Bristol – original vintage new old stock late 1960s Lodekka FLF keyring

NOW SOLD – sorry this keyring has now been sold and can no longer be ordered

An original Bristol Lodekka keyring which will have been produced in the 1960s.

When this keyring has been sold this listing will be cancelled .

When this keyring first came to us we assumed it was a commemorative keyring which had been produced relatively recently to honour the famous Lodekka double decker bus .

The condition was so good ( new ) and the badge design was so contemporary that we assumed it was relatively new.

It was only upon close inspection that we realised it is actually an original vintage item which had been produced during the time when the buses themselves were still in production !

The keyring is new old stock – so is in new condition.

It will have been produced in the late 1960s or possibly the very early 1970s when hundreds of these buses ( by then with Leyland engines rather than Gardner 6LX’s )  were still on the roads in daily use.

The old school vitreous enamel badge has ‘BRITISH MADE’ proudly cast into the back and is mounted onto a particular style of faux leather keyfob which we have seen many times before produced for easily dated 1960s motor vehicles.

The keyring in the photos is the actual one which you will receive.

When it has been sold this listing will be cancelled.

The following notes have been downloaded from the public domain on the internet :-

The point of its design and introduction was to end the uncomfortable and inconvenient Lowbridge double-deck bus layout, replacing it by lowering the chassis frame and integrating it with the body and fitting a drop-centre rear axle, so that there were no steps from the rear entrance platform to the front of the passenger gangway, itself sunk about 10 cm (4 inches) below the seating platforms on the LDX, LD and first five LDLs. A full flat floor was developed on the last LDL, then used on the LDS and the F series Lodekkas. Bristol Commercial Vehicles, Eastern Coach Works and some of their employees obtained a number of patents relating to the design.^[1]

Bristol manufactured over 5,200 Lodekkas between 1949 and 1968 as a standard double-deck vehicle for the UK state-owned bus sector. With all examples bodied by Eastern Coach Works in Lowestoft, they have a traditional half-cab design and a lower floor level allowing a low overall height. The earlier LD-series and the later FL and FS had a rear platform, but the FSF and FLF had a forward (behind the front axle and driver’s position, rather than ‘front’ ahead of the front axle and alongside the driver) entrance. Most were powered by five- or six-cylinder Gardner engines, with a small number having a Bristol or Leyland power unit.  SMOSO  59/94   11/23