The AEC Reliance was a mid-underfloor mounted engined single-decker bus and coach chassis manufactured by AEC between 1953 and 1979. The name had previously been used between 1928 and 1931 for another single-decker bus chassis.

History

Two prototypes were completed in 1953, one with Duple coach bodywork and one with Park Royal bus bodywork. Production vehicles entered service from 1954. The last Reliance entered service in 1981. Following successive changes to Construction & Use regulations, the maximum length of the Reliance was increased twice from the original 30 feet: firstly, to permit an overall length of 36 feet from 1962; and later, to permit a length of 39 feet. Various AEC engines were fitted during the chassis's production, including the 7.7-litre AH470, 8.1-litre AH505, 9.6-litre AH590, 11.3-litre AH691 and 12.4-litre AH760. Transmissions fitted to the Reliance include an AEC

synchromesh gearbox A manual transmission (MT), also known as manual gearbox, standard transmission (in Canada, the United Kingdom, and the United States), or stick shift (in the United States), is a multi-speed motor vehicle transmission system, where gear change ...

, AEC ''Monocontrol'' semi-automatic epicyclic transmission, and ZF 6 speed crash-gearbox. The Reliance had the

Leyland Tiger Cub The Leyland Tiger Cub (coded as PSUC1) was a lightweight underfloor-engined chassis manufactured by Leyland between 1952 and 1970. History The Leyland Tiger Cub was launched in 1952. Most were built as 44-45 seat buses, with a smaller number ...

and, from 1959, the

Leyland Leopard The Leyland Leopard was a mid-engined single-decker bus and single-decker coach chassis manufactured by Leyland between 1959 and 1982. History The Leyland Leopard was introduced in 1959. It was developed from the Leyland Tiger Cub, one of ...

as its major competitors throughout its life, even though they were built under the same ownership from 1962 onwards. After production of the Reliance ended, Leyland offered ZF synchromesh as an option for the Leopard, although the Volvo B58 and other imported buses later won a number of customers' orders.

Exports

In Australia, Canberra Bus Service purchased ninety-two 470s and twenty-eight 505s while

Brisbane City Council Brisbane City Council (BCC) is the democratic executive local government authority for the City of Brisbane, the capital city of the state of Queensland, Australia. The largest City Council in Australia by population and area, BCC's jurisd ...

purchased three 470s and forty 590s.

McVicar's Bus Service McVicar's Bus Services was an Australian bus operator that operated services in the south-west suburbs of Sydney from 1919 until 1978. Company history McVicar's Bus Service grew to be one of the largest in New South Wales. It spanned three gen ...

, Sydney operated a total of 44.McVicar's Bus Services
Australian Bus Fleet Lists There were many other AEC buses exported to Australia as well, for example Adelaide MTT and Perth MTT (Metropolitan Transport Trust) were the recipients of numerous Regal VI vehicles.

References

External links

*
Short AEC Reliance buses
AEC Bus Site
Bus Australia gallery
{{AEC range, state=collapsed Reliance Vehicles introduced in 1954 Bus chassis Single-deck buses