AEC Regent: Books - History, Types and Construction

AEC Regents in Service - The Late 1960s and 1970s

From 1967 to the late 1970s author David Christie visited many towns and cities in Britain, photographing the remaining traditional buses in service. This book concentrates on one marque - the AEC Regent, which was to be found generally in its Mk III variant and more so in the southern counties. 'Up North' was generally Leyland country, and a companion book covers the PD Leylands.

Travelling from Romford in Essex, the author's home town, and starting with a brief LT selection, we call in along the South Coast before heading north to the Midlands and the Isle of Man, then on to Scotland, where the author relocated in 1973.
All the photographs are in colour, originally in slide form, from which they have been digitally restored.

AEC Regent V

The AEC Regent V was a front-engined double-deck bus manufactured by the Associated Equipment Company between 1954 and 1969, when, as a result of the introduction of the Bus Grant in 1968 (designed to encourage the purchase of rear-engined buses in order to foster one-man operation), production of front-engined buses ceased.
The Regent V was the successor to the Regent III and was fitted with AEC's own design of concealed radiator and was supplied generally with either an AEC or Gardner engine. Produced contemporaneously with the Routemaster, the AEC Regent V found a ready market amongst British municipal operators, with examples seeing service in fleets nationwide, and with BET-group companies.

Apart from the domestic market, the chassis was also widely exported; 210, for example, being sold to Kowloon Motor Bus in Hong Kong. Examples of the Regent V survived in service until the 1980s and a significant number survive in preservation.
This book includes descriptive text alongside hundreds of evocative colour illustrations.

The London ST

Though all STs were based on the AEC Regent chassis, the buses comprised a varied fleet. This book covers the full story of STs up to the end of the STs in passenger service.