Hello! Thanks for the clarification - I guess I should have asked you before I recorded it (although I may have done it right before your offer)! Thanks very much for watching again!!
Hi, we operated three of the Omni Buses on a service provided for Kent County Council under the banner Kent Karrier. They were terrible, simply terrible. They simply were poorly made and designed, even things such as the gearbox used to break on a regular basis. We operated them as Mercury Passenger Services Ltd in and around the Medway towns/Maidstone and Swale in Kent (UK), in the end I handed them back to Kent County Council as they brought us bad publicity through there constant issues. We replaced them with our own new vehicles which turned the service around thankfully. It was all made worse in that the Kent Karrier service was aimed at the elderly or disabled, and that is not something you want unreliable vehicles on. Thanks for the video, most informative on perhaps part of Mercury's history I would rather forget. Happy new year to you all as well. Simon
Hello! Thank you for the very interesting info on your experience with the Omni! It's unfortunate it turned out the way it did. Happy New Year to you, too! Thanks very much for watching!!
@@JeffreyOrnstein Hi, You did another feature on a odd ball bus we owned and operated for a while, even with a picture. That being the Dennis Domino (C53 HDT). We got rid of it as it was a little problem bus, kept getting the same problem over and over again, and as a bus operator, the last thing we needed was a problem bus. It was replaced with a pair of new Dennis Darts to a high spec, they were simply wonderful to operate and the customers thought so as well. They actually appreciated the coach seats and soft trim and tinted windows etc. I know that bus after we had it went to a real enthusiast in Yorkshire where we purchased it from in the first place, who did restore it and cured the issue (well I hope he did) I gave him as much help as we could to try and get it back to what he wanted, and I feel it all worked out for him. Do enjoy your videos, and never ceases to make me laugh, not in a nasty way, just love your way of presenting it. Do keep on with your endeavour's please. Kindest regards, Simon Edgecombe (Mercury Passenger Services Ltd)
Really interesting! I've been to Copenhagen and Lucerne and unfortunately did not see this bus. So glad I know about it now. Thanks, Jeffrey, for always putting out engaging content!
I've been taken to and from school in a CVE Omni a few times. Specifically, an M-reg model operated by Go Whippet. Very strange bus...very loud at "higher" speed. Had no clue that these buses were related, but it makes perfect sense.
The Omni is not too dissimilar to the rail mounted 'Parry People Mover' that runs between Stourbridge Town and Stourbridge Junction in the UK Another cracking video Jeffrey, all the best for 2025 Sir
Hello! All the best to you for 2025 as well! Glad you liked the video - the Parry People Mover looks like a good idea for a future video! Thanks very much for watching again!!
Gee wiz Jeffery, just when I thought you couldn’t find a bus that is all but the epitome of weird, you go ahead and produce this. Yes is does resemble an American yard tractor. Thanks as usual.
I remember seeing a half-cab Citybus operating a local service in Bad Ischl, Austria. I recall it was red, but not the operator. The CVE Omni was a bit of a flop in the UK as it was more expensive and complex than van-derived minibuses, but I recall that a couple of operators with school contracts carrying wheelchairs were very happy with them, and expressed a determination to keep them going as long as spares were available.
A Bus not completely looking the Steyr City Bus is the Neoplan MIC (Metroliner In Carbondesign) or N8006, N8008, N8012. The Body of the Bus is made of Fiberglass Composites wich made it very unique compared to other Buses
So pleased that you have finally got around to cover the City Vehicle Engineering CVE Omni sadly to futuristic of its time and wrong engine from a landrover wasnt fit for purpose till it was repowered by an option of a perkins lump. You often see these for sale on ebay as converted motor homes and the last one in service with the operator Empress Coaches of Hastings in 2019 has gone full circle into preservation.
Interesting video Jeffrey, ive not heard of those . Was certainly surprised when you mentioned them built in Shildon . The pictures of most of the British ones have teesside area registration plates Cheers Russ
Wow, what an interesting minibus. here in Chile in between the 80s to the first years of 2000, in a couple of little cities they have the Decaroli Pia - Agrale TX1600, it was a minibus manufactured in Argentina with brazilian chasis Agrale, the length of that minibus was 5.2 Metres.
@@JeffreyOrnstein I think South America is due for some coverage. Did you know AEC was badged as ACLO in South American markets using the same style logo? Supposedly Germany’s AEG thought it was too similar.
The last Omni sold in the UK was S922 JSH purchased by Scottish Borders Council for use on Day Care transport. Iveco engine and manual gearbox. DVLA has it on SORN so it is still out there somewhere.
Min. 3:30 : the 2-stroke Haflinger engine and the Mercedes engine weren't the only engines used with the city bus. Also a 4-cylinder Volkswagen engine from the LT-28 van was used. I can also remember the one City Bus of the Dürener Kreisbahn in Düren (Germany, near Cologne) min. 4:40 , that provided inner city routes in the early eighties. You displayed one b/w image of it, its the car with the "DN-RS85" number plate. This Bus had a bright beige colour with blue stripes. This car carried the number 99.
That is one modern looking take on the half cab with the 1930s designs I’m used to. I can’t believe a vehicle that size has such small wheels! I imagine they aren’t as hardy as a full size bus. I’m amazed such a radical looking concept made it into production.
I owned 2 omni's in my time. one fitted with a landrover defender 2.5 diesel engine, the other started with the same engine but was swapped to a ford transit 2.5di banana engine
Another interesting look into oddities in the bus world. I remember the Puch name as a child but heard it pronounced 'Pooch'. The half cab and small wheels make it look futuristic. It would seem in place in a futuristic science-fiction film or childrens animation! The panoramic version looks more sensible. It certainly has a market, airports and tourist vehicles etc. Didn't notice the UK connection, until mentioned, but remember these more sensible versions. Great stuff!
Hello! Very glad you liked the video!! Puch is not really known in the USA, so I am not going to pronounce it correctly, LOL. Thanks very much for watching!!
Slow means langsam in German, just in Case someone wonders why L stands for slow. BTW: the Ice Cream Option could make Public Transport more atractive🍦
I came to live in Luzern (still near there) in March 1989 and the Steyr bus was gone by then. Looking at where the pictures were taken, it might have been that these buses (or this bus) was used to transport tourists from the Hauptbahnhof (main train station) to hotels or something.
A really interesting City Bus which I think was ahead of its time. Perfect for the type of work it was doing. Today a battery electric version of the Steyr could be very successful in today’s environment. ❤
I have a picture of this Steyr minibus my friend gave me in the letter back in 1993 or 94 and I found it interesting to see the look of this half cab bus, and speaking about minibuses, how about Benz O100 City? I think this even more interesting for me as this is a minibus with unusual six wheels.
I remember seeing one of them in the 2010s parked on a public spot in Simmering, Vienna. It still had its original Wiener Linien livery. I hope it was restored, it seemed in pretty decent condition.
It was a very intressting Video, i knew the Bus before and like it. Neoplan build a similar Bus but with a fullsize cab. First for Westberlin, to transport handycaped people called "Telebus" and later Neoplan was building a bus version as unibus or N906.
Hello! Glad you found it interesting! The other buses you mention look interesting, maybe a video on them in the future! Thanks very much for watching!!
@@JeffreyOrnstein I guess MartinIbert is correct with the ch sound being as in the Scottish 'loch' sound - I think that's how ch is pronounced in German. I'm trying to think of other examples, but failing! Steyr Puch was best known in the UK for the Haflinger off-road vehicle. I have memories from the 1960s of seeing one on TV competing in some form of motor sport, though I can't think what it would have been (and I was very young!).
Hello! Glad you liked the video!! The model is a 1/43 scale Iconic Replicas New York City Transit Authority GM TDH-5303. There were three versions - two tone blue, green and silver and the one you see in the video. They were made about 5 years ago. I have all three. Nice display models, but some inaccuracies. Very hard to get today, I would think. They're plastic and were $80 each. Thanks very much for watching!!
The trio bought by Strathclyde Passenger Transport were even more ahead of their time in that they were battery electric, the only ones so built. However SPT were obliged to tender for an operator on the envisaged route and the potential o[perator could put in a quote for using their own diesel buses rather then the battery electrics, the Glasgow inter-station has some steep battery draining hills and the tender was won by diesel buses. As a result SPT's three never carried passengers and sat for years as a monument to extravagance at the city's main Buchanan bus station. Most of the British built examples used a Land-Rover engine with a synchromesh gearbox but later ones had a Toyota Coaster engine and automatic transmission.
So why does it have a half-cab? From what I can tell, it's either yard trucks (which have a convenient access doors for hooking up trailer connections without dismounting on the other half), or double decker busses (which put loading doors or stairs on the other half) that have them - this one doesn't do either. Can it be used for luggage or something? Was it just grandfathered in from the model it's based on? Weight savings?
Hello! Good question...I couldn't find a direct reason, except that it sounded as if it provided easy access to the engine. But there is probably more to it than that. Thanks very much for watching!!
Where there is an engine-beside driver configuration the half-cab actually makes perfect sense. As Jeffrey says, there is good access to the engine, and there is a weight saving (good for the environment) and also there is good visibility for the driver. Sometimes full-front style bodywork was specified by operators on chassis normally half-cab, and these were not popular with drivers - there was more heat and noise in the cab, and if the nearside windows steamed up they were out of reach from the driving seat. Hong Kong bought a lot of full-front Leylands from Southdown and actually converted some to half-cab, and when the London Routemaster was in the design stage the union insisted in them being half-cabs.
I would like to inform you that in 1988, a bus was produced in Yugoslavia at the TAZ factory under a Steyr license on the basis of the Steyr SCT 6F 65/72 chassis, which has a longer wheelbase and a longer overall length of 5,980 mm with a Mercedes OM 616 engine. Also in TAZ the factory also produced the AVIA A21 TAZ Neretva minibus in cooperation with a Czech partner who relied on the technical documentation on a Steyr minibus. The exact number of vehicles produced is unknown.
Well also later, the Eurobus factory had built some SC6 F58 looking buses called AE60C ! Two were owned by the Zagreb airport. These were most likely produced 1994. Do you know more details about this 1988 non-Avia TAZ you commented?
Well if you ever want to look into main land Europe well look into DAB- Silkeborg, they built busses based on Leyland chasssis and engines for a very long time, and was very innovative, not always the best ideas, but they had many. ,
"Steyr" actually rhymes with the English word "fire". It is not pronounced as "stair", more like "shtyre".
Hello! Thanks for the clarification - I guess I should have asked you before I recorded it (although I may have done it right before your offer)! Thanks very much for watching again!!
Hi, we operated three of the Omni Buses on a service provided for Kent County Council under the banner Kent Karrier. They were terrible, simply terrible. They simply were poorly made and designed, even things such as the gearbox used to break on a regular basis. We operated them as Mercury Passenger Services Ltd in and around the Medway towns/Maidstone and Swale in Kent (UK), in the end I handed them back to Kent County Council as they brought us bad publicity through there constant issues. We replaced them with our own new vehicles which turned the service around thankfully. It was all made worse in that the Kent Karrier service was aimed at the elderly or disabled, and that is not something you want unreliable vehicles on. Thanks for the video, most informative on perhaps part of Mercury's history I would rather forget. Happy new year to you all as well. Simon
Hello! Thank you for the very interesting info on your experience with the Omni! It's unfortunate it turned out the way it did. Happy New Year to you, too! Thanks very much for watching!!
@@JeffreyOrnstein Hi,
You did another feature on a odd ball bus we owned and operated for a while, even with a picture. That being the Dennis Domino (C53 HDT). We got rid of it as it was a little problem bus, kept getting the same problem over and over again, and as a bus operator, the last thing we needed was a problem bus. It was replaced with a pair of new Dennis Darts to a high spec, they were simply wonderful to operate and the customers thought so as well. They actually appreciated the coach seats and soft trim and tinted windows etc. I know that bus after we had it went to a real enthusiast in Yorkshire where we purchased it from in the first place, who did restore it and cured the issue (well I hope he did) I gave him as much help as we could to try and get it back to what he wanted, and I feel it all worked out for him. Do enjoy your videos, and never ceases to make me laugh, not in a nasty way, just love your way of presenting it. Do keep on with your endeavour's please. Kindest regards, Simon Edgecombe (Mercury Passenger Services Ltd)
Really interesting! I've been to Copenhagen and Lucerne and unfortunately did not see this bus. So glad I know about it now. Thanks, Jeffrey, for always putting out engaging content!
I've been taken to and from school in a CVE Omni a few times. Specifically, an M-reg model operated by Go Whippet. Very strange bus...very loud at "higher" speed. Had no clue that these buses were related, but it makes perfect sense.
Very interesting to hear your experience riding the Omni! Thanks very much for watching!!
The Omni is not too dissimilar to the rail mounted 'Parry People Mover' that runs between Stourbridge Town and Stourbridge Junction in the UK
Another cracking video Jeffrey, all the best for 2025 Sir
Hello! All the best to you for 2025 as well! Glad you liked the video - the Parry People Mover looks like a good idea for a future video! Thanks very much for watching again!!
Always wanted a Steyr-Puch Haflinger after seeing one on Dr Who of all things. Looking forward to what weird things you bring us next year!
Hello! Who wouldn't want a Haflinger??? Hopefully to bring more interesting stuff in 2025, and thanks very much for watching again!
Gee wiz Jeffery, just when I thought you couldn’t find a bus that is all but the epitome of weird, you go ahead and produce this. Yes is does resemble an American yard tractor.
Thanks as usual.
Hello! Very happy you found the video and the bus interesting! Thanks very much for watching again!!
Anything that resembles a Gerry Anderson creation is fine by me!
LOL, I think anyone would agree! Thanks very much for watching!!
I remember seeing a half-cab Citybus operating a local service in Bad Ischl, Austria. I recall it was red, but not the operator. The CVE Omni was a bit of a flop in the UK as it was more expensive and complex than van-derived minibuses, but I recall that a couple of operators with school contracts carrying wheelchairs were very happy with them, and expressed a determination to keep them going as long as spares were available.
Hello! Thanks for your memories of this type of bus, very interesting! Thanks very much for watching again!!
When Mack built trucks with a narrow left cab, they were known by truckers as Popeye Macks.
Very interesting, didn't know that! Thanks very much for watching!
@JeffreyOrnstein If you hear of a skinny one sided cab as a Popeye, now you know where it came from.
A Bus not completely looking the Steyr City Bus is the Neoplan MIC (Metroliner In Carbondesign) or N8006, N8008, N8012. The Body of the Bus is made of Fiberglass Composites wich made it very unique compared to other Buses
Hello! That Neoplan looks very interesting - I'm going to look into it more for a future video! Thanks very much for watching!!
So pleased that you have finally got around to cover the City Vehicle Engineering CVE Omni sadly to futuristic of its time and wrong engine from a landrover wasnt fit for purpose till it was repowered by an option of a perkins lump. You often see these for sale on ebay as converted motor homes and the last one in service with the operator Empress Coaches of Hastings in 2019 has gone full circle into preservation.
Glad you found the video interesting, and thanks for the additional info on the Omni! Thanks very much for watching!
Thank you for such an interesting video. It is quite amazing how the various color schemes either complement or accentuate the box-like body design.
Hello! Very glad you found the video interesting!! Thanks very much for watching!!
Interesting video Jeffrey, ive not heard of those . Was certainly surprised when you mentioned them built in Shildon . The pictures of most of the British ones have teesside area registration plates
Cheers Russ
Hello Russ! Very glad you found the video interesting!! Thanks very much for watching again!!
CVE-Omni, didnt know the relationship ,
They look like great little vehicles. Happy New Year to you all!
Happy New Year to you, too! Thanks very much for watching!!
Good morning,will agree it looks like it was ahead of its time,today's airport erica style rig,thumbs up great video, Happy New Years
Hello! Yes, it definitely was futuristic in a way! Happy New Year to you, too, and thanks very much for watching!!
Wow, what an interesting minibus. here in Chile in between the 80s to the first years of 2000, in a couple of little cities they have the Decaroli Pia - Agrale TX1600, it was a minibus manufactured in Argentina with brazilian chasis Agrale, the length of that minibus was 5.2 Metres.
Hello! Very glad you liked the video! I need to take a look at the Pia-Agrale TX1600! Thanks very much for watching!!
@@JeffreyOrnstein here's a picture www.atodobuschile.cl/galeria/data/media/62/01195.jpg
@@JeffreyOrnstein I think South America is due for some coverage.
Did you know AEC was badged as ACLO in South American markets using the same style logo?
Supposedly Germany’s AEG thought it was too similar.
Superb as ever Jeffrey 👌 hopefully you'll do a best of video or compilation as a look back on your 2024 videos.
Hello! Great to hear you liked the video! Will think about the compilation video idea! Thanks very much for watching!!
Thank you for the work to bring us this interesting video.
Hello! I'm very happy you liked the video!!! Thanks very much for watching again!!
Jeffrey, you are a gem!
Thank-you!
Thank you very much, John, I appreciate the nice words! Thanks very much for watching again!!
Those steel wheels and rounded headlights reminds me alot of the 1980:s Vw Golf MK2, sold as the Rabbit in the USA 👍
Mk2 Golf was never sold as the rabbit .
Looks like a VW Vanagon 80-90
As I know, they are from the VW LT at this time. Like the the front indicater and the rear lights.
The last Omni sold in the UK was S922 JSH purchased by Scottish Borders Council for use on Day Care transport. Iveco engine and manual gearbox. DVLA has it on SORN so it is still out there somewhere.
Thanks for the additional info on the Omni! Thanks very much for watching!
Min. 3:30 : the 2-stroke Haflinger engine and the Mercedes engine weren't the only engines used with the city bus. Also a 4-cylinder Volkswagen engine from the LT-28 van was used.
I can also remember the one City Bus of the Dürener Kreisbahn in Düren (Germany, near Cologne) min. 4:40 , that provided inner city routes in the early eighties. You displayed one b/w image of it, its the car with the "DN-RS85" number plate. This Bus had a bright beige colour with blue stripes. This car carried the number 99.
Hello! Thanks for the information about the other engine that was used and of the history of the photos I used! Thanks very much for watching!!
@@JeffreyOrnstein The 2-cylinder Haflinger engine was a 4-stoke engine !!
2-stroke wouldn't 'stroke' with the narrative to reduce pollution.
Another brilliant and fascinating wee video.......thanks Jeffrey!
Hello! Very glad you found it a very interesting video! Thanks very much for watching again!!
That is one modern looking take on the half cab with the 1930s designs I’m used to.
I can’t believe a vehicle that size has such small wheels!
I imagine they aren’t as hardy as a full size bus.
I’m amazed such a radical looking concept made it into production.
Oh yes, it's quite different from anything else on the streets at that time! Thanks very much for watching!
I owned 2 omni's in my time. one fitted with a landrover defender 2.5 diesel engine, the other started with the same engine but was swapped to a ford transit 2.5di banana engine
Another interesting look into oddities in the bus world. I remember the Puch name as a child but heard it pronounced 'Pooch'.
The half cab and small wheels make it look futuristic. It would seem in place in a futuristic science-fiction film or childrens animation! The panoramic version looks more sensible. It certainly has a market, airports and tourist vehicles etc. Didn't notice the UK connection, until mentioned, but remember these more sensible versions. Great stuff!
Hello! Very glad you liked the video!! Puch is not really known in the USA, so I am not going to pronounce it correctly, LOL. Thanks very much for watching!!
Slow means langsam in German, just in Case someone wonders why L stands for slow.
BTW: the Ice Cream Option could make Public Transport more atractive🍦
Ah, thanks for that German tidbit!!! Yes, we need ice cream buses, for sure! Thanks very much for watching!!
I came to live in Luzern (still near there) in March 1989 and the Steyr bus was gone by then. Looking at where the pictures were taken, it might have been that these buses (or this bus) was used to transport tourists from the Hauptbahnhof (main train station) to hotels or something.
A really interesting City Bus which I think was ahead of its time. Perfect for the type of work it was doing. Today a battery electric version of the Steyr could be very successful in today’s environment. ❤
Hello! Yes, an EV version would be a good idea! Thanks very much for watching!!
What an interesting niche bus
Yes, it's quite a fascinating little bus! Thanks very much for watching!
I have a picture of this Steyr minibus my friend gave me in the letter back in 1993 or 94 and I found it interesting to see the look of this half cab bus, and speaking about minibuses, how about Benz O100 City? I think this even more interesting for me as this is a minibus with unusual six wheels.
Hello! The Mercedes Benz O100 looks interesting - maybe a future video on it. Thanks very much for watching!
Were the O100 Citys also produced in Spain like the regular vans? It doesn't seem so.
Love the utilitarian design. They put some creativity in the plastic molding but the metal plating seems just taken from heavy machinery.
Yes, they tried to create something interesting "on the cheap" LOL. Thanks very much for watching!
I remember seeing one of them in the 2010s parked on a public spot in Simmering, Vienna. It still had its original Wiener Linien livery. I hope it was restored, it seemed in pretty decent condition.
Hello! Yes, hopefully it still exists and in good condition! Thanks very much for watching!!
It was a very intressting Video, i knew the Bus before and like it. Neoplan build a similar Bus but with a fullsize cab. First for Westberlin, to transport handycaped people called "Telebus" and later Neoplan was building a bus version as unibus or N906.
Hello! Glad you found it interesting! The other buses you mention look interesting, maybe a video on them in the future! Thanks very much for watching!!
I remember we had an Omni at work in the early 1990s as a mobile information unit for disabled people.
Very interesting! Thanks very much for watching!!
The Yard Jockey look is weird but I like it. Might make a nice camper conversion
LOL, I think a few may have been converted to campers, actually! Thanks very much for watching!!
For one only.
So for me Steyr means firepower!
I've always pronounced Puch as "pooch." Have I been saying it incorrect since I spotted a Puch Magnum mkII at a local mall in '79?
@@tedsmart5539 Yes. The vowel is short but similar (so not like in "but"), and the "ch" is like in the word "loch" (like Loch Ness).
I've always pronounced it 'Pook' (with a short vowel sound rather than a long one). Shows how wrong you can be!
Hello! I'm probably wrong in my pronunciation, as Puch is not really known in the USA! Thanks very much for watching again!!
@@JeffreyOrnstein I guess MartinIbert is correct with the ch sound being as in the Scottish 'loch' sound - I think that's how ch is pronounced in German. I'm trying to think of other examples, but failing! Steyr Puch was best known in the UK for the Haflinger off-road vehicle. I have memories from the 1960s of seeing one on TV competing in some form of motor sport, though I can't think what it would have been (and I was very young!).
I like this one. It's kind of quirky
Glad you liked the video and thanks very much for watching again!!
Thank you for a great video Jeffrey. Question - what is that awesome fishbowl bus model in your background?
Hello! Glad you liked the video!! The model is a 1/43 scale Iconic Replicas New York City Transit Authority GM TDH-5303. There were three versions - two tone blue, green and silver and the one you see in the video. They were made about 5 years ago. I have all three. Nice display models, but some inaccuracies. Very hard to get today, I would think. They're plastic and were $80 each. Thanks very much for watching!!
Any chance of you doing a video on Bristol Lodekka's or AEC Renown? 👍
Hello! I will look into these buses for a future video! Thanks very much for watching!!
I wonder if this bus inspired the OBI Orion II- from Circa 1980- About 1990.
Possibly there's a connection!! Thanks very much for watching!!
IM IN! Great afternoon vidjayo
Hello! Glad you liked the video and thanks very much for watching!!
The trio bought by Strathclyde Passenger Transport were even more ahead of their time in that they were battery electric, the only ones so built. However SPT were obliged to tender for an operator on the envisaged route and the potential o[perator could put in a quote for using their own diesel buses rather then the battery electrics, the Glasgow inter-station has some steep battery draining hills and the tender was won by diesel buses. As a result SPT's three never carried passengers and sat for years as a monument to extravagance at the city's main Buchanan bus station.
Most of the British built examples used a Land-Rover engine with a synchromesh gearbox but later ones had a Toyota Coaster engine and automatic transmission.
Hello Stephen! Thanks again for the insights - very interesting facts about the Strathclyde Omni! Thanks very much for watching again!!
It’s a vehicle that could still find a use today in electric form
Oh yes, as an EV, it could succeed in the right environment! Thanks very much for watching!
I had one of those mopeds in 1980 😂😂
Awesome! Must have been fun to ride! Thanks very much for watching!
Happy new year everyone
Happy New Year to you, too! Thanks very much for watching!!
Good Evening Jeffrey… 👍🇮🇲😁
Hello! Very glad you liked the video! Thanks very much for watching again!!
Bay-sil 🤮, great vid with the exception of a few pronouciations
i/m here for the sound effects
LOL, I appreciate that you like the various sounds in the video! Thanks very much for watching!!
Happy New Year Jeffrey.
Hello David! Happy New Year to you, too!!!! Thanks very much for watching!!
@@JeffreyOrnsteinMy pleasure,
Dad had a Puch motor scooter, I would sit on the back, we sold it after he died
Hello! Must have been fun to ride that Puch!! Thanks very much for watching again!!
So why does it have a half-cab? From what I can tell, it's either yard trucks (which have a convenient access doors for hooking up trailer connections without dismounting on the other half), or double decker busses (which put loading doors or stairs on the other half) that have them - this one doesn't do either. Can it be used for luggage or something? Was it just grandfathered in from the model it's based on? Weight savings?
Hello! Good question...I couldn't find a direct reason, except that it sounded as if it provided easy access to the engine. But there is probably more to it than that. Thanks very much for watching!!
Where there is an engine-beside driver configuration the half-cab actually makes perfect sense. As Jeffrey says, there is good access to the engine, and there is a weight saving (good for the environment) and also there is good visibility for the driver. Sometimes full-front style bodywork was specified by operators on chassis normally half-cab, and these were not popular with drivers - there was more heat and noise in the cab, and if the nearside windows steamed up they were out of reach from the driving seat. Hong Kong bought a lot of full-front Leylands from Southdown and actually converted some to half-cab, and when the London Routemaster was in the design stage the union insisted in them being half-cabs.
I would like to inform you that in 1988, a bus was produced in Yugoslavia at the TAZ factory under a Steyr license on the basis of the Steyr SCT 6F 65/72 chassis, which has a longer wheelbase and a longer overall length of 5,980 mm with a Mercedes OM 616 engine. Also in TAZ the factory also produced the AVIA A21 TAZ Neretva minibus in cooperation with a Czech partner who relied on the technical documentation on a Steyr minibus. The exact number of vehicles produced is unknown.
Hello! Very ineteresting! I'll look into the AVIA A21 minibus for maybe a future video! Thanks very much for watching!!
Well also later, the Eurobus factory had built some SC6 F58 looking buses called AE60C ! Two were owned by the Zagreb airport. These were most likely produced 1994. Do you know more details about this 1988 non-Avia TAZ you commented?
Well if you ever want to look into main land Europe well look into DAB- Silkeborg, they built busses based on Leyland chasssis and engines for a very long time, and was very innovative, not always the best ideas, but they had many. ,
Hello! Will look into that manufacturer for a future video! Thanks very much for watching!!
Looks a little like J F Sebastian’s car from Blade Runner
Yes, it does!!! Thanks very much for watching!!
Sorry, but the transmission came from "zed eff" not "zee eff". The company is German, not American.
Ok thanks. In the USA, Z is pronounced "Zee." Sorry. Thanks for watching!
😊👍
Glad you liked the video! Thanks very much for watching!!
From what I understand Puch is pronounced 'Pooch', like a small dog/hound?
You are probably right about the pronunciation! Thanks very much for watching!!
See the Transbus could be built but not the Brock Adams version
LOL, I know what you mean when comparing it to Transbus!! Thanks very much for watching!
about the right size for Luxemburg
LOL, I'm sure most, or everyone, will agree! Thanks very much for watching!!
lol yard goat with a body slapped on it.
LOL, what a combo that is! Thanks very much for watching!
JO
Thanks very much for watching!!