1974 Bristol LH Bus - 4 berth motorhome

It is with great regret that we have decided to sell Beryl, our much loved Bristol LH bus. We have had her for about 8 years now but new projects have meant she is spending far too much time in storage these days and not receiving the attention she deserves.

Mechanically she is sound. We bought her from a bus mechanic and since we have had her she has had work done on the brakes and the starter motor reconditioned. But really all the issues we have had with her have been minor (splits in pipes, broken starter button, old batteries).

When we first got her she still needed MOT’s so she was serviced / MOT tested for the first few years and since then we have had her serviced / mock MOT tests every couple of years. She has had her brakes checked and greased on a rolling road this summer. She is now MOT and Tax exempt.

We have converted her into a motorhome since we have owned her. She has a full size oven and fridge freezer. The Fridge is a 240V AAA rated and works brilliantly, even on cold days. We decided to spend money on larger solar panels instead of an expensive camping fridge. There is an invertor and we have 240V plugs – she has been a great mobile office for me over the years.

There is a diesel heater which keeps the bus lovely and warm. We decided with our conversion to keep as many of the original features as possible – we have still got the back seats which could be used for further upholstery.

Beryl is unique in that she has been featured in the BritBus model collection – which was why we decided that she needed to retain her Devon General paint job. We have also sourced some memorabilia (bus timetables, tickets etc) from that period of her life. She also has her technical manual (its a Leyland 400 engine). The ticket machine still works, so does the bell.

She is 6.5 tonne so can be driven on a Grandad licence. Her lightweight body (LH means lightweight chassis) means she is really quite economical fuel-wise. She does not have power steering so you do need some upper body strength to drive her.

Commercially if you wanted to she could be a great rental and we have already been approached by a number of rental companies who wanted her as a featured vehicle. I always intended to do this and have a website for her, never found the time but I have got the domain name bristolbus.co.uk which you can have as well if you wish.

Outstanding work that would be needed for a rental would be to complete the plumbing on the shower – there is a belly box and a tank but it has not been plumbed in. The gas bottle also needs to be plumbed in with copper to the belly box – that is the only outstanding task needed for the DVLA conversion (Guess what trade my husband works in !!!). The paintwork also needs a bit of attention.