High time to start a museum of old but working commercial
vehicles here !
Like the Daimler-Benz museum in Germany where the old even vintage
models are all still working ones, taken out on rides now &
then.
What can be done is to take back some old models, overhaul them
& re-use them occasionally for short distance leisure trips,
targetting mainly @ tourists & others who want back some old
memories & rides ! I won't mind being such a regular customer
for such a service ! They can keep least 1 unit of all the old
models used here so that people have variety & can compare how
well the models ranks amongst themselves & even the current
newer ones around, to see if old have to be not better than new or
vice-versa.
The M-B O 305 is no doubt a very technically advanced model
compared with the Leylands, whether Atantean or Olympian @ the time
even some years later !
I believe initially those with Alexander double-deck bodies came
with engine encapsulation, which was later removed, exposing the
oil sump & the external noise levels then increased somewhat,
though still quieter than the lousy junky Atantean bough around the
same times.
The (air, in an era where most here only still used springs)
suspension ride comfort is 1st class, although more wavy on the
upper floor but i'll still maintain is not inferior if not still
superior to what you get nowadays on those double-deckers currently
here !
The engine sounded to me like a BMW in-6 cylinder engine in running
smoothness when crusing. Only the MAN's came close then & even
nowadays in this area. Whatever you hear from the engine is 'real'
engine sound unlike the Olympians where much of the 'engine' noises
actually comes from the noisy radiator air-intake fan @ the front
or the side of the vehicle. I admire though the extent which
Leyland or Volvo seemed to have tried to imitate the engine sound
of the O 305 by fixing such stupid noisy fans which give some
artificial illustion of running smoothness, to try to cover up for
the inferior running smoothness of their engines ??
The original M-B push-button automatic gear came @ the time when
Leyland still used their funny jerky lousy pneuo-cyclic gearboxes,
which jerked like hell just before moving off & still jerking
all the way aferwards ! The M-B units i find gave the best
combination between performance & gear change smoothness
although the whinning noise was some irritation, but still less
than what the ZF & Voith gearboxes emit nowadays !!
In overview, the O 305 no doubt is among the finest class of
citybus ever to exist. The old world style of German engineering
does stand the test of time & that's unfortunately where some
corners have been cut in the newer models
later ! In many ways old can be better than new, whether in
comparison among the same make or even with other makes which came
later !
