Coventry Buses - past and present

I used to go past Nolans yard quite often back in late 1986 / early 1987 time, when I was on my way to the nearby Crabmills Scrap yard with my "YTS" work colleagues to get some sort after bits and pieces off the old Cars in there, but would always glance over at 196 whenever I went by. Soon after the advert appeared in the Telegraph about the Bus being up for sale, I went to have a look at it and Nolan was there along with some young lad working there as well. It was actually the lad who showed me 'round inside it and as my friend Kevin has already mentioned on here, it certainly was full of Car parts alright downstairs and I thought at the time how nice it would have been if all that stuff could have been taken out of it (which I'd have happily done !) and for the Bus itself to have been taken out of that yard to a place of safety and a new life in preservation ? While I was inside it, I remember the phone ringin', but unfortunately for the young lad (who wanted to answer it !), he to could hear it ringin', but couldn't actually find it ??? (It was probably buried underneath all the Car parts and Paperwork in there etc, etc....???lol). I can easily imagine the amount of pain and upset that my local transport enthusiast friend Kevin must have gone through in seeing a Bus that he so wanted to buy, just being ripped to pieces infront of him like it was ! The sight of seeing something like that would easily break anyone's heart I reckon, but from what I remember, the possible purchase of 196 was mentioned to the Transport Museum in Town, only for them to say: "WE'VE ALREADY GOT A DAIMLER CVG6 IN OUR COLLECTION, SO WE DON'T NEED ANOTHER ONE" ? They might already have a CVG6 in their collection, but their CVG6 has a Manchester style front, whereas 196 had the earlier Birmingham style front ! Had the two Buses now been stood side by side on display in Coventry's Transport Museum today, well, that certainly would be a really nice thing to see on any visit that I make there ! One thing I was surprised to see when I went inside 196, were a large selection of old "Coventry Transport" photo's that were all printed on different size paper (either 5x3 or 6x4, with one being a very large photo of GKV 97 pictured at Keresley Colliery !). They were all displayed in the large glass advertising frame downstairs, which overlooks the inward facing seat on the O/S rear wheel arch. When 196 was eventually broken up by the Mechanical Grabber ripping it apart, that display of old Coventry bus photo's hadn't even been taken out of the Bus by anyone and a couple of the photo's were later found just lying in a puddle in the yard, surrounded by all that was left of 196 ! To my surprise though (about 15 years after 196 had been scrapped !), I opened up the Coventry Telegraph one day and I found advertised in it for sale, a Radiator Grill off a Daimler CVG6 ! I thought it might have been a hoax at first, but "OH NO", it was genuine alright and after phoning up the Seller who informed me it was off Bus 196, I went straight over to where it was in Bedworth and there it stood in the guys front room, leaning up against the fire place complete with its fluted Daimler Badge still fitted to it ! I've never ever tried to restore it, as it's still painted Blue and basically has been left untouched and is in its "as removed from the Bus" condition !

Hello, Thought this was a very appropriate picture from Facebook for our forum. It's Coventry & also a reference to our loved & very loyal member, all looking very spick and span. Whilst I don't believe that any regular public transport provider exceeded the luxury of the earlier fitted out Coventry transport, like the FHP, GKV or KVC, buses, the cost of manufacturing labour had gone through the roof, the designs like our picture didn't disgrace any before them. They were the last rear exit buses to serve in Coventry, the crews certainly appreciated them. I think that my mum did Vernons!

I used to be a regular passenger on the 20A Bus from 1956 to 1964 quite a nice route from Honeysuckle Drive to the City Centre.

Thank you. Yes it does look 'spick & span' as you say. Must have just had a re-paint and as it has a Sandy Lane garage 'S' plate, this will date it after late 1969 and before July 1973, when it was re-painted again in to the Marshall red & Shetland ivory livery. From a batch of buses known as 'Festival buses', due to them having white painted roofs, 309 RW entered service during September 1961 and was withdrawn during December 1977. When I took a photograph of it on the 28th May 1978, withdrawn and parked-up at the rear of Harnall Lane garage, someone had ripped off the West Midlands vinyl from its side and it was showing again the legend 'Coventry transport', nice to see and the bus was in a good condition. It was mentioned on another forum, that some of the garage staff would, have-a-little-fun, with the withdrawn buses when manoeuvring them around, pushing them back with a tractor and the waiting to hear or felt the bump as the back end hit the bus parked behind. I indeed took several photographs of the withdrawn buses with front end damage. That fate was to happen with 309 RW itself, as a photograph I took of it on the 10th September 1978 shows it with a completely smashed radiator grille! Not long after it was towed to Barnsley for scrapping.