Fancy preserving an Optare Solo?

[vicbury]

If anyone is interested in preserving an Optare Solo, Andrew Wickham of Go South Coast is offering them on Twitter to anybody who is a 'genuine preservationist':

PLEASE PRESERVE ME! We are withdrawing almost all W&D Solos this year. Many are withdrawn already. They were the 1/2

Tweet 1

2/2 first Solos built. We will let genuine preservationists have a good one at a favourable rate. Let me know if interested and please RT.

Tweet 2

Source: Tweet 1

 

[trentside]

Love them or loathe them, they're significant vehicles simply for their phenomenal success.

Sadly the first production model succumbed to corrosion issues, and is picture here in a sorry state, stripped of most useable parts. Image.

 

[DaveHarries]

It seems that the Optare Solos from their base at Hindon have been displaced from Services 25 & 26 by a mix of brand-new Optare Solo M960SR and Enviro200 buses:

HF64 BNN:
https://www.flickr.com/photos/kk70088/16608725116
https://www.flickr.com/photos/kk70088/16608724896

News release on SR website:
http://www.salisburyreds.co.uk/news/new-buses-rural-routes/

There is also a photo taken on board one of the new vehicles which shows that at least some of the seats on these vehicles are equipped with USB ports.

HTIOI,
Dave

 

[bb21]

They were iconic in their own ways when they first came about, amongst a sea of Metroriders and Bristol VRs. W&D had 86 (2601-2686, spanning from R to V reg) of the M850 versions. Brings back good memories from school days. Will be sorely missed.

 

[TheGrandWazoo]

They were iconic in their own ways when they first came about, amongst a sea of Metroriders and Bristol VRs. W&D had 86 (2601-2686, spanning from R to V reg) of the M850 versions. Brings back good memories from school days. Will be sorely missed.

That's the thing about bus preservation - it's usually subjective and based upon your own personal experiences. After all, who'd have thought in 1972 that Leyland Nationals would have their own society and a raft of examples saved, or in 1986 with the van derived minibuses?

I hope someone with time and money (!) can save an early one and restore it to the original FWT Wilts and Dorset livery. That said, I'm not certain if any of the MCW Metroriders they had survived?

 

[SpacePhoenix]

I hope someone with time and money (!) can save an early one and restore it to the original FWT Wilts and Dorset livery. That said, I'm not certain if any of the MCW Metroriders they had survived?

I heard once, can't remember where from that the Metroriders had rusted from the inside. The stretch Optare ones could be bumpy, especially if you were sat near the back

 

[vicbury]

I'm a big fan of Solos and in my opinion they are a far better bus than Darts / Enviro 200s as they are much more refined and seem to age better. I can't believe the design dates back to 1998 - they still look futuristic today!