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Lovely old coach. Could drive that all day. Nice relaxed pace with these older motors. Just loving all that wood effect Formica too.

I always preferred the similar, but I think far more handsomely proportioned, Dominant 2. But as others have said, so evocative to see this Supreme: the school trips in a baking coach with skylights that did nothing, frustrated teachers shouting 'quiet the driver is trying to concentrate' and oh yes those smells. Can I ask - though out of view here, on coaches of that era there was a huge bank of switches to the driver's right. It may be a silly question, but what did so many switches control? I always imagined it to be the individual lights on the luggage racks, but that seems a bit daft.

Brilliant coach design; bright, light and comfortable. And a lovely engine, too.

ThoSe Vintage Engine Sounds....😇😇 PleaSe Come Back tO Me. Lol. 😁

Bedford YMT are YRQ's were my memorable plaxton supreme coaches I went to school or to the seaside

Throttle is Starting To Act Up On it , I’m a HGV Mechanic it’s A Lovely looking Coach , I worked on Them When They were Operating Plaxton Made Lovely Coaches ,

not many coaches have a manual gearbox, most have zf boxes

School trip memories Not fast but very smooth As per the video the ones I remember were 4 speed….but I think there was a semi-automatic version as well…..little gear shifter next to the steering wheel and without a clutch pedal. Anyway the 4 speed manuals I remember had some kinda “J” brake….a lever control which when activated increased engine braking…they used it a lot down steep hills. I remember when the local bus company moved to DAFs to replace these….and these seem to feature some sort of Splitter gearbox, essentially doubling the number of gears thru using a switch on the gear shifter. Not sure on this…all seemed very complicated. Then again 4 speed did seem rather limited as well. I can vaguely remember an early version (older styling) which was removed from service a few years into my school years, several like in the video, and I seem to recall when the DAFs were brought in there was 1 new end of run Bedford bus which was clearly still the same platform but significantly upgraded….with a 5 speed transmission.

do you have too double de-clutch with this gearbox ?

Very pleasant, Bedfords and Fords were the mainstay of the independents, I grew up with those of Grayscroft and Applebys. Too many enthusiasts tend to disregard them in favour of heavyweight stuff so its good to see some saved.Sadly, by the time I started at the former after over a decade at RoadCar with Tigers ( a thoroughly enjoyable vehicle) etc, the last Bedford had long gone, was mostly B10Ms by then, I always double declutched up and down the box a much smoother change. Driving a Bedford Y series is something I hope to one day achieve.

Like getting dropped off at school. Great memories

Is it only a 4 speed box? Or does he always drive off in 2nd? How much power does the engine have?

Great upload takes me back.cant help think how beautiful the old coaches were.

Unusual interior for a Supreme. Great camera work!

Steering on straight roads looks a bit vague, is that a symptom of age and wear or of the type of steering common to buses ?

Was this during a pcv test?

Proper good bus driver that!

I agree, always loved the sound of a Plaxton Bedford. I went to school on one between 1994-99. Our default coach was V reg; the oldest T which had red floral seats with black headrests.

I went to school in a Bedford from 1994-99, the coach company now doesn't have any. For some reason I prefer the 'older' coaches. they had 4 of them at the time, always remember the loud floral red and black head rests from the late 70's. The older of the 4 was an S reg, the wood veneer was darker, same layout buttons etc, wipers used to be switched individually, one particular driver used to always use 1 on. I wondered if the older ones had overdrive attachment to the gear knob? I remember the gear shift stick is identical as in this video but below was an attached small 'box' with a cable going down the stick and a button at the top of this small box clipped on.

Was that a 5 speed gearbox

Bedfords were awful in comparison to AEC's Leyland and Volvos. Under powered and after a week on the road would be lathered in oil. The grub screws on the gear linkage would wear loose and make the gear change like a pudding stick. The 4 gearbox lugs where the gear box connects to the bell housing would brake off. They just wasn't up to the job.

Back in the 1990s I used to operate the 1st rear engined DAF, with a Mk4 Supreme body, that Plaxton ever built. Her body number was DCR001. Lovely old coach, that was quiet, went well and was as smooth as silk to ride in. Wish I'd kept it now!

Eieofoefieidiwdis iie8efisidgueiru😮😮😅😅😊😊❤❤

Some new bus / coach drivers would be scratching their head at the strange floor pole sticking up

I drove a few of these in my time, plus other Bedford Coaches such as PJK, YLQ, YRQ, YMPS, YRT, YMT, YNT, etc, at one time these were the workhorses of just about every small coach operator in the UK. Good to see them preserved in such good condition

The exterior mirrors are the same as i had on my J4 van in 1971.

I'm interested in the driver 's gear changing. I can see him double declutching when he changes down, which I understand, but he also seems to do the same thing when changing up but without 'blipping' the throttle. Please can someone who understands these things explain why it is desirable or necessary to life the clutch when changing up when the gear lever is in the neutral position? Thanks.

Bus wankers

Plaxtons of that age bring back so many memories of school trips. The nylon moquette on the seats, the headrests with the leather inserts on the back, the very obviously imitation wood laminates, the big windows with the rubber grommets, the soft lino on the floor ...

Driver likes going into neutral be4 he has stopped?

These where the days when you really had to start driving

Never really keen on driving Bedford's, much preferred the Volvo B10M & Daf sb.

No synchromesh?

This took me back to when I was at school. Shaws of Maxey had two Bedford Paramount 3200’s in their fleet of Paxton bodied Bedfords in the early 90’s. I can still hear the sound of the engine at motorway speeds along the A1 from Wittering through to the A47, then along the back roads through to my school. Thank you for sharing this video.

Love the sound of those Bedford 500 Turbos. I remember Roberts of Wingate getting one back in 87 and being a coach company with a fleet of Bedfords on Plaxton Panorama Elites with naturally aspirated engines, the turbo version was a breath of fresh air, nit much changing down the box on the hills. Nice video and nice to see a good example of yhe Bedford

Why all the freewheeling? Use the gears.

Which bus rallys do you get too

That Beddy 500 diesel hum brought back memories from Sydney. I used to catch mid engine Bedford buses both manual and Allison auto. That is the most modern looking driver's area I've seen in a Bedford. I remember a few had that thicker steering wheel but most had the skinny four stick affair. The newer one didn't come soon enough as it looks so much smarter. A shame Bedford fell behind and didn't have long to go by 1980. Here's a 1986 video showing various Bedford buses including a ride in an Allison automatic example. ruclips.net/video/Rd8jANTgfeo/видео.html

A rare sight indeed a bus that reverses .

Spent many hours driving Bedford coaches. Cracking video. Brought back many memories.

I remember we had a Plaxton bus with Ford engine and 8 speed range box, I guess it was som Ford Cargo engine ?

i remember in the early 80s always walking past our school coach in car park where it was always parked up a a lot. i liked its mid 1960s iconic design. i think it was a Bedford in part white and blue had chrome slips on it sides. was a great looking coach in immaculate condition. i remember asking the driver on a class day out about it. it had only covered 14,000 miles from the mid 60s to the early 80s. after some time had pasted by i walked by my old school in the late 80s with a friend we noticed the old coach wasn't there anymore. I'm guessing it be owned by the council it would have been sold off in auction someplace and some lucky person would have ended up with a good looking coach in top condition. how do i find out where that coach ended up. i would think its in preservation by a loving owner. my old school was demolished in 2021 so its not as if i could ask what happened to the coach by going there. as if anyone would have been still working there from the early 80s anyway. most of my old teachers from there had passed away by the 2000s. would love to find out what happen to that coach. any suggestion how to. are there council records i can request to see and such like?

Can we see some AEC coaches …..

Are these front engine or mid engines?

Lovely piece of kit - reminds me of when I was a school kid. Slightly surprised that it needed double de clutching, but nice to see that such an arcane art hasn't been lost! 🙂

I was taught to drive in a Bedford YMQ but that one had a unicar body.

Beautiful sound.

They don’t make coaches with such character now. I used to travel on similar ones on school outings etc, back in the day.

I can just imagine the smell. Busses these days dont have that beautiful engine smell to them

These used to be my school bus home in 1980 to 1984. Britannia coaches. Telford. Sadly now gone.