Chopped Routemaster

[ClassicMotorNut]

The famous Smoke City Wheelers chopped Routemaster is for sale and that's good because I didn't think she existed anymore. She's £25k () but she's a legend.

http://www.carandclassic.co.uk/car/C447580

[Sid's Dad]

Legend? Really? I don't think I get the point....looks cheaply done, less functional, no added value...

[Huntsman]

He's wrong about the engine too, I spent last saturday on a Routemaster from the 50's still running the AEC engine.

[ClassicMotorNut]

Yes, really. It was a real show-stopper when it did shows in the '90s. As for cheaply built, of course it was. The Smoke City Wheelers were hardly rolling in money! Also, it was hardly meant to be functional as a bus.

Edit - what's happened to the side windows? The panels had been moved down to make it look as though the lower deck had been chopped as well.

[Rich G]

[davepoth]

ClassicMotorNut said:

Yes, really. It was a real show-stopper when it did shows in the '90s. As for cheaply built, of course it was. The Smoke City Wheelers were hardly rolling in money! Also, it was hardly meant to be functional as a bus.

Edit - what's happened to the side windows? The panels had been moved down to make it look as though the lower deck had been chopped as well.

If you compare the two, I don't think it's the same body. The top picture (which I guess is older) has a chop to the lower deck and less of a chop to the top deck. The bottom picture (which I think is newer) looks to have a full height lower deck (lower window for the driver for example) but a lower chop on top.

Edited by davepoth on Monday 16th December 01:27

[truck71]

Not sure of the appeal of chopped Routemasters- originals are suitably cool.

[odyssey2200]

WHY?
Why would you do this?

It has achieved nothing.

It looks st and taken away any benefits of having a DD bus.

[oliverb205]

Think I preferred the one in "Live and let die"...

[Sid's Dad]

odyssey2200 said:

WHY?
Why would you do this?

It has achieved nothing.

It looks st and taken away any benefits of having a DD bus.

I don't get it either. Each to his own I suppose, this is right down there with banger racers in my book.

[ClassicMotorNut]

odyssey2200 said:

WHY?
Why would you do this?

It has achieved nothing.

It looks st and taken away any benefits of having a DD bus.

I think you missed the point by roughly four furlongs. Benefits of having a DD bus? The Smoke City Wheelers were a custom car club, not a bus company. It's a show vehicle, and it still had practical benefits because it can be slept in.

Come to think of it, criticising it for its uselessness as a public-serving bus is akin to calling the Pastyoureyes Express a load of crap because they put the engine where the milk is meant to go.

[RichB]

ClassicMotorNut said:

I think you missed the point by roughly four furlongs...

Don't be offended because no one likes your bus

p.s. I think it looks pointless too

[LordBretSinclair]

I prefer the way they chopped this one in Summer Holiday

(B*gger, showing my age again).

[odyssey2200]

ClassicMotorNut said:

odyssey2200 said:

WHY?
Why would you do this?

It has achieved nothing.

It looks st and taken away any benefits of having a DD bus.

I think you missed the point by roughly four furlongs. Benefits of having a DD bus? The Smoke City Wheelers were a custom car club, not a bus company. It's a show vehicle, and it still had practical benefits because it can be slept in.

Come to think of it, criticising it for its uselessness as a public-serving bus is akin to calling the Pastyoureyes Express a load of crap because they put the engine where the milk is meant to go.

It could be slept in before the roof was chopped and was probably easier to use as such with more head room.

I can see that a change of use was desired but why make it more difficult to use in it's new form?

[Jagmanv12]

odyssey2200 said:

WHY?
Why would you do this?

It has achieved nothing.

It looks st and taken away any benefits of having a DD bus.

A friend had a Routemaster in Switzerland and he cut the roof down by about 5 inches as the normal height won't fit under bridges on the motorways/autobahns.

Reducing the height makes it usable in Europe.

[Erich Stahler]

LordBretSinclair said:

I prefer the way they chopped this one in Summer Holiday

(B*gger, showing my age again).

Are you sure its not the one in Live and Let Die just before the low bridge?

[RichB]

Erich Stahler said:

LordBretSinclair said:

I prefer the way they chopped this one in Summer Holiday

(B*gger, showing my age again).

Are you sure its not the one in Live and Let Die just before the low bridge?

Either way it's a RT not a Routemaster

[tapkaJohnD]

Long discussion here: http://retrorides.proboards.com/thread/68731 with pics of the original modification and rebuild. Any, the pics here are of TWO "Famous Smoke City Wheeler Buses". Any more? And how many do you need, before the fame runs out.

John

[LordBretSinclair]

RichB said:

Erich Stahler said:

LordBretSinclair said:

I prefer the way they chopped this one in Summer Holiday

(B*gger, showing my age again).

Are you sure its not the one in Live and Let Die just before the low bridge?

Either way it's a RT not a Routemaster

Yep, I know and now you're showing your age Rich

[RichB]

I can remember the trolly buses too!