CAR SOS favourite Fuzz Townsend has given fans a tour of his classic double-decker bus from the 1960s – and he’s explained why he loves its unusual features.
The TV star and former musician is known for his eclectic love of vehicles, with his private collection including a 1950s Minerva Land Rover, a vintage Jensen sports car, and a classic, motorised bicycle.
But one of his most prized possesions is his vintage Daimler Fleetline bus from 1969.
Explaining how he came to own the historic set of wheels, Fuzz told Classic & Sports Car magazine in an interview last year that he saved it from the Transport Museum in Wythall.
He said: “It was just sitting there and, because Wythall already had a few Fleetlines, it was surplus to requirements.
“It needed some paint, but a lot of work had been done already, so I made an offer and brought it home with me.”
Since then, he uses the bus fairly regularly, explaining: “I dry-store it in a barn just up the road, and probably take it to events every two months or so, though with a governed top speed of 38mph I don’t venture too far.”
Now, in a video tour for Landsail Tyres, Fuzz has given fans a first look inside the bus and its various curiosities.
Starting on the outside, Fuzz picks out the old motor’s “unusual” windscreen wiper setup, which he says is one of the features he “loves” about it.
He added: “I’m a bit of a windscreen wiper nerd – somebody has to be!
“There’s one from the bottom here and one from the top, because that one is right in the driver’s view so that’s good, and this one was put down here so the driver could look through here and see the curb.
“I don’t see the point in it really, but anyway that’s what they did.”
Another interesting feature is the bus’s double doors – with an entrance door at the front of the bus and an exit door in the middle.
Fuzz explains that double doors were added to buses in the late 1960s, and came at a time when bus companies began to operate with just one driver.
Previously, buses had both a driver and a conductor on board – whose job it was to look after people on board the bus and make sure they got on and off safely.
Fuzz added: “These doors are a very long way away from the driver, and unfortunately very early on there were a number of accidents that were fatal accidents – where people got stuck in the doors and the bus drove off, and the person got dragged dragged along with it.”
To prevent this, the middle doors had a bizarre interlock system added, which meant the bus couldn’t move before the doors were fully closed.
Fuzz explained: “The door would have to close before the gears could be selected, but those interlocks were dreadfully slow.
“So in practice, all that happened was the driver said [to passengers] don’t use the middle door!”
For drivers new to the game of classic car ownership, the thought of DIY repairs, maintenance work or even large restoration jobs might seem daunting.
It could even put off amateur petrolheads from owning their dream motor.
However, Fuzz explained that the best thing potential vehicle collectors can do is to join a dedicated car club – where owners can rub shoulders with other enthusiasts and maybe learn a thing or two.
The car nut explained that owners of certain vehicles should “get amongst” other drivers and learn from them before jumping into potentially complicated and costly projects.
Speaking to Express, Fuzz said: “What I would say is join your local car club or the car club that’s appropriate for the type of car you’ve got.
“Go to the meetings, talk to people, they’ve always got a technical expert there.
“Rely on their expertise because you might buy something that’s 20 or 30 years old and someone will have been working with them for as long as these cars have existed.
“They will be all knowledge and you can go there and find out what’s going on.
“That’s what I would advise, get amongst it.
“Get amongst other people that have got them and find out what mistakes people have made before and then try and avoid them.”
Inside the bus, Fuzz notes the bus’s ceiling is painted yellow to “mask the nicotine stains that used to go on the ceilings” from days people would smoke inside.
In total, the bus could seat 79 passengers, with enough room for 32 passengers downstairs and 47 upstairs – while eight people were permitted to stand if the driver allowed it.
Amazingly, this isn’t the first bus that Fuzz has owned – having previously revealed to fans that one of the first vehicles he ever owned was a bus.
But he offloaded it before giving it any use.
Meanwhile, the Car SOS star has previously revealed his top picks for retro cars you can sell for profit, including a classic fast Ford.
And he’s also urged petrolheads to seek out a “brutish” Porsche sports car that can be picked up for around £8,000.
