A Body For The Thornycroft Chassis?
The 1927 Thornycroft A2 has just been a chassis, engine and drive train since it was brought down from its Meenar country home. Recovered as a 'whole' vehicle, unfortunately, the termites got into the body when stored in the farm shed and it didn't survive the journey to Clontarf and thence to Whiteman Park. Since then, successive BPSWA Committees have considered its fate but thankfully decided to leave it alone until we had space and the resources to tackle its restoration. An offer was received from Peter Neale of South Fremantle, of a 1930's style body (sans the chassis, drive train and roof) that he had been storing for the last 15 years in the hope of restoring it. But he decided that it was a 'project, a little too far' and that he needed to pass it onto someone with the time to complete the job.
The original vehicle was thought to be a school bus operating around the Manjimup area so in the absence of any information about the provenence of the body it was dubbed the 'Manjimup' body..
The Manjimup body is approximately 70cm longer than the Thornycroft chassis between the engine/dash and the rear axle, so the body will need to be raised on the chassis to clear the rear wheels when its stored. When the time comes to work on the bus, the chassis will need to be lengthened or a section taken out of the body to marry the two together.
Peter offered the shell to the Society under very generous terms which included cartage from Fremantle to Whiteman Park and it was delivered on Tuesday 30th August, 2016. The style of the body is very similar to the original body on the Thornycroft and as we are unlikely to be able to rebuild the Thornycroft body any time soon it was felt that this would provide the opportunity to 'meld' the Thornycroft Chassis and the Manjimup body into at the very least, a quite presentable 'Display' bus in time.
The original vehicle was thought to be a school bus operating around the Manjimup area so in the absence of any information about the provenence of the body it was dubbed the 'Manjimup' body..
The Manjimup body is approximately 70cm longer than the Thornycroft chassis between the engine/dash and the rear axle, so the body will need to be raised on the chassis to clear the rear wheels when its stored. When the time comes to work on the bus, the chassis will need to be lengthened or a section taken out of the body to marry the two together.
Peter offered the shell to the Society under very generous terms which included cartage from Fremantle to Whiteman Park and it was delivered on Tuesday 30th August, 2016. The style of the body is very similar to the original body on the Thornycroft and as we are unlikely to be able to rebuild the Thornycroft body any time soon it was felt that this would provide the opportunity to 'meld' the Thornycroft Chassis and the Manjimup body into at the very least, a quite presentable 'Display' bus in time.
