​Guy Buses in Western Australia - Rattler 431/2010

The Post War Era.
Several Guy buses are known to have operated in Western Australia before World War II, but it was after the War that they came to prominence, mainly from a large order for fifty Guy Arab III FD single deckers by the Western Australian Government Tramways. Following the War, Guy Motors Ltd of Fallings Park, Wolverhampton in the United Kingdom is believed to have supplied 111 chassis that were used as passenger carrying vehicles in this state.
Guy Motors Ltd was founded by Sydney Guy just before the outbreak of World War I. He had previously been employed by the Sunbeam Motor Co and left with the intention of manufacturing commercial vehicles to his own design. He won contracts for the manufacture of military equipment including aero engines and after the War, manufactured a range of motor cars and light commercial vehicles
Sydney Guy was innovative. He manufactured the first Vee 8 engined car in the United Kingdom. And his first chassis intended for passenger carrying purposes in 1924 was significant in having a dropped frame to reduce the number of steps. Trolleybuses were added to the Guy Motors catalogue in 1926 and were innovative incorporating regenerative braking, a rare feature in those days. Bus chassis ranged from small four cylinder types for single deck bodies to large six-wheel double deck, both in motor bus and trolleybus.
Guy Motors enjoyed a good export market, with South Africa and India being notable successes. The first bus chassis designed to take the Gardner oil engine was introduced by Guy Motors in 1933. This was the Arab. It sold in quite small numbers before the Second World War, but its adherents admired its ruggedness and simplicity. A range of smaller chassis, the Vixen for forward control bodywork and Wolf were popular with smaller undertakings. Tourist Omnibus Service of Perth is known to have operated a Vixen and a short wheelbase Wolf on their service between Perth and Yanchep.
World War II brought a freeze on the construction of non military motor vehicles and Guy Motors turned to the production of vehicles and equipment for the war effort. It was realised during the war that more buses would be needed and Guy was authorised to build its Arab chassis. These were produced in large quantities and many were taken into stock by major bus operators who had not purchased Guy products before. As a result, many of these turned to Guy Motors with substantial orders after the War and Guy was able to compete with large manufacturers, in particular AEC and Leyland.
In 1948, Guy bought the trolleybus manufacturing business of Sunbeam from the Rootes Group. Rootes had also acquired Karrier and its Sunbeam range of trolleybuses were often re-badged Karriers. Guy Motors were successful in selling their Sunbeam range of trolleybuses and indeed dropped the Guy brand in favour of Sunbeam, although their “Sunbeam” trolleybuses were in the main updated versions of the Guy trolleybuses. Fifty Sunbeam F4 were purchased by the WAGT and entered service between 1950 and 1953. At the time of their order it had been intended to use trolleybuses on south of the River routes to Victoria Park and South Perth, but it was decided the new Causeway bridge would not be spoiled with overhead wires.
The Guy Arab had been built as the Arab II model during the War, and was refined afterwards into the Arab III and designed to take single or double deck bodywork. Engine options included the venerable Gardner 5LW or 6LW engines or the 10.35 litre Meadows 6DC630. Very few operators chose the Meadows option and it was quietly dropped in 1951. In 1948, the Wilson preselect gearbox (built by Guy under licence) became an option. Until then, all Guy Arabs were fitted with a four speed constant mesh “crash” box. The Arab III also featured a lower bonnet line which was often married to neat bodywork with deep windows to the driver’s cab on UK bodied vehicles.
Wesfarmers was the Guy agent in Western Australia. In addition to the fifty Sunbeam F4 trolleybuses (the F4 was designed for double deck bodywork) and fifty Guy Arab III motor buses sold to the WAGT, two five cylinder crash box Arab III’s went to the Coogee –Spearwood Bus Co. These were their numbers 5 and 6, and subsequently MTT 473 and 474. Bodies were timber framed by Campbell and Mannix. It is said they were not in particularly good condition when taken over by the MTT on 30th June 1961. But whether this or the fact they had timber frame bodies hastened their early withdrawal can only be speculated on. Number 5/473 was withdrawn in 1964 and cannibalised for spare parts, whilst 6/474 lasted to 1967, being one of the many vertically engined buses replaced by the Leyland Tiger Cub intake of that period.
In 1950, Guy developed an underfloor engine single deck chassis, the Arab UF. They converted the Gardner 6LW engine into a horizontal format and Gardners subsequently marketed the design as the HLW range. It is understood only two Arab underfloors came to Australia, one to Western Australia in 1957 as WAGT 135, the other to a Victorian private operator.
Despite being an oddball in the MTT fleet, WAGT 135 as MTT 308 lasted to 1975 before sale to Swanleigh Hostel in Middle Swan. It finished its days at Soltoggios truck wrecking yard in North Lake Road, Melville before being scrapped in the mid 1980s. But not before yielding its seats which are now in BPSWA’s Dennis Lancet D24.
A mid 50’s small post War bus chassis was the Otter. One with a Gardner 4LK engine went to the WAGR and became their G57. Very little is known about it, except that it spent time at remote outposts of the system and appears to have been camera shy as no reasonable quality photograph is known to exist.
Guy Motors was bankrupt by the late 1950’s. Its South African operation incurred massive losses, development and warranty costs for the Wulfrunian double decker were high. The market for the traditional front vertical engine bus chassis was declining; the Arab UF and a lighter version, the LUF were never sold in quantity and its foray into the forward entrance double deck market with the Wulfrunian was a disaster.
The WAGR had the final fling with Guy buses in this state with the purchase of seven Guy Victory WUM underfloor engine coach chassis. However, these were built after Guy Motors had been acquired by Jaguar Cars Ltd in October 1961 from the Receivers for £800,000. The Guy Victory was a sophisticated coach chassis designed with export markets in mind. It sold comparatively well overseas. Ahead of its time, it featured independent front suspension and disc brakes developed in conjunction with Girling. Air suspension was an option.
Gardner or Leyland engines were offered and the gearbox was a 4 or 5-speed The WAGR Guy Victorys were numbered G58 to G63 and G68. They were powered by Leyland 680 engines and had five–speed gearboxes. G58, G59 and G60 received heavy raised deck coachwork by MBB and were named “Pride of the West”, Queen of the South” and “Wheatlander” respectively. In hindsight the bodies were too heavy for the chassis, especially on the front end and the axle loading restricted them to the Perth to Albany and Perth to Narembeen routes. They were out of service by 1971. Like their Wulfrunian counterparts in the UK, they suffered from brake overheating and front suspension failures. Engines were also prone to overheating. Notwithstanding their sophistication, the four lighter bodied Guy Victorys generally performed well and were extensively used on the Perth to Merredin service where they replaced the narrow gauge ADF “Wildflower” class diesel electric trains. The WAGR Merredin road bus service was replaced by rail with the standard gauge “Prospector” railcars in November 1971. Their long legs made them highly suitable for the flat straight stretches of the Great Eastern Highway east of Meckering. They lasted until 1977/78 – none making it into preservation.
The purchase of Guy Motors by Jaguar Cars was another of Jaguar’s shrewd business decisions. The Guy “Big J” range of trucks was very popular. The Victory was redesigned as a rugged bus chassis with a front mounted vertical engine, ideal for rough and dusty roads and large quantities were sold in Africa. Jaguar Cars eventually joined British Leyland and of course, the rest is history.#