"Sabrina" is a 1974 AEC 'Reliance' bus.  She is 'old school'.

·       seating for 49 passengers; forward facing

·       engine 11.3 litres, 6-cylinder diesel

·       happily cruising at 80 kmh

·       body built by New Zealand Motor Bodies Ltd.

·       in original as-built condition internally

·       has a moderate sized rear luggage boot

·       very popular for weddings

·       nostalgia and fun !

The bus was brand new to Coburns Motors Ltd of Runanga on the West Coast (just out of Greymouth) in May 1974. Shortly after, that business was merged with Wyldes Motors Ltd and the bus remained in service (although of limited nature in recent years) with Wyldes until December 2007.

The bus body is a mostly standard urban body of the times, although to a smaller overall dimension, but with one notable difference. She has a stylish bulged front below the windscreen and very few buses were built with this feature. Some bus enthusiasts call this bus front 'the Sabrina Front' (after the well performed and endowed NZ female wrestler of the 1970s). Thus we named the bus "Sabrina" and it fits perfectly.

One Careful Owner.......... Wyldes Motors owned Sabrina for 33 years and this has certainly helped her to be a survivor. When their business mostly closed in 2007, she was sold to a local man who intended converting the bus into a motor home. She sat beside his house in Dunollie for some three years, but he decided that the bus was too big for his purpose and he put her up for sale. I had been looking for an elderly English bus for some time and upon seeing the bus and its very good condition, decided to purchase it with the intention of putting it back into limited passenger service.

Riding in Sabrina is a memory back to New Zealand rural bus travel of 40+ years ago. Just perfect for a bit of nostalgia, recall of good memories and lots of fun.

"Mary Ann:" is a 1977 Volvo B58 coach, ex Newmans.

·       seating for 41 passengers; forward facing coach seats

·       engine 9.6 litres, 6-cylinder diesel

·       happily cruising at 80 kmh

·       body built by New Zealand Motor Bodies Ltd.

·       has a large walk-in rear luggage boot

·       presenting in original as-built condition internally

Body built by New Zealand Motor Bodies Ltd to their 'Tourliner European' design, and she has 41 seats. One of 13 coaches that started service with Newmans Coachlines in 1976-78. Mary Ann was the last of the group to be registered on 21 December 1978 and operated out of Nelson City in earlier years.

These coaches were very popular on the provincial intercity services and were 'top of the line' in their time. With the following arrival of newer and larger coaches in the mid-1980s, some of the 41-seaters moved on to touring the country with the younger people groups such as Contiki. Mary Ann was one of these.

Newmans named many (but not all) of their coaches with a variety of names, carried above the front door. Some were given strong masculine names such as "Conquerer", "Achilles" and "Defiance". Others had names of various Maori place names and NZ native flora. But our 262 has always been "Mary Ann".

In 1993 along with a number of her sisters Mary Ann saw service in the Canterbury region with Mid-Canterbury. Some received body modifications but Mary Ann did not and she has remained in the attractive 'as built' order. Mary Ann was purchased by Richard Potts of Wainuiomata in December 1998. Richard operated his coach on charters which often included working from the visiting cruise liners coming into Wellington. Richard maintained the coach in very good order for some 13 years. Richard agreed to sell Mary Ann to us in October 2011.

We have repainted Mary Ann into the second livery that she wore in service with Newmans in the early 1990s. Under our ownership, Mary Ann has travelled to Dunedin, Oamaru and Christchurch on separate trips and also to the West Coast. Internally, she remains 'all original' and this is one of her charms as a comfy coach to travel in. Mary Ann has a large walk-in boot, so there is plenty of room for luggage and other equipment.

"Leonard" is a 1983 Leyland Leopard bus.

·       seating for 47 passengers; urban bus seats mostly forward facing and with 10 facing opposite

·       large wide body with congenial seating; plenty of room inside

·       engine 11.1 litres, 6-cylinder diesel

·       happily cruising at 70 - 80 kmh

·       body built by Hawke Brothers, Takanini.

·       has a moderate sized rear luggage boot

·       presenting in original as-built condition internally

All alloy body built by Hawke Coachwork in Takanini, South Auckland. Hawke built many bus bodies in the 1970s and 1980s periods, particularly for a number of New Zealand municipally owned passenger transport businesses.
Our Leonard bus started its life in our southernmost city, Invercargill as fleet no. 17, where it provided service with Invercargill City Transport until September 1990 when it was purchased together with one brother by Newlands Coach Service of Wellington.

At the time, Newlands Coach was building its local passenger business in northern Wellington and bought a number of similar buses. Invercargill 17 became Newlands number 44, complete with personalised plate. The bus stayed with Newlands Coach until December 2005 when it was purchased by Nimons of Havelock North. At the time Nimons were running a fleet of over 20 Leyland buses (mostly ex-Wellington City) on local school services where their large capacity was to advantage.

In May 2013 Nimons decided to retire their two remaining Leyland Leopards, and we determined to purchase 44, where it would be a great and useful addition to our fleet.

This Leyland has an uprated large horizontal 6-cylinder engine of 11.1 litres (a Leyland 680) and seating for 47 passengers. Four of the seats over the wheel arches are fixed facing inwards, so this adds to the congenial atmosphere when out on social trips. Leonard has plenty of room in his capacious interior and also has a modest rear boot to transport some equipment or small luggage.
Leonard is an ideal bus for day trips around our beautiful area, and is particularly suited for school trips and outings. He is rugged and reliable, comfortably cruising at around 80 kmh.

"Jack" is a 1967 Leyland Leopard bus   

.       one of the iconic ex-Wellington "Big Red"
        ; the series known as 'Breadvans'

.       seating for 41, urban bus seats mostly facing forward and with 10 facing          opposite

.       engine 11.1 litres, 6 cylinder diesel

.       happily cruising at 70 - 80 kmh

.       body built by New Zealand Motor Bodies Ltd

.       presenting in original condition and livery

"Arthur" is a 1983 Volvo B10 urban bus, fleet number 134.

·       seating for 40 passengers; urban bus seats mostly forward facing and with 10 facing opposite

·       large wide body with congenial seating; plenty of room inside

·       engine 9.6 litres, 6-cylinder diesel

·       happily cruising at 70 kmh

·       body built by New Zealand Motor Bodies Ltd.

·       presenting in original as-built condition internally

Perhaps has the most interesting history of all our fleet...

"Arthur" started his life with Wellington City Transport as an all-electric trolley bus fleet number 134, one of 20 that were originally intended to be built for a new trolleybus service in Auckland.  This never went ahead and the 20 buses were purchased by Wellington City at a favourable price. Saw service in Wellington until only 1991 when they were withdrawn and put into 'mothball storage'.  Some five years later they were all moved to Christchurch where the electrical equipment and motors were removed and replaced with Volvo diesel engines and automatic gearboxes.

Our bus saw service with Leopard Coachlines in Christchurch from 1996 to 2005 as their fleet No. 3. He was sold to Nimon & Sons Ltd in Hastings and ran as their fleet No. 85.  Upon retirement by Nimons, the bus was purchased by Peter Hill of Wellington, and was repainted into the original Wellington City Transport livery and renumbered back as Wellington 134.  The bus did a little charter work back in Wellington and it was then relocated to Christchurch (again) to work with Liam Bentley Coachlines along with one of its 20 brothers.  In late 2018 Peter moved to Australia to live and decided to sell the bus, when we purchased him and drove home to Tasman and into our fleet as "Arthur".

"Olive" is a 1981 Hino BG100 coach.

·       seating for 45 passengers; forward facing coach seats

·       engine 13.0 litres, 6-cylinder diesel

·       happily cruising at 80 - 85 kmh

·       body built by New Zealand Motor Bodies Ltd.

·       has a large walk-in rear luggage boot

·       comfortable coach seating with luggage racks

Body built by New Zealand Motor Bodies Ltd. to their 'Tourliner Mk 1'design.  The coach was new to New Zealand Railways Road Services (NZRRS) as their fleet number 6021. This series was built from 1981. 6021 has some historic interest as it was the prototype of the Tourliner Mk 1 bodies, and the coach did not actually enter service until May 1982. Received the 'fleet personalised' number plate 1070IC (Inter-City) in October 1989.

With the NZRRS national services ceasing in mid-1991, the coach joined the fleet of Bayline in Tauranga and was refurbished internally. In March 1996 the coach was purchased by Wadsworth Motors Ltd of Tapawera, and remained in service with Wadsworth for 22 years until March 2018 when we purchased her.  The coach was meticulously maintained by Jeff Wadsworth and in her latter years, travelled only irregularly.  With its known history and very good condition, we felt this coach would be a great fit for us.

Over the years, the coach has travelled all over the South Island, and with 'On The Bus' has been to Christchurch, Timaru, Marlborough and Farewell Spit.

"Stan" (or "Stanley" if he has been naughty) is a 1997 Mitsubishi Rosa small coach.

·       seating for 22 passengers; forward facing seats all with lap seatbelts.

·       good for smaller groups of up to 16 comfortably.

·       small wedding party group transport

·       Hen or Stag parties

·       good air conditioning

·       happily cruising at 80 kmh

·       has a luggage trailer available

Stan is a versatile and useful small coach, particularly for groups of up to 18 doing local and district touring. He has regularly travelled to Christchurch and Picton.

"Mabel" is a 2009 Toyota Hi-Ace high-spec van.

·       seating for 9 passengers; forward facing seats all with lap seatbelts.

·       good for smaller groups of up to 9 comfortably.

·       small wedding party group transport

·       plenty of room

·       good air conditioning

·       has a luggage trailer available

Mabel is a versatile and useful small coach, for groups of up to 9 doing local and district touring.