Fascinating information in this topic!

Wondering if anyone can help with past history on this 1968 SB Comair Bedford with 330 diesel/5-speed. Apparently ex Kastoria and has had a previous registration CZZ-757. Any information will be hugely appreciated!

Cheers.

Good morning aussieneil.
If you go to the front header on the interior of the bus there should be a small Comair body plate.I f you can obtain that body number or the VIN of the bus ,we should be able to provide a history for you.It is certaintly the right colour for an ex Kastoria bus.
Cheers.

Its good to see so many replies to this topic.These buses/coaches had some impact on us.I havent seen so many photos of Comair's since my dad,The Late Jack.G.Sellick of "Sellick Of Adelaide" bus dealers owned a variety of them over the years my parents were in business.

Bit disappointed to see that the most loyal buyer of CAC/Comair bodies didn't get a run.

I refer, of course, to Sitch Bus Group operating Sitch Bus Services/Altona Bus Lines/Footscray-Yarraville Bus Service etc.

This company, for those unaware, was the predecessor of CDC fleets in Sunshine and Altona, and previously the Kefford Group Westrans depots in the same two, and, for a while, three locations.

Does anybody have any colour photos of their very smart VAMs in both the red and cream, and cream and red colour schemes?

Thank you to everyone who posted to my topic.Its great to see a lot of photos and history.These buses were unique for their time.

stajourneyman wrote:...Does anybody have any colour photos of their very smart VAMs in both the red and cream, and cream and red colour schemes?

How about these from the Bruce Tilley Collection:

Thanks system improver. Great photos. The night photo is the best.Needs to be in a big picture frame.Thanks for sharing.

Were there any Comair's built on chassis' other than front engined?

Gold! Thank you.

How smart looking were these.

You never saw a Sitch bus that wasn't spotless.

The red and cream was their bus colour scheme, whilst the cream and red was their coach colour scheme.

Their coaches in the early 70s comprised two identical Bedford VAM3 Comairs, one of which is depicted above. The other was No. 15 .....KDM.090.

By 1973, the coach colour scheme became the standard colour scheme for their buses. Their coaches comprising several large Hinos became a turquoise blue and white scheme.

Trivia corner.... what is significant about 34. LEY.880 ?

Allison auto?

Denv12 wrote:Thanks system improver. Great photos. The night photo is the best.Needs to be in a big picture frame.Thanks for sharing.

Were there any Comair's built on chassis' other than front engined?

Yes. Up till they stopped the first time at the end of 1973, there were 28 Leyland RTCs, 3 Leyland Leopards and two VAM70 UF. When CAC restarted in 1975, almost all the buses built were either rear engined or underfloor engined.

system improver wrote:Allison auto?

Yes. I remember the first time I heard this bus, and thinking that something very weird was going on with it.

From distant memory, I recall that from day one it was rostered to the Sunshine to Highpoint route exclusively.

I think this was because the terminus at Sunshine Station had very restricted access, making it impossible for VAMs to enter and exit the 410 (trunk route to Footscray) terminus.

This probably explains why Altona depot received VAMs whilst Sunshine persisted with SBs for a couple of years.

Sitch's obviously brought pressure to bear, as all future Sunshine purchases were either VAMs or BLPs.

Was this the first auto Bedford in Australia or just the first for Sitch?

system improver wrote:

Denv12 wrote:Thanks system improver. Great photos. The night photo is the best.Needs to be in a big picture frame.Thanks for sharing.

Were there any Comair's built on chassis' other than front engined?

Yes. Up till they stopped the first time at the end of 1973, there were 28 Leyland RTCs, 3 Leyland Leopards and two VAM70 UF. When CAC restarted in 1975, almost all the buses built were either rear engined or underfloor engined.

Thanks for your help system improver. I'm glad there were others other than front engined Comair's.Never got to drive any undefloor or rear engined version.Would have been a nice change. Does anyone one know where any of those are now?

Here's another 2 Comair Bedfords ex STA Adelaide.The first one when to Len Johnson at Associated Tourist Service on Port Road Queenstown. He bought several Bedfords from my father,Jack Sellick during the 1980s.The 2nd Comair,I dont know who bought that.
It was the longer wheel base.

Actually that shot of Sitch VAM 34 is a bit of an oddity.

Those other two vehicles would appear to be Altona depot units.

Swapping of buses between depots was very rarely done, so I'm assuming that 34 had made a visit to Altona for some reason.

Denv12 wrote:...Here's another 2 Comair Bedfords ex STA Adelaide.The first one when to Len Johnson at Associated Tourist Service on Port Road Queenstown. He bought several Bedfords from my father,Jack Sellick during the 1980s.The 2nd Comair,I dont know who bought that.
It was the longer wheel base.

Probably both ex Thomas Tours.

One of the private operator Bedford VAMs taken over by the MTT/STA in Adelaide.Picture from the Graeme Turnbull collection

Wow incredible photos. Many many thanks. Charles


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StA journey man. Not sure my earlier message went through. Thank you so much for your post. I loved the vam 70s and drove them as a young. It on 410 Footscray sunshine. At 19- as the son of a bus proprietor I could drive on p plates then I get like a king at the front of the vam 70. We had. Two double door ones on 410. I saw one of them coupled years ago being used as a camper van. Still in its livery. The vam 70 just drove so beautifully- it as a magnificently balanced bus. Thanks again. Live the photos. And as someone who got up at 4 every morning to clean the buses thanks for the compliment! Charles sitch


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I would really really love to get these from the Bruce Tilley collection. How might I do that? Many thanks in advance. Charles sitch


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charles sitch wrote:I would really really love to get these from the Bruce Tilley collection. How might I do that? Many thanks in advance. Charles sitch

Send me an email or pm with your address or perhaps we can meet up. It would be good to get a story for our magazine Australian Bus Panorama. I am the Secretary of the Bus and Coach Society of Victoria, and have Bruce's photos in our archives.

charles.sitch@gmail.com
Many many thanks!
My mobile is 0418284872
I would love to catch up


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Bruce. Is there any chance I could get a better copy of the vam 70. No 36. With 410 on the destination. That's the bus I drove all the time. Obviously I would pay and arrange etc. charles


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Hi all. Really hoping there is someone still keeping an eye on this thread as I am in the process of purchasing what I think is a VAM70 (1967?) Based solely on the photos and conversations I’ve seen on these forums, otherwise I'm going in blind. It has been modified and painted, but the interior ceiling colour looks a bit like the peninsular colour maybe? Im very interested to learn more about the history of my new acquisition.chassis number is BELVAMD. The lights and grill etc are in the midst of being reattached.

Thanks for your help

This bus has a PMC (Pressed Metal Corporation) body, which was a Sydney company. These ceased making bus bodies about 20 years ago. Maybe one of our NSW enthusiasts might recognise it.

If it is a 1967 model, it would more likely either be a Bedford VAM3 (petrol) or Bedford VAM5 (diesel). The VAM3 ran a Bedford 300 cubic inch petrol engine whilst the VAM5 used a Bedford 330 cubic inch diesel engine. The VAM70 kicked in around 1968 used a Bedford 466 cubic inch diesel engine.

Thanks for your help! Its a diesel engine so maybe the VAM5. The build date was really just a guess based on pictures (trying to match the shape etc) I'd found online so may well be wrong. I bought it yesterday so will see of i can find more clues. The compliance plate was pretty unreadable but I'll see what more i learn as the project develops. Thanks again!