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What do you think are the ugliest buses ever built?

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TheGrandWazoo

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Northern also had a batch of these, on S-regs. Theirs lasted for 10-12 years. As with the Tyne & Wear PTE/Busways Atlanteans of similar vintage, corrosion was the main reason behind their early exit from the fleet.
They had two batches (CUP-S and DGR-S) though they followed on from each other. The former were T&W based but the latter ones were Co Durham so travelled on a few in my youth on long distance stuff like the 721, 722/3, 231 etc
 
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SouthEastBuses

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This for sure, to begin with:

IMG_20170410_140534_10CS.jpg

The type is an Iveco 370, a 1976 to 1999 built step entrance bus/coach hybrid that used to be popular among rural bus services in Italy. I'm so sorry, this bus (or coach rather like) looks absolutely ugly and unattractive.



I also think these are ugly:

2017-07-13_08-07-11.jpg

The full height versions are not bad and look pretty good, but the low height versions? I'm sorry what!!!!??????



And then this

IMG_20170719_235311_488.jpg

The new version, Solo SR, looks very nice, but in my opinion, the old version is completely the opposite.


And of course, these as well: a total ripoff of the original AEC Routemaster:

IMG_20170427_222122_324.jpg

Only thing that's good about them is the three doors and the fact that it's hybrid. And the only other good thing is that it has a very nice motor (P.S. @Jordan Adam @GusB @ross4122 It sounds exactly the same as your Aberdeen Van Hool NewA330FC Hydrogen. Also, some of the LTs used to run on the 73 between Ninewells Hospital and Arbroath)



And finally, anything that is used in North America (sorry no pictures available, I haven't been to North America so far). Especially the Nova LFS, one of the ugliest city buses I've ever seen on the internet (and I'm sure I will see in person too). The only American-made bus that actually looks very nice in my opinion is the New Flyer Xcelsior.
 
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Jordan Adam

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Only thing that's good about them is the three doors and the fact that it's hybrid. And the only other good thing is that it has a very nice motor (P.S. @Jordan Adam @GusB @ross4122 It sounds exactly the same as your Aberdeen Van Hool NewA330FC Hydrogen. Also, some of the LTs used to run on the 73 between Ninewells Hospital and Arbroath)

Not quote sure how that works given one has a diesel engine and the other has a fuel cell...
 

RomeoCharlie71

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Also, some of the LTs used to run on the 73 between Ninewells Hospital and Arbroath)
LT312/3 were delivered new to Stagecoach Strathtay, intended for a 3 month trial on the (crew operated) 73. The trial lasted no longer than 3 weeks, and the 2 buses were only out in service together once.

They certainly kept Wright busy for that period.
 

SouthEastBuses

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LT312/3 were delivered new to Stagecoach Strathtay, intended for a 3 month trial on the (crew operated) 73. The trial lasted no longer than 3 weeks, and the 2 buses were only out in service together once.

They certainly kept Wright busy for that period.

Haha, no surprise here. New Routemasters in London have been known to be appallingly unreliable.
 

SouthEastBuses

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I guess, but even then i fail to see any similarities. Not really sure what the relevance is of this so that's all i'll say on that subject!

True. The main point about the New Routemaster is that it is in my opinion one of the ugliest buses that have ever been built.

As well as, in summary of the other three: Fiat/Iveco 370, Wright StreetDeck/Gemini 3 Frogface (low height) and Optare Solo (old version).
 

Murray J

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the prototype enviro 200 or the Mercedes 608D below come to mind.
 

SouthEastBuses

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the prototype enviro 200 or the Mercedes 608D below come to mind.

The protoype Enviro200 doesn't look bad in my opinion. But I have to agree with you regarding the Mercedes 608D!
 

Joba

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Early 90s I remember hating this single decker bus that made a high pitch whine and looked ugly as hell. I was very young but this thread persuaded me to Google it.

The Leyland Lynx, ugh I hated it.
 

TheGrandWazoo

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the prototype enviro 200 or the Mercedes 608D below come to mind.

The 608 might not have been beautiful but it wasn't that bad. Better than the Dodge S56 (look and performance), Transit or Iveco Turbo Daily.


Early 90s I remember hating this single decker bus that made a high pitch whine and looked ugly as hell. I was very young but this thread persuaded me to Google it.

The Leyland Lynx, ugh I hated it.
The Lynx might have been rather boxy but I quite liked it.
 

swifty

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The 608 might not have been beautiful but it wasn't that bad. Better than the Dodge S56 (look and performance), Transit or Iveco Turbo Daily.



The Lynx might have been rather boxy but I quite liked it.

I quite liked the Lynx as well. The noise on the Volvo engined K-YVN when hel on a change up through the gears was another highlight!
 

Royston Vasey

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The Northern General "Wearsider" was an odd looking thing - a rebuild of one of their Routemasters after accident damage, with the cab moved backwards to allow driver only operation.

The Wearsider had nothing on the Tynesider!

https://flic.kr/p/bwLBXS

(Sorry I don't know how to post a thumbnail)

Leyl_PD3_MCN30K_190872.jpg

Not my image
 

Crossover

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I can't for the life of me find photos of the one I am thinking of, but Arriva Yorkshire had some buses which I believe were badged with Ikarus - none of them particuarly great looking (Tony Salmon used to have photos of the whole fleet, but I think that website has long since gone).

I think it was a fleet of Ikarus buses that had coach type (high backed amd cushioned) seating in it - they were very chunky on the outside but were also not all that nice to travel on either. I believe they have since "moved on" (yayy!) but I vaguely remember following one when I was in the car relatively recently (a couple or so years ago)

But it's at the rear where things really get interesting, with their odd lean-to engine bay extension that looks to be cobbled together from leftovers (surely this wasn't actually designed).

The tooling on that must have been horrendous!

There are some pretty awful early Wright bodies. The Wright TTs delivered to Maidstone Corporation (Boro'line) were especially horrendous looking things

Looks a bit like a Manchester T68!

I've always thought the Alexander/Transbus/Alexander-Dennis ALX200/200/400 doesn't look modern.

I don't agree on the ALX200 - they are among the buses I remember travelling from school and I think even now they look fairly modern. Certainly back then it beat anything Yorkshire Traction put on our turns (apart from an Olympian, perhaps)

Dominator - with East Lancs lean-to engine bay

Normally companies learn by their mistakes - this abomination alongside the one quoted earlier appear to be slightly different abominations of each other (not sure which came first, bot either way they clearly didn't learn!)
 

lxfe_mxtterz

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Not sure if it has been mentioned in this thread yet, but the Plaxton Primo:


The front looks okay in my opinion, but the back looks like either unfinished or decapitated with the wheel being so close to the rear. :(
 

86247

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I think the arriva yorkshire buses with ikarus bodies were deltas in the number range 40xx but could be wrong.
 

TheGrandWazoo

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I think the arriva yorkshire buses with ikarus bodies were deltas in the number range 40xx but could be wrong.

Daf SB220 and SB220LF with Ikarus bodies



How about another excellent municipal


Or some bad conversions courtesy of Cleveland Transit



 

Typhoon

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I quite liked the Lynx as well.
Agreed. They looked like a functional bus.

I personally didn't like Carlyle bodied Darts. The front always looked like it had been attached by Wesley Pegden. (Either the route number and destination were minute and designed to be read by someone over 7 feet tall or the destination box looked like it had been added as an afterthought. They always seemed to look shabby after a few months (although that could be because I was living in the west midlands at the time).
Examples at https://www.showbus.co.uk/manu/carlyle.htm including Hansons Dennis Dart.jpg
 

DunsBus

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The 608 might not have been beautiful but it wasn't that bad. Better than the Dodge S56 (look and performance), Transit or Iveco Turbo Daily.

Eh! Go easy on the Dodge/Renault S56 - it may not have been a Merc but Eastern Scottish, later SMT, got very good service out of their ones. They were scheduled for replacement after three to four years but ended up running for between eight and ten years. They certainly gave LRT a bloody nose, too.
 

SteveyBee131

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Agreed. They looked like a functional bus.

I personally didn't like Carlyle bodied Darts. The front always looked like it had been attached by Wesley Pegden. (Either the route number and destination were minute and designed to be read by someone over 7 feet tall or the destination box looked like it had been added as an afterthought. They always seemed to look shabby after a few months (although that could be because I was living in the west midlands at the time).
Examples at https://www.showbus.co.uk/manu/carlyle.htm including View attachment 81861
It appears I stand corrected! :oops: I thought it was Duple handiwork when I referred to it in my post. Still ugly whichever factory made it.
 

jammy36

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I personally didn't like Carlyle bodied Darts. The front always looked like it had been attached by Wesley Pegden. (Either the route number and destination were minute and designed to be read by someone over 7 feet tall or the destination box looked like it had been added as an afterthought. They always seemed to look shabby after a few months (although that could be because I was living in the west midlands at the time).

Agreed that the Dartline body had its issues with the destination screen and yes it seemed to tire quickly, but It's easy to forget how modern and revolutionary they seemed at the time. Compared with the Bristol LH ECW (which I remember them working alongside/replacing) they seemed positively space age.
 

Andyh82

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the prototype enviro 200 or the Mercedes 608D below come to mind.
As far as that era of minibuses go, I think the 608D looked fairly decent

The Ikaruses mentioned earlier will be the ones Arriva Yorkshire acquired when they purchased the Leeds operations of K Line Taylors. Arriva must have liked them as they stuck around for many years, often non standard acquired buses are disposed of fairly quickly
 

fgwrich

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Agreed. They looked like a functional bus.

I personally didn't like Carlyle bodied Darts. The front always looked like it had been attached by Wesley Pegden. (Either the route number and destination were minute and designed to be read by someone over 7 feet tall or the destination box looked like it had been added as an afterthought. They always seemed to look shabby after a few months (although that could be because I was living in the west midlands at the time).
Examples at https://www.showbus.co.uk/manu/carlyle.htm including View attachment 81861

It wasn't just at the front where these rancid things had issues, I remember being nearly gassed out at the back of one of Countywide Travel examples on my way home from school once. Ok, so maybe gassed was a touch of an exaggeration, but the back engine tray had worked loose (the sealant had certainly gone!) and the back was certainly filling with a not so lovely smell of a worn diesel engine. I'm not sure if it was one of the batch below - but I rarely recall Countywide ever turning out a fully smart fleet!



Incidentally it seems to be a Marshall thing - bad bodywork - comparing Marshall vs ECW bodied RE's, The ECW bodied examples certainly are a dream to work on with less bodywork problems!
 

fgwrich

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Sticking with Marshall, I will also throw the Marshall bodied LHS into the ring. A bus which, for reasons unknown, appeared to look the same at the front and the back / and looked like it didn't know if it was going forwards or backwards! They also appeared to make the LHS look a lot taller than they were as well.


 
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