Leyland Victory 2 Bus

Manufacturer	Leyland Motors
Class	Commercial vehicle
design type	Bus
Production period	1967 to 1987

The Leyland Victory 2 was a Leyland Motors bus produced from 1967 to 1987 .

History

The Leyland Victory Mk 2 was a chassis for buses of the British commercial vehicle manufacturer Leyland Motors . The type was built from 1967 to 1987 exclusively for export. It was originally developed as Guy Victory J by the Guy company. in 1964 with the British Motor Corporation ,merger of the two companies in 1968 with Leyland to British Leyland Motor Corporation . On the chassis, various structures were built.The Victory was originally developed for Cape Tramways in South Africa and designed specifically for the requirements of this operator. The wheelbase was 20 feet and 6 inches. A Leyland O.68 0 six-cylinder diesel engine was installed and a pneumatically assisted five-speed manual transmission. The bus had a conventional ladder frame made of sheet steel profiles. The engine was placed between the longitudinal members in front, the radiator sat directly in front of it. This then actually outdated arrangement was expected under the special climatic conditions of South Africa less cooling problems than an underfloor arrangement of the engine. Underground buses were unsuccessful in South Africa, so Guy , for example, had Warrior UF and Victory UF underfloor models Variants derived with front-mounted engine. 

The front axle was relatively far back in order to place the entrance door in the front overhang. As a result, the bus was well suited for one-man operation without a conductor. The engine sat directly above the front axle for better weight distribution. This construction was also called trambus . The chassis had leaf springsand telescopic shock absorbers. Over time, the chassis was constantly modified. For example, the suspension has been strengthened in order to be able to drive unpaved roads with a total mass of 19 t. The brake system was changed so that the bus could be stopped even without the use of the parking brake. The buses got a construction of bus bodiesfrom Port Elizabeth or their successor Busaf . Both monoplane and double decker buses were built. The last sixteen 100-seat biplane structures were manufactured by Busaf in 1987.

Kowloon Motor Bus (KMB) from Hong Kong bought four such double-decker buses in 1976. Hong Kong's registration requirements, which are similar to those in the UKand more stringent than those in South Africa, meant that the landing gear had to be overhauled. It came a harder suspension and harder responding shock absorbers. By additional damper the pitch angle was limited when starting and braking. The buses passed the license successfully and were put into service in January 1976. In early 1982, they weredecommissionedafter the launch of the Victory 2 series II and converted into school vehicles.

The Singapore Bus Service (SBS) in Singapore procured from 1978 a series of Victory in monoplane execution. It was used as the engine of the O.680 by Leyland together with a semi-automatic transmission. The superstructures came from British Aluminum Co. (BACo) and Soon Chow , a bus manufacturer from Singapore. The bus was covered with aluminum sheets. Already in 1982, however, the condition of most superstructures was so bad that they had to be renewed. SBS tentatively equipped some buses with an underfloor air conditioning system. The buses were withdrawn from circulation in 1993.

Victory 2 series II 

Kowloon Motor Bus (KMB) satisfied with the trial-introduced Victory 2 then asked Leyland to offer a front-engined bus for the Hong Kong market. Leyland did not want to expand the extensive range of types again, and therefore suggested another bus., Leyland finally decided to offer a chassis with front engine. The chassis was derived from the Worldmaster . This version of the World Master Leyland brought to the market in 1960 , however, produced only in small quantities. The frame was a good twelve centimeters lower, resulting in a lower overall height and an easier entry for the passengers. Equipped were the vehicles with the 6LXB  diesel engine of L. Gardner and Sons and an automatic transmission of the type D851 of Voith . For testing purposes , one of the buses got a semi-automatic SCG GB350 gearbox from Leyland. The superstructures came from Alexander , only the last twenty delivered buses got a construction of Duple Metsec . Although the vehicle had little in common with the original Victory 2 , it was called Victory 2 series II .

The buses were designed specifically for Hong Kong high-grade routes and one-person paybox operation. The relatively narrow front door was located in front of the front axle, so that the passengers had to pay the fare at the paybox under control of the driver immediately after boarding. The bus was left through a wider folding door, which was arranged between the axles.

Kowloon Motor Bus (KMB) introduced between 1979 and 1983 540 Victory . One of the buses had air conditioning, which was not proven and expanded. China Motor Bus (CMB) procured 167 Victory between 1979 and 1982, New Lantao Bus (NLB) nine pieces between 1980 and 1983 and later took over six more vehicles from KMB. The bus arrived in Hong Kong on all routes, including the New Territories , Kowloon , Hong Kong Island and Lantau. From the mid-1990s, the buses were withdrawn from use. KMB used the buses until 1998.