The true story of the Leyland Olympic Bus (lhd) with semi-automatic gearbox converted into a 4racing car transporter.
This all started because my Father Joe Ashmore purchased off the late Reg Parnell father of Tim Parnell Tim’s old Cooper — Climax F11 car for me to drive and because Joe and Reg had been friends and business partners for many years it seemed to be a good idea for Tim and myself to form a partnership and share the cost of buying a suitable vehicle to convert into a car transporter.
Because the Ashmores where in the Garage business and transport with sales of commercial vehicles we had very good connections and knew where to go to buy a suitable vehicle, Mr Joe knew a man in Stratford – on — Avon who was also a friend of many years and he had purchased from the Leyland Motor Company an ex prototype Bus its year was early 1950’s which was built for the CUBAN GOVERNMENT order.
This vehicle was fitted with a 6 cylinder diesel engine lying on its side under the floor just a little before mid-ship. This engine was connected to a very special semi-automatic gearbox made by COVENTRY SELF CHANGE GEARS Ltd designed for public service vehicles to make stopping and starting in heavy traffic so much easier for the driver.
It had on the side of the steering column on a moulded bracket a small gear change lever about 50mm high to select any of the 4 gears plus the reverse. The gears were engaged without a clutch pedal so it was fitted with a fluid flywheel and this gave a smooth start and change. This gearbox required air pressure of 120 lbs to engage the gears and hold them in mesh, but I was not told that should you lose the air the gears went into the neutral position. Also the braking system was full Air powered, with a manual hand brake lever. You must remember that in the late 40’s and 50’s most commercial vehicles had straight hydraulic brakes then they became air assisted , and a few had full air brake system as did this bus.
I collected with Mr Joe the bus and drove it back to our garage in West Bromwich then I took out all the seats and had one of our men cut out the rear panel and make two opening doors. Then I bought a lot of used aluminium ’u’ & RSJ sections and 4 new lengths of Aluminium 250mm x 50mm. I made RSl’s into uprights and made a frame work from the rear doors forward then with the 4 lengths of the new U section made the front two fixed high enough for a single seater car to pass under it with one above it. The rear ones I made lift using a small hand winch so in effect the bus could carry 4 cars.
At the end of the 1960 season I sold the Cooper and purchased a new LOTUS MK 18 without engine. Having connections with the DUNLOP tyre company in Birmingham I purchased off there test fleet vehicle department two Standard Vanguard diesel engined estate cars with a million miles on each. These had been driven day and night from new, testing tyres. They had been well maintained and painted with tyre black and looked like no other car. Having sold one in Lincolnshire I passed the late Chris Summers garage in the Village of ANSTY near Coventry and decided to call in and see what business could be done if any, since he had taken out of his COOPER the Climax FPF engine which was on SU carburettors and he had replaced it with a V8 Chevrolet engine. That car was the first of the big banger engine cars, but he crashed in it and was killed.
However I needed an FPF CLIMAX engine for the LOTUS and we had a deal for the second Standard Vanguard. The bus was repainted in Green and sign written, the entry doors where of the air operated fold back type but could be opened without air if required. The seating was at the front with the driver’s seat on the left as it was a left hand drive and behind on either side over the front wheel arches two long side mounted seats, behind me as I did almost all the driving sat my Yvonne, then the two mechanics and on the other side sat Tim and young David.
We set off for Monte Carlo as there was a chance that the Royal Automobile Club would take the two of us since Tim’s Father Reg was running the Yeoman Credit Racing team. When we arrived Tim went and spoke with the organisers and they could not fit either of us in.
So we then set off for Naples and drove to the Autostrada Del Sol. Having spent a long time going up hill we found we had made the highest point and travelled on the flat for a number of miles. The weather was hot and sunny and on the right hand side was the Mediterranean Sea which was a long way down if one should have gone over the side. In those days there was no such thing as steel crash barriers, just black & white painted stones every few metres. We had travelled some miles and I could see that the road started to go down hill quite shallowly at first but then the gradient increased and I could see in the distance a Red Truck towing a draw bar trailer working his way up.
Then as I started to check the speed with a dap on the brake pedal I noticed they did not have their normal bite so I looked at the Air Gauges and could see them going down fast , I then said to everyone we have lost the brakes and the gearbox has gone into neutral we are a runaway hold tight. The speedo only read to 60 MPH and the needle had gone past that so I had no idea of our speed. It was increasing and as the bends came up I tried to keep the bus on the racing line because a problem we had suffered in the past was tyre failure and we had a mix of different makes , as there was no power steering it was difficult to steer so my big worry was blowing a front and being taken over the edge. So I kept my right foot hard on the throttle in neutral, and was ready with my left to hit the brake pedal if any air should come back into the tanks. By this time of course, the truck was getting closer and I knew I would meet him on one of the bends, and of course this did happen and he can’t go anywhere and I am on his side of the road. I could see the drivers face and his eyes where protruding because as far as he was concerned it was going to be a head on accident.
But then in the last few seconds I could see the one air tank needle had lifted a little off the bottom and I knew I might have one dab of the brake pedal so at the very last moment I hit the brake and it just bit. At the same time I turned the wheel to the right and missed the truck with the front of the bus but towards the rear I took his mirrors off and then I knew I would have to hit the stone markers so missing them with the front wheels and letting the rear wheels hit them they sort of checked the speed while the stones went over and down to the sea one after the other.
I expected the rear axle to shear the spring centre pin and if this had happened then the axle would move backwards on the right side taking the rear of the bus to the edge. After some time the road flattened out and we are now at sea level and there was nothing I could do to stop the bus except just let it roll to a stand still and on the left had side was a long Iayby so I steered into it and we came to a stop.
We all got out and I could hear air escaping and I said to Tim that’s a tyre going down but then I turned towards the sea and would you believe it ,there was a beach restaurant. I could not believe our luck so we went across and had lunch. On returning to the bus I checked the tyres which were all OK, so I had to sort out the loss of and started at the engine. On the engine was a compressor driven off the timing gear chest and from the compressor went a rubber hose pipe about 300mm long which then joined a steel pipe that ran inside the chassis to the front and mounted behind the front body panel were two air tanks.
So what had happened was that with the heat and the continuous high engine RPM going up hill the inside of the rubber pipe broke up and as the rubber broke up the air took into the tanks and at 120lbs PSI the air tank valves blew off allowing bits of the rubber debris to get under the valve seats letting the air escape and then the pipe finally split open.
I took the tanks off cleaned the valves and washed out the tanks and refitted them and I took a piece of racing oil Cooler rubber hose and fitted that to the compressor.
We then arrived at Naples on the day of practice came for the GP of Napoli. and the cars we drove the cars on to the circuit on the road, the bus being driven by one of the Australian boys who in the traffic kept touching the brake pedal and exhausted the air so he lost the drive and brakes and ran into the rear of a Fiat 500 the driver being a little upset got out with his handbrake on without realising his Fiat was holding on a steep hill about 8 tonnes of bus!
Anyway because we had rented some floor space off the local Fiat garage we arranged for his car to be rebuilt over night , fantastic service and the cost was for nothing Tim and I could not pay them quick enough. Well, in the practice Race I got pole in about 6 laps and spent almost two days sitting on the pit counter. Then in the race my gear stick broke off as I was about to take the lead from the works Ferrari of Giancarlo Baghetti so I had to settle for second place.
On our return to West Bromwich I took the Bus to the Leyland Service department at Oldbury and told them what had happened, and because of this they and the Westinghouse Company makers of most of the Air Brake Systems for most makes of Commercial vehicles at that time designed what is known as air spring brake cylinders. This means that the air pressure needs to built up before the brakes can be released then once released the air holds the brakes off unless the driver moves the brake pedal, so this means that when a vehicle is travelling if the air goes the brakes come on hard and will not release until the pressure is back in the system. The bus we sold in 1962 to Peter Sargent who wanted it to transport his Lister —Jaguar to Le Mans.
On the way from us he was almost at his destination when on a 3 lane road another vehicle T boned the bus as the driver had suffered a heart attack as I understand it. But its history did not finish there. When Peter sold Tony Dean bought and was at Brands Hatch and so was I.
My place in the paddock was at the top of the hill and Tony was down at the bottom , Tony had had a bad day smashing both his cars at Paddock Bend so we all helped lift the cars into the bus for him. Then when the racing was over Tony’s driver, an elderly man, turned to drive up the hill to come out of the Paddock but in the stop start traffic he did the same as boys at Naples but this time it went down the hill backwards running over a trailer and hitting a number of vehicles and finished up hitting the rear of a Large Ford 16 ton Luton Van. Behind this a Jaguar MK11 car with the owners wife feeding their new born baby.
The Jaguar was pushed through a wattle wood fence that was about 30 meters above a sheer drop into the new factory centre Brands Hatch had built.The car was so far over the edge they could not get the mother and baby out until it was towed backwards.
That was the last I ever heard of the bus.