Created 10-Jun-19
Modified 8-Mar-24
These four Regent Vs always seemed a little odd but in a sense marked a transition. The chassis specification returned to that of the first Regent Vs, these were shorter buses with a return to vacuum brakes (AEC didn't offer vacuum brakes as an option on the thirty-foot chassis). Unlike those earlier ones, these had the later AEC bonnet. AEC had just supplied the last exposed-radiator Regents to Leeds, although it is not clear whether Rhondda would have taken up that option anyway.
The shorter length was to be adopted for all remaining AEC Regent purchases as was the front entrance but these were the last vehicles with MCW bodies, bringing to an end a strong association with that organisation that started with some AEC Regals in 1931. Like the 1961 Regents and three Tiger Cubs, these were bodied by Metro-Cammell whilst all other bodies had been from Weymann. These buses were the first double-deckers delivered with red wings instead of black.
465-468 (465-468 KTG) were new in 1962 and being shorter, had no restrictions as to where they could operate and consequently appeared on most Rhondda double-deck routes. 465 received an illuminated advertising display, the only one of the batch to do so but that left it in a continuous number block along with 461-464 from the previous batch. All transferred to Western Welsh in 1971 and were sold in 1972 as part of the wholesale clear-out of MCW-bodied Regents despite being only ten years old. Not surprisingly, all found further use.
© David Beilby
