THE SEARCH FOR REMAINING FLEETLINES AND THE SECURING OF 4708 (DNF 708C)

The rumours that three ex-Manchester Fleetlines were in America was pursued by The SELNEC Preservation Society in 1993, when we tried to make contact with the organisation we understood had received them, being Sunset Transport, but to no avail. However, further effort was made to follow-up this line of enquiry in 1996, eventually discovering that six vehicles had potentially been sold to a Sunline Transit Agency in Palm Desert.

In order to establish whether these were ex-Manchester Daimler Fleetlines, and if so, what their condition was, a visit was undertaken between Tuesday, 4th and Saturday, 8th June 1996, when it was discovered that Sunline Transit Agency had indeed run six ex-Manchester Fleetlines. These were 4708, 4716, 4719, 4721, 4722 and 4728. 4722 and 4728 no longer existed, one had unfortunately, been destroyed by fire due to an electrical problem, and the other has been cannibalised for spare parts. However, four were still in existence, and had been parked-up for eight years in security premises, after being taken out of service, being 4708, 4716, 4719 and 4721.

Conversion work had taken place, in that they are open-topped and have had a door cut in the offside behind the staircase, to allow passengers to board on the right-hand. Their seating has been changed, alteration made to the electrics, and the cab area. As well as this conversion work, the condition of the vehicles is very poor, having been stored for eight years. 4719 had part of its engine removed, but the other three all had their engines intact. During the visit, the engines of 4708, 4716 and 4721 were started, two of them were driven and tested, being 4708 and 4721. 4716 has some kind of fuel-supply problem which prevented it from moving.

However, the owner of these buses in Chicago had not been easy to deal with, and our inquiries had made him believe that the vehicles were such a rarity that he would expect to receive a large sum to part with one of them. Hence, we were not quite sure how to proceed with matters, but then an unexpected development occurred.

Nearly two years after the trip to Palm Desert, we received a letter from the Security Storage Premises in Palm Desert, indicating that they were to sell the six buses in a Lien Sale on 20th May 1998, to recover outstanding rent not paid on the buses for a number of months by the Chicago owner. After a series of frantic telephone calls to and from America, it was agreed that we could take part in the Auction by telephone and Radio Link-up from Manchester in England to Palm Desert in America. This took place at 9.00am on 20th May 1998 American time, being 5.00pm in the afternoon here in England.

Fortunately, there was very little interest in the vehicles at that time, and we managed to secure 61373, i.e. 4708 for $250, but the others were not sold. Although we are the owners of this vehicle, we had to take on board the responsibility of paying rental, whilst it remained in Palm Desert at Security Public Storage, at $42 per month. Bearing in mind we have to transport the vehicle over 5,000 miles, quotations have proved very expensive and we have been seeking ways to lessen the cost on the basis of securing a place in a ship otherwise not occupied, in other words, taking-up unallocated space on the basis that was not urgent.

However, unfortunately, Security Public Storage in Palm Desert, where the vehicle is kept, are undertaking to have the external area where 4708 is parked, completely renovated to an internal storage situation, involving a certain amount of building work and consequently, it was necessary for 4708 to be removed from the site by 20th March 2000.

Frantic telephone calls to and from America enabled us to have the vehicle moved on Friday, 13th March 2000, from Security Public Storage to Plaza Shell for a temporary period of a few weeks, whilst we now seek to put into effect urgent arrangements to have the bus shipped back to England.

In the meantime, we have been assured by the DVLA in Swansea that once the vehicle reaches English soil, we will be allowed to restore its original registration number, DNF 708C to it.

Some of the costings we have been given currently appear to be very high between £5,000 and £6,000, but we are hoping that some benevolent shipping company or a bus operator who has experience in this area and is interested in seeing our preservation activities succeed, would be able to offer us a more affordable price.

In the meantime, the search goes on although we have limited time to resolve this issue!

We have also been advised that 4716 and 4721 have been sold to be converted to Motor Homes in the USA and that 4719 has been scrapped, although we understand that the majority of the parts went towards the rectification of 4716 and 4721 into their Motor Home status.

[ Back ] [ Up ]