(11/10/2015) Steering Hard, Driving Fast! Birmingham Corp 3780 Daimler Fleetline KOX780F at Wythall 

Now there's a chap who knows how to hustle a Gardner along, and with plenty of mechanical sympathy evident in his gear changing, both up and down. Top job :)

I have many memories of driving Fleetline. Drove them for 12 years.

I drove both single and double door 'Fleetlines' in Grimsby for a number of years. They were true workhorses. I loved the pneumo cyclic gearbox. It is true, there was a way of going up and down the gears properly. Many drivers just went up the gears without leaving a pause for the engine revs to die down and then selecting the next gear. Our engineer said that this would damage the gearbox. Some could be heavy on the steering, this is why they needed to be serviced on a regular basis, like the ones we had didn't have power steering. Apart from that, there was plenty of room in the cab. Nowadays, you can't swing a cat round as they say. For me, they were the best buses I drove. A pure delight.

Well done that man well driven and treating the old girl with respect and bringing back the fleetline ‘scream’ I remember on the newer WMPTE fleetlines around Halesowen growing up

Me being from Manchester (hence part of my username here) and Gardner Engines was based in Hulme, I grew up with Fleetlines (in the GMT/GM Buses fleet alone) fitted with the 6XLB engines! How Fleetlines should sound IMHO! Music to my ears!

Excellent drive and good proper gearchages.

This has got to have a 6LXB fitted, what a beast and as mentioned elsewhere, solid as a rock.

Oh that fabulous Fleetline scream in top! Reminds me so much of the Chester City fleetlines. Loved them :-)

Great video, so reminiscent of the Middlesbrough Corporation Fleetlines. Driven smartly and well showed the gearbox some care and extracted a great performance

Fleetline's are beasts, I've always loved them.

This video captures the "Fleetlines" character very well. The Gardner engined Daimler/Leyland 'Fleetline' was my favourite rear engined double decker of all time. Although the type disappeared from service in my native Greater Manchester in January 1999, I still miss them to this day, the modern buses are so 'characterless' in comparison.

This is the soundtrack to the 1980's in Halifax for me, I loved the Fleetlines.. Totally stumbled across this, they were the most fantastic sounding vehicles. didn't appreciate it at the time but now they are gone.. This fella's a good bus driver too by the way.. we did have some crap ones ha ha

That makes all the right sounds! Reminds me of "last bus" runs to Allestree in Derby City Transport days!

What a beautiful noise took me right back to me childhood riding South Yorkshire brown and creams.

Perfect gear change :-)

In the early 1960's, Bury Corporation Transport bought 15 brand new Daimler Fleetline double deckers with Alexander bodywork and Gardner 6LX engines. In my opinion, these were the best looking rear engined double deckers ever made even to this day. As a boy at that time, I was always taken by the white steering wheel when all others were black!! Happy days!

I well remember coming out of a Brum on the 14, standing load around Lancaster Circus. Standing up to haul the steering wheel round and the platform bouncing of the road around the island. Those were the days.

3780 sounds as good as she looks especially for a bus 47 years old no creaking or rattling unlike some of the more modern stuff at NXWM nowadays. Well done to all those who painstakingly worked to get 3780 back to roadworthy condition

lovely bus the fleetline , I passed my test on a crossley at coventry road garage in 66, altho we had daimler/gardners in service, the fleetlines came next, thats when they realised we could get rid of conductors.

Go Fleetline Go!

Very nicely done

I remember these down here in Norfolk had a long life even before i was born. Sadly they were withdrawn and scrapped in 1999 just three years after first group took over to form firstbus then first eastern counties.

That sound reminds me of the Nottingham City Transport fleetlines in the 80s. Could always make them out from the Atlanteans due to the smaller upper rear window.

The sound is pretty good.....

The good old days

Lovely!!!!!

Take me back to Birmingham mate I left in 1983

Serious Driver.

Lovely. I've just had a ride in one, I asked the driver how it went (not his bus) and he said it was nice but the steering was heavy! Lovely sound, though he didn't blip the revs when changing down, meaning we got jerked forward alot when the new gear engaged . PS The driver in the video did a great job, is it his bus?

Lots of people complained about the Fleetlines' "heavy steering": was it ever put right before Leyland ended production?

4 speed ?max 40mph?

Wow, quite nice this bus to ride it thought! But be more careful about this bus goes under the bridge. Might get into the troubled the journey is!

Odd, despite the age, I think I've been on a few of these... TWM kept them going a long time. What I could never work out was whether they were 4 speed or dogleg 5 (hills around home weren't ever severe enough for the driver to use 1st, if the latter), and what the extra bits on the gear arm were for... the black plastic knob sticking out the front of it in a very hard to reach place, and of course the BIG RED BUTTON in the middle of the selector pattern cheat plate (which was always worn down to unreadability on any bus I was on and tried to take a look at)... Maybe one of them was reverse, and/or park? Thing is, the driver in this video looks like he presses the red button a couple times when heading up the return sliproad before changing into top??

Es un Daimler hermoso, ese sonido es grandioso, y un gran conductor por cierto. Me pregunto si sería un XF, o es posterior al XF, Es semiautomático?

puts LT DMS's to shame!

This is a beast of a bus, but something is slightly confusing me. Am I right in thinking that London Transport sought to replace their Daimler Fleetlines due to poor reliability? And didn’t they replace them with Leyland Atlantean’s? Or have I just imagined that?

Excuse my ignorance, how does this compare to a Leyland Atlantean which is the bus I always remember going to school on in the Seventies and early Eighties?

Can the video holder tell me that how fast can this bus get,thank you very much

As a later driver glad never had to drive these in service, muscles like popeye?

Long long along I drive double decker bus.AFter I drive too morn engine no good single decker bus in Hong Kong.But this bus Garnnar engine sound is very very good.

Simran Kang

Sounds like she's Gardner engined

好像中巴LF引擎聲。。

Good driver but I guess new brake shoes soon....🙄

That's just music!

Driver needs to be shown how to drive a pneumo cyclic gearbox properly, changes gears up well, however doesn’t give revs when changing down, leaves it in gear when stationary (big no no) and starts off in second? Heavy on the throttle and then heavy on brakes, but leaves it in 4th instead of changing down and using the engine as a brake. These old busses needed to be driven with finesse, that’s why they are still going today. They are not automatic busses, they are manual with a fluid clutch (flywheel)

My English is no good.l watch Steering so hard,But the driver control the bus is very good and so fast.But this bus climb hill power no good.