although we will probably never know for sure) and that to have it reproduced would costs thousands for a minimum quantity that would be enough for a small fleet, Major Compromise #1 was forced upon us and the seats were soon bowling up the M6 to Blackpool Trim Shops to be re-covered in an appropriate but not matching material.
A bargain on a per-seat basis but multiply by 54…
Further difficult decisions started to arise quite quickly, often needing to be made at short notice and from a distance needing good powers of imagination. The rather plasticky luggage racks were damaged in places and difficult to repair; but there was plenty of spare moquette so how about covering them in that? A problem getting anything to match the wood-effect interior side-finish so what did I think about grey cord carpet? It would be mad not to re-floor the interior but the original pattern isn’t available – what do we do?
We all see the articles in this and other preservation magazines where it has taken ten years or more to find the original-pattern components to complete a perfect historical restoration; but I had to remind myself that this was never meant to be a preservation or even a restoration project. It was certainly never intended to be something for the public to look at; this was a modest, private venture to satisfy my little bus-driving fantasy and give some fun to my family and maybe a few jazz fans joining me in my ‘other’ hobby.
The problem is, in the meantime the mere presence of even the unrestored ‘Mary’ on the roads and at a couple of rallies had turned heads, revived memories and created new friends and contacts. Cyril Kenzie, local coaching legend and his bodywork man Robbie, who used to work for Plaxtons; Charles Marshall, who ordered my coach for OK from new; people who had driven her or went to school on her; Andrew Miller, another local operator who was prepared to hire me a coach while mine was off the road – and who had Plaxton Supreme windows and other oddments lying around in his yard; Mark Cockram, PSV mechanic extraordinaire who was an apprentice at Millers when they were running Tiger Plaxtons; David Baker of DB Conversions, who was previously a manager at Plaxtons’ Ware (Herts) outpost; John Wakefield, former local driver and member of the Cambridge Omnibus Society, without whose intervention Andrew Miller would never have hired me a coach; and who also put me in touch with Charles White, local owner of a Bristol RELH, who has given me a great deal of support and encouragement.
I suppose it’s a bit like buying a really old house; you never really own it, you look after it for the next owners and in the meantime lots of people are very interested in it!
Nevertheless certain compromises were inevitable so I made the decision to try to keep the exterior as true to the original as possible and just be sensible about the interior. It was going to be sensational and 95% of passengers would never know any different. But boy, was I going to have to be patient.
And of course in the meantime I did indeed carry a lot of passengers, most of whom really enjoyed the shabby-chic ambiance.
So, visiting the workshops of DB Conversions fifteen months later, it was a real shocker to see everything stripped out and all my work trashed. But I knew it had to be done; we had come too far to cut corners now. I had enjoyed a year of driving what was essentially a run-around for the fun of it but now it was serious. I remain plagued with guilt that despite doing everything by the book, my naivety had led me to carry people around in a vehicle that was legal on paper but barely safe on the road. I suppose the fact that all my trips had indeed been safely completed should give me some succour but I had only done a few hundred miles. According to the law at least, I could have done ten times that, which doubtless would have shaken her to pieces.
I wonder how many other ‘preserved’ vehicles out there hide their true condition behind the panels?
But for the first time the extent of the work required on my coach was plain for all to see. There were no corners left to cut, even if we wanted to. The frame would need to be renewed section-by-section. Suddenly the £20,000 bank loan was beginning to look like small change.
Or perhaps, a ha’peth of tar. Stripping the entire vehicle inside and out raised questions we wouldn’t otherwise have had; and putting it back together made otherwise barely-noticeable imperfections stand out a mile.
The biggest decision was about the seats. The moquette was quite badly faded but in reasonable condition and of course original. On the other hand, with the aim of everything being restored to mint condition, faded seats with a few tears were not going to cut the mustard. In any case, one of the seats was in a completely different moquette while several cushions had obviously been cannibalised from elsewhere on the ‘near enough’ principle. Anyway, they were out of the vehicle; what better opportunity to get them re-covered?
This decision hailed a bit of a turning point. Restoration to exactly as-new condition was going to be impossible. Having established there was no source of the original moquette (although we will probably never know for sure) and that to have it reproduced would costs thousands for a minimum quantity that would be enough for a small fleet, Major Compromise #1 was forced upon us and the seats were soon bowling up the M6 to Blackpool Trim Shops to be re-covered in an appropriate but not matching material.
A bargain on a per-seat basis but multiply by 54…
Further difficult decisions started to arise quite quickly, often needing to be made at short notice and from a distance needing good powers of imagination. The rather plasticky luggage racks were damaged in places and difficult to repair; but there was plenty of spare moquette so how about covering them in that? A problem getting anything to match the wood-effect interior side-finish so what did I think about grey cord carpet? It would be mad not to re-floor the interior but the original pattern isn’t available – what do we do?
We all see the articles in this and other preservation magazines where it has taken ten years or more to find the original-pattern components to complete a perfect historical restoration; but I had to remind myself that this was never meant to be a preservation or even a restoration project. It was certainly never intended to be something for the public to look at; this was a modest, private venture to satisfy my little bus-driving fantasy and give some fun to my family and maybe a few jazz fans joining me in my ‘other’ hobby.
The problem is, in the meantime the mere presence of even the unrestored ‘Mary’ on the roads and at a couple of rallies had turned heads, revived memories and created new friends and contacts. Cyril Kenzie, local coaching legend and his bodywork man Robbie, who used to work for Plaxtons; Charles Marshall, who ordered my coach for OK from new; people who had driven her or went to school on her; Andrew Miller, another local operator who was prepared to hire me a coach while mine was off the road – and who had Plaxton Supreme windows and other oddments lying around in his yard; Mark Cockram, PSV mechanic extraordinaire who was an apprentice at Millers when they were running Tiger Plaxtons; David Baker of DB Conversions, who was previously a manager at Plaxtons’ Ware (Herts) outpost; John Wakefield, former local driver and member of the Cambridge Omnibus Society, without whose intervention Andrew Miller would never have hired me a coach; and who also put me in touch with Charles White, local owner of a Bristol RELH, who has given me a great deal of support and encouragement.
I suppose it’s a bit like buying a really old house; you never really own it, you look after it for the next owners and in the meantime lots of people are very interested in it!
Nevertheless certain compromises were inevitable so I made the decision to try to keep the exterior as true to the original as possible and just be sensible about the interior. It was going to be sensational and 95% of passengers would never know any different. But boy, was I going to have to be patient.