Posted by Michael Grimes
on September 22, 2009, 6:49 am
86.45.177.254
Simon is absolutely correct. A similar situation exists with Opel-Vauxhalls. I bought a new Omega here in Cork yet it is badged as a Vauxhall but taxed as an Opel.
Funny enough like the Fleetline the only clue to its Opel identity is the steering wheel which has the Opel badge!
As far as the Fleetline situation goes I always regard them as Daimlers and never mind what is on them. They are absolutely superb machines, built like tanks and when fitted with the Gardner - as all ours are - are totally indestructible.
Leyland sowed the seeds of their own destruction by refusing to build Fleetlines, RE's and Tigers.
I remember going to Leyland - at the time we were operating Leopards on the Cork to London service - to seek higher speed replacements.We would be passed by Volvos and Scanias and if you were running late for the boat your 50 m.p.h. Leopard - downhill - did not always get you there on time.
Leyland snootily informed me that (a) the speed limit was 50 m.p.h. so they were not building anything faster (b) Leylands were the best in the world and if we did not like them, then tough! They said they had plenty customers who bought what they built and they knew best! They were not in the business of building machines the customers wanted but they knew what was best for the customer. You can see why they went out of business. Its really sad though.
One further interesting tidbit from the meeting was that we suggested they should fit the revolutionary device known as fuel gauges. Not a chance! We were - again snootily - informed that a driver should dip his tank every morning. We are still plagued by this crazy practice with our Leopards and Tigers as we have no way of knowing the amount of fuel in them. Leyland did come up with one brilliant suggestion. They put anti-theft on the Tiger fillers so you cannot even dip those!
In a museum we certainly do not want to fill all 400 machins up every day!
To sum up, in my view, the four most indestructible machines ever built were the Leopard, Fleetline, RE and VRT with the Tiger not far behind.
Michael Grimes