7185 - WWH 43L

Once 7206 had been 'saved' there were two of the quorum of original body/chassis combinations preserved, Type i (7001) and Type iv (7206):

All these four variations were received in the initial batch of production deliveries which commenced in 1972, as follows:

This was the breakdown of the first 500 vehicles and clearly Type iii started off as the rarest group, with there being only five of these Northern Counties bodied Leyland Atlanteans. However, in later batches, three of these four types were repeated in large numbers as follows:

Type iii, which had been the rarest type initially, became the most prolific of all with a further 915 Northern Counties bodied Leyland Atlanteans being delivered. Within Type iv, although the Fleetline had its production shifted from Daimler to Leyland, it was still basically a Fleetline chassis and a further 240 of these Northern Counties bodied Fleetlines were delivered, although all single door.

Hence, Type ii, the Park Royal bodied Daimler Fleetline was never the subject of a repeat order and therefore the 55 built in 1972 represented the rarest body/chassis combination of Standard, and unfortunately, all were withdrawn from service by de-regulation in October 1986, and therefore were not represented in the GM Buses Fleet.

As The SELNEC Preservation Society had entered the preservation field, with regard to 7206, and met some contacts in this activity, it was felt possible for us to preserve one of these Park Royal bodied Fleetlines, and hence, we looked very closely at the make-up of the 55, to see which one we could choose that would be the most significant of all.

When these 55 Park Royal bodied Daimler Fleetlines were delivered in 1972/1973, to the then Northern and Southern Divisions of SELNEC, 7151-7186 went to the Northern Division and 7187-7205 to the Southern Division, and as a consequence, it was a rare sight to see one of this type of vehicle in central Manchester. It was not until the last months of operation of this type of vehicle in 1986 that there was experience of Park Royal bodied Fleetlines running in the centre of Manchester, as a few of them were transferred to Manchester Garages.

Clearly, it would have been appropriate if The SELNEC Preservation Society could have chosen the first of the batch, 7151, for preservation or even the last, 7205, but sadly, these were both withdrawn and scrapped prior to de-regulation. So it was decided to choose 7185 because it was the only one of this batch of 55 to remain in orange/white and never to receive the white/orange/brown GMT livery that the majority of the fleet had received by de-regulation.

7185 spent its entire operating life in the Bolton area, initially at an ex-Bolton Corporation Depot, and was moved to the new Crook Street Depot that replaced the original three Bolton Depots, Bridgeman Street, Crook Street and Shiffnal Street, in March 1979.

7185	BATCH:	7151 - 7205 (Type ii)
(WWH 43L)	BODY:	Park Royal H43/32F - Mark 1
	CHASSIS:	Daimler Fleetline CRG6LXB
	FIRST REGISTERED:	1st July, 1973
	PURCHASED:	1st March, 1988
	DETAILS:	One of only 55 Daimler Fleetlines Standards bodied by Park Royal and the only one that did not receive the white/orange/brown livery.

The purchase of 7185 was finalised on 1st March 1988 by The SELNEC Preservation Society.

After our acquisition of 7185, we had storage difficulties in 1988 and therefore were unable to undertake much work on it, although we did commence in 1989 by taking all the seats out of the vehicle. However, as we had nowhere to work on these, they were put into storage and very little other work took place, although whilst it was stored at the Bolton Depot some interior activities were undertaken.

Once we had secured premises for our vehicles in Leigh, in August 1992, 7185 was moved there, along with all other current projects, but in the five years that followed there was so much activity necessary to secure a whole variety of different projects that were becoming available, very little vehicle rectification took place, although some work was undertaken on 7206 and 7185. 7185 then became the main restoration project during 1998 whilst we were rallying 7206 which had been restored the previous year and it was then the main principal participant in the rally scene during 1999. It also took part in the Trans Lancs Historic Vehicle Rally on 5th September 1999, along with 1066, 7206, 1751 and 6990.

Since 1999 the vehicle has been parked up and not used, as we have been working on and rallying other buses. Also, because it is not tax exempt, we do not MOT it each year or keep it available as a reserve vehicle, as we are able to do with 7206, EX1 and others.

Type i	Park Royal/Leyland Atlantean	- 305 Production vehicles
Type ii	Park Royal/Daimler Fleetline	- 55 Production vehicles
Type iii	Northern Counties/Leyland Atlantean	- 6 Prototype + 920 Production vehicles
Type iv	Northern Counties/Daimler Fleetline	- 15 Prototype + 535 Production vehicles
		(5 Prototype + 48 Production with dual doors)

i.	Park Royal body/Leyland Atlantean chassis	- 7001 – 7145	(145)
ii.	Park Royal body/Daimler Fleetline chassis	- 7151 – 7205	(55)
iii.	Northern Counties body/Leyland Atlantean chassis	- 7146 – 7150	(5)
iv.	Northern Counties body/Daimler Fleetline chassis	- 7206 – 7500	(295)

i.	Park Royal/Leyland Atlantean	- 7801 – 7960	(160)
iii.	Northern Counties/Leyland Atlantean	- 7501 - 7800/8151 – 8765	(915)
iv.	Northern Counties/Leyland Fleetline	- 6901 - 6990/8001 – 8150	(240)