Step By Step

Hi folks, Marietta here. Just updating you on the latest improvements made to my partner Remo's and my Bedford Bus. 

Remo forming a plan of attack amid the renovations to his family home.

A massive step forward for us was the removal of the incredibly hefty ships window, which occupied the entire back of the bus. 

Many thanks to Darren for lending some muscle.

A temporary resting place.

After

Rotten boards, before.

There was a fair bit of damage around the framing of the ships window, so the next step was to extract all the rotten flooring and replace it.

As the end of the bus will be the bedroom, we've decided to eventually install two much smaller windows, preferably coloured glass, higher towards the ceiling to allow in more light, and as a bit of a feature.

Remo has declared his love of finally being able to work with wood, and make a more drastic 

improvement other than fixing up rust holes, dented metalwork and other small, fiddly but necessary jobs. This really feels like improvement! He would be working at it all weekend if it weren't for other obligations, I'm sure this renewed enthusiasm will reoccur and grow with every exciting step we make.

  

Another little adjustment Remo has made recently is to the entrance. Utilising his mad skills he's strengthened the bottom step so we can finally stop leaping from the ground to the second step when entering (for fear of falling through).

The very latest news is that we've decided to use some secondhand old fence palings, (found in the backyard) for the dado around the interior of the bus! They're a marvellous find and handily located.

Very fond of the rich colour bought out by the oil, and the saw markings going against the grain just add to the rustic feel.

I have been desperate to share a few of the war time paper clippings, frustratingly glued very securely over the ceiling. I'm hoping to save a few of them before we need to paint, however I fear the combination of old brittle paper and glue will lead to many ripping/disintegrating. Fingers crossed we're able to salvage a few. 

Beginnings of an omnibus adventure

Our first viewing.

Hello and welcome to this blog about our renovations to this omnibus!!

Much to the delight of my partner and I, we've managed to acquire this rather funky old mid fifties Bedford bus, which we are intending to do up so as to be able to live in it while our first investment house is being built, hopefully later in the year. Aside from the fact that we can live in it when it is finished, a big reason for purchasing this bus was to have a project that we could do together, which I'm sure will have its trying moments at times, but overall will be an experience that we can both grow and learn from.

Anyway, about the bus itself.... As far as I know at the moment it's a mid 1950's Bedford truck chassis with a Sydwood Coaches bus body built on top. I haven't been able to find a chassis number on it yet so we can't really know for sure how old or what model it is, but from photos of other busses I've found, I'm pretty sure its approximately 1950's.

Overall it is in reasonable condition, with only some rust and a little rot in the timber framework here and there.

Seatless and brakeless but able to start.

Thankfully the clock and fountain (jokingly referred to as The Urinal)
were removed after purchase.

Dad inspecting the lino floor, and the quirky
war time paper clippings scattered on the roof.  

It has been decided that the feature thick glass ships window
at the back of the bus will be removed
(but kept for later use on another project).

Debating the year, and having final
discussions of the issue
of transporting the bus to it's new residence
200 meters down the road.