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This is a technical drawing of a 31 passenger bus body, for a 224 inch White chassis, made in 1943 in the Sydney suburb of Summer Hill by the motor body builders, W.S. Grice of 73 Carlton Crescent.  The bus body was made for A.R. McVicar of Lidcombe, New South Wales.  It is one of a set of twenty-one measured drawings and notes of parlour coach, bus and ambulance bodies made by the company between 1939 and 1965. 

Most of the drawings constitute the actual drawings sent to the Department of Transp...

Ink dimensioned drawing on paper of a bus showing plan and elevation.  Bus body by W S Grice, Summer Hill, NSW, (31 passenger), on a White chassis with a 224" wheelbase, ordered by A R McVicar, Lidcombe, NSW.  Single decker, with 2 doors ( 1 at the front passenger side and the rear passenger side) and the emergency window at rear.  Signed and dated by the M V Examiner, H King, 24.6.1943.  In ink: "This plan subject to modification in accordance with proposed order to control omnibus bodies" ie so called Austerity Body Order.  On back of drawing: 31 passenger Bus Body White Chassis McVicar Lidcombe. 

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Dimensions

Height

395 mm

Production

Notes

The drawings were executed by the owners of the W S Grice Motor Body Works, Mr William Stanley Grice and Mr Oliver Grice. 

The W.S. Grice Motor Body Works were established in about 1927 by two brothers, Walter Stanley Grice (Stanley) and Oliver Grice (Ollie).  They formerly worked for E.E. Agate of 55 Junction Road, Summer Hill, but moved to their own workshop at 73 Carlton Crescent, Summer Hill.  The building, which still survives, was formerly a service station is now a car repair workshop. 

By 1934 the Grice Motor Body Works was one of thirty nine similar motor body building firms in New South Wales engaged in producing motor body building firms in New South Wales engaged in producing bodies for delivery vans, trucks and buses.  Most of these were commercial establishments but Grice's was a specialist workshop devoted to producing bodies for buses, parlour coaches, ambulances and hearses. 

Made

History

Notes

The collection of drawings comprises 16 bus and parlour coach drawings, three for ambulances and one for a caravan.  The drawings were all donated by Jack Laws, formerly an apprentice and later owner of W.S. Grice, Motor Body Works, of 73 Carlton Crescent, Summer Hill.  He remained with the firm until his retirement in 1985 aged 65. 

It should be noted that parlour coaches differed from standard buses in that they were for the tourist trade.  They were similar to buses in that they were also multi-passenger vehicles but had no room for standing passengers.  They featured a separate door for the driver and a row of doors on the passenger side numbering from between 3 and 5 for the extra comfort of passengers.  The parlour coaches were more luxuriously equipped than buses, had more comfortable leather lounge seats, and were especially designed for long distance tourist travel and touring.  In appearance they resembled elongated or stretched cars of the late 1930s and early 1940s. 

The drawings were all produced by the Grice brothers and most are the original plans submitted to the Department of Transport for approval.  They were commissioned by various private bus companies all over the State including those in Nelson Bay, Nowra, Armidale, Tea Gardens, Yamba and Bulladelah as well as those from the Sydney suburbs of Lidcombe and Pennant Hills.  One bus drawing was for a bus body commissioned by the Australian Red Cross.