mark glynn's delux

1956 Delux

It left the factory in September 56, chassis number 208022 and it was delivered to Sweden (date unknown as yet) there is a plaque on each of the cab doors which reads Fors Bilakliebolag VAXJO which I have been told is the original dealer that ordered this vehicle. This information was given to me by a Swedish guy from our local club he also told me that a plate that I found in the engine bay that read Sprangamnesinspektiorens tillstandsnummer Sai M 27 was issued by the Swedish department of explosives, he could not tell me the reason why but we think it was a Swedish regulation for either a petrol heater or gas cylinder as at sometime in its life the bus had been a camper.

It appears to have been restored sometime in the past I imagine in the early seventies as you can see they have used late split front and rear arches. It appears to have last been used in 78 which was the last Swedish tax disc in the vehicle. Somebody had started restoring it in Sweden as it has had new main chassis rails all the way through the van, they have made an excellent job of these, they also welded in new outer and inner sills (badly) and top hat sections and then gave up. These are now so rotten I have removed them (I am not sure how long ago this was done)

I heard from Steve Carrington that Graham at FBI was importing the bus from Sweden in about May and it took me until July to actually receive it. It was missing nearly all its parts which I have now collected all of, most of which are NOS (it is so much easier getting rare parts nowadays due to the internet) and from the States.

I have now started restoration. The rear floor has been removed and I have so far replaced outriggers, inner sills, jacking points and centre chassis cross members. Once I have welded the main upright struts to the inner sills and the new floor in I will be removing the complete side panels and using Creative Engineering replacements. I have also welded back in the spare wheel well as it had been cut out at sometime and then bolted back in. I will keep you up dated on the resto.

UPDATE 23 MAY 04

As you can see the new floor is in all the bottom of the upright posts have all been repaired and welded to the inner sills.

I have also taken out the front inner and outer arches the inner arches (under seats) these have been made by a local company they have also made the inner rear arches. You can see I have a Brazilian inner rear arch but these are suitable for 63-67 buses the pre 63 ones are curved all the way round and don't flatten out where they meet the outer arch.

The cab floor has also been removed and a Alan Schofield has made the near complete one for me. The next to be removed is the side panels these are being supplied by Creative Engineering at the same time I will fit the new rear inner arches .

UPDATE 25 SEP 04

The new interior for the 56 from Lenny at West Coast Classic Cali highly recommended. Shipping and the VAT is expensive though on top of the price of the seat covers and panels was a bit of a shock.

Won't need this for awhile but the heat seamed centre band on the panels is no longer available, Lenny said this is the last one so had to get it now.

UPDATE 23 FEB 05

I manage to get a pair of very solid almost rust free original fat lip front arch at Dubfreeze, when was the last time you saw some for sale? As you can guess they cost me!! Going to start on the bus again when Lambretta is done, should get the scooter back from the sprayer next week .