On Sat, 13 Apr 2013 20:29:19 +0100, Arthur Figgis wrote:

How ancient is this bus?

http://www.wisbechstandard.co.uk/pol...5697_1_2014604!
image/3608114369.jpg_gen/derivatives/landscape_490/3608114369.jpg
or
http://snipurl.com/26ttejs

Not an ancient as it looks at first glance? Googling the registration
doesn't find anything.

Something looks odd. Is it less than full size?

Almost certainly.

The plate appears to be 78x OVL, with the obscured digit being either a 5
or a 6. But the obscured digit is in the centre of the plate - which it
wouldn't be for a six digit plate, so it must be seven - there's almost
certainly a character behind his leg. Four numbers, three letters was
never mainland UK issued - so it's either an NI plate or it's a post-83
year prefix letter, which'd make it one of the modern repro-retro buses,
and therefore almost certainly a Q plate. Q785 OVL is on a 1987 "Lion
Omnibus". Chucking that in to DVLA's tax disc checker scotches my
immediate assumption, that it's probably a Ford Transit underneath it.

Oh, no. Nothing so sensible...

998cc petrol. And, when you look closely at the front suspension, there's
definitely a driveshaft in there.

It's a sodding Mini...

At first glance, vaguely credible. But when you look closely, it's a
barking mad faux-retro pastiche, utterly useless in real life.
How very... fitting.

About the only thing I can find out about the Lion Omnibus is...
http://www.miniexperience.com.au/fil.../mag/12_issue/
magic_bus_story.pdf
or
http://snipurl.com/26ttgvc

(and, just to confirm it all, look at the reg in the second pic)