Maybe Tintin got the idea from seeing the Nissan Civilians and
Merc 811s on these routes.
Anyway, even to this day low-capacity buses (Dennis Darts) are
still deployed on 42 (former M2) and 92 (former M1).
PS: M2 was meant as a replacement for the old svc 20, which gave up
part of its route between Golden Mile and Ghim Moh to 100.