North Shore Times | Thursday, 12 June 2008

LIKE NEW: The old North Shore Bedford restored.

Jane Warren is still using the same bus that took her to school in the 1960s.

But these days it’s being used as a motorhome by Ms Warren and partner Steve Greaves.

The couple, who live on the Coromandel, have revamped the Bedford bus that was owned by the North Shore Transport Company until 1985.

It took Ms Warren from Devonport to Takapuna Grammar in the late 1960s and early 70s.

Mr Greaves’ cousin bought the bus from Murphy Buses in the late 1990s.

He changed the petrol engine to diesel, stripped the interior and fitted it with wood panels from the Toyota car factory.

It was then reluctantly sold to Mr Greaves.

The ownership papers revealed it was Ms Warren’s old school bus.

Mr Greaves says it had been totally restored inside but the exterior was a bit neglected and still had the original blue paint from its time in Devonport.

The earlier red and grey was visible underneath the peeling paint.

A panelbeater and car painter, Mr Greaves has spent the past year sanding back the old paint, masking, and painting the bus.

It now has a charcoal grey base, red up to the windows, silver on the upper sides and a grey roof – and power steering.

Ms Warren and Mr Greaves named the bus Tragically Hip after a Canadian rock group. Mr Greaves lived in Canada for 18 years.

Categories: 2008
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