Quest 80

[robertclark125]

Who has heard of, or even remembers Quest 80, an engineering company founded in Telford the same year I was born, 1979? They went on to make bus chassis, using Ford or Perkins engines, and ceased trading in 1985. As it was, Excelsior of Bournemouth bought many Quests, but other than that, Quests didn't stay long with one operator.

So, thoughts and memories please.

http://www.gracesguide.co.uk/wiki/Quest_80

 

[trentside]

Sadly, most Quest vehicles were withdrawn when I was too young to travel around on my own looking for them, so no specific memories sadly, but an operator near my (Brylaine Travel) operated a former Excelsior Quest 80 VM with Plaxton Paramount bodywork for a few years. I never had the opportunity to travel on it, but I know the VM was often seen as a 'Ford clone' and Brylaine operated numerous Ford coaches.

The other vehicle Quest was famous for, of course was the boxy minibus with Locomotors bodywork...

 

[A0]

I think there were three distinct vehicles Quest produced:

The 80 - which was a coach chassis specced by Excelsior of Bournemouth.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/berresfords_motors_limited/3817311483/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/43926058@N04/4064213368/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/peagreenbus/3310103676/

The midi-bus - which was used originally by Merseyside PTE.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/38163112@N06/4407952509/

Then there was this - a Ford Cargo based bus, also an 80 chassis but very different

http://www.flickr.com/photos/rootymasters/3472947138/

 

[martinsh]

I think there were three distinct vehicles Quest produced:

The 80 - which was a coach chassis specced by Excelsior of Bournemouth.

The midi-bus - which was used originally by Merseyside PTE.


Then there was this - a Ford Cargo based bus, also an 80 chassis but very different

There were more types than that.

The Excelsior vehicles were officially type VM, the other two above were type B.

There was also the type J which were medium sized coaches bodied by Jonckheere. There was one of these still running around with a local operator (Crewe) a few months ago, but I never managed to get a picture of it.

The C type was similar to the J type but was bodied by Reeve Burgess
http://www.flickr.com/photos/berresfords_motors_limited/2416669418/

The D type was bodied by Locomotors to a design even uglier than the Merseyside vehicles. I have a photo somewhere.

Full list of Quest vehicles
http://www.buslistsontheweb.co.uk/list.asp?ListName=chassis78&MenuType=chassis&Manu=Other&ManuSub=