On Friday 10 July 2020, the Queensland Omnibus & Coach Society unveiled its latest restoration project: Brisbane City Council 1948 AEC Regal III Bus 80. The vehicle was officially unveiled by Queensland Minister for Transport and Main Roads, Mark Bailey MP, alongside BCC Chair of the Public and Active Transport Committee, Cr Ryan Murphy.
Over 50 people attended the event including Cr Steven Toomey and Transport for Brisbane Divisional Manager, Geoff Beck. After the ceremony concluded, QOCS Treasurer Martin Stepancich drove Bus 80 around City Hall on joy rides.
Its restoration was made possible by a $19,000 Queensland Government Gambling Community Benefit Fund grant, combined with the generousity of Coachworks at Acacia Ridge who performed the works. This involved replacing a number of body panels and attending to some other minor rust repairs, plus undertaking a complete respray of the Council’s original Aluminium-colour paint scheme. In fact, the vehicle was ‘soda blasted’ back to bare metal, which removed an estimated seven layers of paint applied during the past 72 years.
Coachworks General Manager Scott Isaacs said it was an enjoyable project to work on as the coronavirus lockdown created uncertainty in the transport industry.
The history of Bus 80
Between October 1947 and April 1948, the Brisbane City Council began consolidating bus transportation in Brisbane under municipal ownership by compulsorily acquiring 20 private operators. These services operated into the city from suburbs including Doomben, Indooroopilly, Moorooka, Norman Park, Tarragindi, and Yeerongpilly.
The Council drastically improved public transport in Brisbane by co-ordinating bus services for the first time and operating a modern fleet of diesel-powered buses.Commonwealth Engineering in Sydney. It was purchased to replace the aged fleet of petrol buses inherited from 20 private operators.
Bus 80 was one of 12 diesel-powered British A.E.C. Regal III chassis with bodies built by Commonwealth Engineering in Sydney during 1948 to replace the aged fleet of petrol buses inherited from these private operators. The chassis cost £3,415 while the body cost £1,695, making a total of £5,110 (now equivalent to $319,800).
