1982 Denning DenAir

Hey Bretto, your not thinking about these fellas are you?

www.flxible.net/ansairflxible.html

Early ones had Leylands fitted in the boot, then they settled on them screamin' bloody Duetz "thing-a-ma-bobs".

regards greenie [smiley=vrolijk_1.gif]

Awwwww, that's them. Hmmm, with "General Motors Diesel" in the back, what a beaut piece of history - just love that old style look. Mmmmmmmm :
Bretto

Part of Driver's heritage fleet is a 1983 Denning.
Page 9 of the photo album shows it in action.
www.driverbuslines.com.au/heritagephotogallery.html

Roderick B Smith
Rail News Victoria Editor

One of the Hunter Valley Classic Commercial Vehicle Club members purchased a 1985 Denning Denair with 8V71 this week to add to his collection of old commercial vehicles. It needs a little cosmetic TLC but a few of the boys will get in and give him a hand with it ASAP.

It will be at our show weekend on 14 & 15 May.

Hey guys,

a link about Redline history.
www.busaustralia.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=48&t=50

About 1979-80 Denning mono's went to full air suspension - DEN AIR

Some people retrofitted air sus to older models mainly by MCA Motor Coach Aust.
VicCoach - rough riding mechanical swing arm that was fitted to convert single axle to a tag for weight laws

V8Ian - You mean the swimming VIP Denning at Nambucca River, Macksville

The coach industry was good to me for 25 years (Australia wide 4x4 Safari to accommodated tours) but has changed so much in that time. now out of it and a float driver

Regards Jumbo

This link to the Redline history should work:

www.busaustralia.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=48&t=50347

Cheers to all.....

Redline also operated a trucking business, "Coober Pedy Freighters" in support of Rex's expanding business interests in the opal town.

His first entry into the transport business, in the 1930's, was carting produce on a flat bed Commer from the Granite Belt into the Brisbane markets.

I also carry an indelible mind's eye image of him and Ken Thomas (K W Thomas Transport - later TNT) having an in depth yarn as they leant on the front of Ken's rig at Murrurundi one morning, Rex was on a refresment stop with a load of tour passengers. This was mid 1950's.

Here's one of the C P Freighters rigs (Carrying Redline colours):

I found an earlier reference to Redline as "Dedline" more than a little offensive.

The fact is that this proud business was grown from nothing by Rex Law and in his 25 years of passenger carrying operations the company became, by the late 1960's, Australia's largest national road passenger operation, as well as the undisputed pioneer of many new routes Australia wide that have since become second nature to the many operators who have followed.

A further undeniable fact is that in those 25 years there were unfortunately four serious road accidents which contributed to the eventual demise of the business.

Another fact is that Redline's main competitor during these years also experienced serious accidents, the number of which well exceeded those of Redline. That competitor seemed to possess the means to have the media headlines largely suppress identifying their name, whereas the very opposite approach was always adopted in the case of Redline.

I hope this outline will provide some understanding of the true history, rather than have it re-written in the form of a casual uninformed comment in a respected forum such as this.

As a hint at the size of Redline's operations I have attached a photo of a group of coaches lined up in the Alice Springs depot on a charter to that town from all capital cities for a religious group. At this same time the company's normal and very extensive tour and express operations were continuing as usual.

And with regard to the "Denning" flavour of this thread, you will notice that virtually all these coaches are Dennings.

(Footnote: Another fact largely unknown is that Rex gave Alan Denning his first order for the construction of a full sized coach, and perhaps even more importantly ensured Alan's future with immediate follow-up orders for an additional eight examples. Of course many more would follow. The Denning story might have been very different without Rex Law's support, when Alan needed it most!)

Cheers to you all......

Looselion, great pictures, keep em coming please. My father new Rex quite well (that probobly narrows it down to half of Australia with Rex). When I started my apprenticeship I used to have to take fuel pumps and Injectors over to Highway Diesel which were in Sunnybank bus lines yard at Acaia Ridge at the time, and Rex was usually over there.

Thank you bigcam, and especially for your comments about Rex. Yes, he ran his "Rex Law Bus Sales" business from the old Sunnybank Bus Service yard at Acacia Ridge. This was much later, after the end of his beloved Redline, and after another trucking stint, as well as a motel business proprietorship!

I've attached a photo of that first full sized Denning coach...Redline No 22. Of course Alan had constructed several side-loader service cars prior, and also a small service type bus for Bill Mitchell of Tamborine Bus Service, but these were intermittent orders alongside his ute canopy manufacturing business and didn't give Denning the continuity needed to establish himself as a recognized coach-builder.

Rex backed him with orders for many more copies of this design which saw him then well established in the industry. He eventually built more than 50 coaches for Redline.

Photo: The Shane Fitch collection

And here's Denning's very last delivery to Redline, No 115, in 1970. Nos 22 and 115 truly represented the first 10 years evolution of Denning, from humble beginnings to one of Australia's premier coach builders.