It’s in surprisingly good nick, Currently has 955,000km showing on the odometer but not 100% sure if it’s a genuine 955,000km or 1.9 Million. But I’m leaning more towards 955,000km due to its condition, Compared to my 1989 B10M which has 1.7million km on it. It was last registered as MO9116 fleet number 9116, It’s fleet mates 9114 and 9117 were bought by followers of My business socials at the same time I bought 9116. While 9116 ended up 400km north of Sydney on the NSW Mid North Coast, 9114 and 9117 are safely back in Victoria and are going to be preserved by the guys who bought them. It sat for 10 months and drove 400km without issues, The only issue I’ve had so far is last Saturday started it aired it up after it sat for a week. It purged then the air inlet pipe to the door switches in the electrical cupboard popped off and it wouldn’t hold air, Fixed that and now the door controls in the drivers area and under the front bar don’t work. So I’m in the process of trouble shooting that. I did send Grenada / Ventura an email asking for any history on it, Just to get a basic idea of the maintenance and when it had it in Victoria. But no response as yet.

⁠@@TheAussieBusmanHaha wow, and I did hear the other two have come home back to Melbourne. Doors can be a bit of a pain with any old bus unfortunately, especially if they are SMC branded. I wouldn’t expect a reply from Ventura, and doubt they still have records on them considering they’ve been at Transdev for a while themselves. However I can tell you they definitely were looked after impeccably when they were with Grenda, as was everything and everyone in the company.

@@busesaroundmelbourne I'm definitely not holding My breath for a reply from Ventura, The doors in this one are definitely SMC units. After many hours and several swear jars filled I worked out the issue. As it's got the main feed valve at the bottom of the electrical cupboard, That then goes up into a T Piece which then feeds to the front and rear door switches and disperses from there. Turned out when the rear switch line popped off the T piece and I put it back in and seated it and locked it in place though it was happy days. But nope it went straight through and blocked the whole show, So what I did is since it's plastic pipe bottomed out the feed line and got a 4mm drill bit and ran it through the top of the T. That way the 2 bits that branch off to the switches butt up against it, I then just locked the clips in place and gave everything a good wrap in electrical tape to secure it all. Low and behold that was enough to get the doors working again. I think Transdev had them for about 10 years and they can be fussy about their buses at times, Like My 1989 B10M that's also an Ex Transdev unit. When they gave it a 5 year life extension to run from 25 to 30 years old, They just didn't do a frame inspection. It got a full respray, New flooring, An updated front end the works so You'd easily mistake it for a 1999 model rather then a 1989. It's condition is one of the reasons I went for it, Even though it sat for 10 months it did the 400km drive from Sydney to Port Macquarie without a single complaint. it only used 170 litres to do the 400km trip and I stopped every hour for 15 or so minutes for a break, So it was running for around 7 hours. Did a short 50km stint through Sydney the other 350km or so it was pegged on the speed limiter happily cruising at 100kph. There's a few little things I'm going to do on it to freshen it up, But it's 99% perfect. Simple things like the main engine hatch in the aisle has a bit of spring to it, What the 1989 model with PMC body has is down the centre hatch over the engine has is a removable 15x50mm RHS. It has 2 screws either end, So the hatch sits on the lip around the edge and the centre where you walk is supported by the bar to eliminate the bounce in the panel. The other thing is the Instrument panel surround is cracked in a few places on the top right and chunks are missing, So if I can find a replacement B10M dash surround I'll put that in. Worst case scenario in a bit of down time I'll get a fine fibreglass kit and give the main housing a bit of a freshen up, Then repaint it black just to make it look a bit fresher. That and put a new steering wheel on it, As it's top coats come off and it's a bit rough. Other then that it doesn't need anything doing to it to run it, The only major things it'll have is a stereo and the party lights put in it.

@@TheAussieBusmanYep, bloody SMC Doors 🤦‍♂️ Sundancer Buses here in Melbourne have an ex Grenda B10M as a party bus too. 1987 model and goes like a brand new bus. Not sure if you require frame inspections in NSW, but the aluminium bodywork from Volgren passes every time here. Keep us updated!

No frame inspections here in NSW per se, Generally the Route buses have an age limit of 25 years old. To run them to 30 they then undergo a “Life extension” inspection which allows them to run for another 5 years until they are 30, Which is what happened with this unit it’s rego expired in July 2023 when it was 30. But Charter buses don’t have that 25 / 30 year age restriction on them, Which I’ve got it registered as. Here in NSW you can typically tell the Route from the Charter buses, A Route bus or Coach will have “MO” plates like “MO9116”. Where a Charter bus and some coaches have “TV” plates aka “Tourist Vehicle” which I’m running with my plates of “TV256A”. Just like Volgren the PMC body on My 1989 B10M MK2 is alloy, With the fibreglass front and rear caps.. The only thing I miss on the Volgren body that the PMC body has is the large rear luggage bay / Boot, I can make do without the parcel racks. But not having the rear luggage bay / boot is a bummer, As it was handy for the sports clubs and that all their gear could just get thrown in the boot. Both the PMC and Volgren bodies have their pro’s and con’s, But in saying that I love both of them to bits. If I get a 3rd bus I should get a Custom Coaches bodied MK4 unit just for the giggles. Wouldn’t mind at least one manual unit though so that can probably be the next one, Which may be a push finding a MK4 Manual Custom coaches unit.

Unfortunately not, As part of the purchase agreement Transdev requested all of their branding is to be removed but are happy for the fleet number to stay. Since they still have Transdev / John Holland branded buses on contract in Sydney, The 1993 model will eventually be stickered up like the 1989 model With my branding and the Transdev fleet number.