Ivanhoe Bus Co. Serviced Our Area

BUS IS IDENTIFIED BY NILSS OF AUSTRIA (FORMERLY OF EAGLEMONT)
Last week in our FofEV Newsletter we pictured a bus at the Marshall Street and Lower Heidelberg Road junction.

Nilss has identified the vehicle and has forwarded a photo:

MMTB #592 (AEC Regal Mk 3, Martin & King) heads along Tram Road, Doncaster, approaching Doncaster Junction running a 291 to Heidelberg. Now preserved by John Phillips. (Collin Hurst collection)

Nilss adds a 1975 date by researching the election poster that is roadside on the extreme left -

"The photo must be from 1975, because of the election billboard to the left of the bus. Wikipedia: Brown reclaimed Diamond Valley at the 1975 election in a rematch against McKenzie."

Associated Equipment Company (AEC) and London General Omnibus Company (LGOC) made buses from 1909 to their closure in 1979. This included the famous red Routemaster London double-decker.

Production of the Regal Mk  lll ended in 1957. The chassis/engine package was widely exported.

"Martin and King" refers to the long- established Melbourne coachbuilding firm, which consolidated its post-WW2 operations to Springvale.

A Martin & King Ford Anglia 103E Ute (Creative Commons)

The green and gold paint job on the AEC/Martin & King bus reveals the Ivanhoe Bus Company, which operated 6 bus routes under contract to the Victorian Government. The Company operated from West Heidelberg from 16 August 1956 till 2010 when it was taken over by Ventura.