AEC Regent

This is one of the vehicles taking part in the Trans Lancs Historic Vehicle Rally at Heaton Park, Manchester in September 1998.

It's a 1954 AEC Regent III, and the programme of the event had this information about it:

AEC Regent III/East Lancs  1954                                                                              UTC 672
Entered by               The Cotton family
Bamber Bridge Motor Services was once a small operator running services in Mid Lancashire. BBMS sold out to the Ribble undertaking in 1967 and number 4 was then taken out of service. Rescued in a very poor state No. 4 has been completely re-built over the years. Rumour has it that BBMS approached Leyland Motors whose factory was just around the corner to supply one PD chassis in 1954. Leyland refused to be bothered with a single request and AEC in turn supplied the chassis. BBMS then used the vehicle on the Leyland factory run, just to prove a point. Leyland never refused a single vehicle order after that. No. 4 is another fine vehicle privately owned and forming part of the Manchester Museum's collection.

UTC 672 has since been bought by Cumbria Classic Coaches, and you can read about it here.