AEC Regal VI
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The AEC Regal VI was an underfloor-engined
single-decker bus A single-decker bus or rigid is a bus that has a single deck for passengers. Normally the use of the term ''single-decker'' refers to a standard two-axled rigid bus, in direct contrast to the use of the term double-decker bus, which is essen ...
chassis A chassis (, ; plural ''chassis'' from French châssis ) is the load-bearing framework of a manufactured object, which structurally supports the object in its construction and function. An example of a chassis is a vehicle frame, the underpart ...
manufactured by AEC from 1962 to 1979. It was unveiled at the 1960 Commercial Motor Show and was intended to be a purely export chassis. It was an updated version of the underfloor-engined
AEC Regal IV The AEC Regal IV was a bus chassis manufactured by AEC from 1949 to 1962. History The AEC Regal IV was AEC's first mainstream underfloor engined vehicle. A prototype was built in 1949, before production commenced in 1952. The first 25 were bu ...
, having an 11.3-litre AH690 engine instead of the Regal IVs 9.6-litre AH590 engine. It was available in both left and right hand drive versions, other options included power assisted steering and air suspension.


Operators

The Regal VI had a strong following, vehicles being exported to Argentina, Australia, Belgium, the
Netherlands , Terminology of the Low Countries, informally Holland, is a country in Northwestern Europe, with Caribbean Netherlands, overseas territories in the Caribbean. It is the largest of the four constituent countries of the Kingdom of the Nether ...
, Portugal and Uruguay. The largest orders for the Regal VI, two orders totaling 150 were destined for the
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area of Uruguay and a larger order of 500 came from Buenos Aires, Argentina. In Australia, the Regal VI was purchased by the
Melbourne & Metropolitan Tramways Board The Melbourne & Metropolitan Tramways Board (MMTB) was a government-owned authority that was responsible for the tram network in Melbourne, Australia between 1919 and 1983, when it was merged into the Metropolitan Transit Authority. It had be ...
(100), the
Municipal Tramways Trust The Municipal Tramways Trust (MTT) was established by the Government of South Australia in December 1906 to purchase all of the horse-drawn tramways in Adelaide, South Australia. The Trust subsequently also ran petrol and diesel buses and elect ...
, Adelaide (30) and the
Metropolitan Transport Trust The Metropolitan (Perth) Passenger Transport Trust was a statutory authority of the Government of Western Australia from 1958 to 2003. From 1958 to the mid-1990s, it operated Buses in Perth, bus and ferry services within the Perth metropolitan ...
, Perth (75).AEC Regal VI
Perth Bus Info


Regal VIs variant

In South Africa, AEC engineered its own style of Regal, the Kudu. This was made up of a Regal VI chassis, an AV690 (11.3-litre vertical engine) mounted on the front overhang instead of under the floor. This allowed a reliably clean flow of air to the engine. There was still sufficient space to allow a front entrance ahead of the front axle, allowing the driver to supervise passenger loadings as on the standard Regal VI. The Kudu was assembled from
complete knock down A knock-down kit (also knockdown kit, knocked-down kit, or simply knockdown or KD) is a collection of parts required to assemble a product. The parts are typically manufactured in one country or region, and then exported to another country or r ...
kits at the
Durban Durban ( ; , from meaning "bay, lagoon") is the third-most populous city in South Africa, after Johannesburg and Cape Town, and the largest city in the Provinces of South Africa, province of KwaZulu-Natal. Situated on the east coast of South ...
factory which had recently been acquired by AEC. By 1964 AEC (South Africa) Ltd had followed up the order for 100 with a repeat order for another 100, to be sold to operators all over South Africa. By 1974 over 1,500 were in service.


References


External links

{{AEC range, state=collapsed Regal Single-deck buses Step-entrance buses Vehicles introduced in 1960 Vehicles discontinued in 1979