Vulture Bus Flxible Clipper - Historical Speedboat Racing

Vulture Bus - Flxible Clipper

Build # AF122 – Fleet # AR35 – Built Dec 1957 – Deutz – Air Suspension – Bamburk -Purchased by Ansett Roadways – To Pioneer D106

And, when John goes away to Boort, and anywhere else, he is going to travel in style. The boy has bought himself a bus, a trans-continental, clipper no less, and fully armed with license has had it done out in the most delightful shade of bright orange and white trimmings. Inside is fitted out like a traveling luxury hotel suite. (I heard somebody say he is now going to acquire a purple Mustang to tow along behind as a tender.)

Follington, Steve. 1971, ‘Power Section’, Australian Sea Spray Weekly, 4th Nov, p., 5

After Mr Kennet the bus was owned by the Cobbers Bush Band, not the Bushwackers. I knew the Cobbers personally as my family also played and performed Bush music and Irish music. The Cobbers were huge in their day and actually toured overseas. The bus was maintained and driven by the band’s bass player, Mark “Blossom” Brown. Mark was a motor mechanic at Kenworth trucks.

Sadly Mark was killed in a motor accident. The other band members did not have the mechanical confidence to maintain and operate the bus, so Ray Emery made an offer to buy the bus. Ray was ‘in the know’ about the bus because he operated a business providing stage and sound equipment, P.A’s etc. He knew the Cobbers. Ray did OK with the bus however once again, he was not a diesel mechanic and replaced the bus with a smaller van bodied truck. The bus was then sold to Alan Hartney who was a former Ansett Pioneer mechanic.
*Information John Clune

The Vulture Bus has had many owners since John sold her – The Cobbers had the Vulture Clipper – Before them it was a Jeff Kennett (not the ex prem.) of Kennett ladder Family. He stripped out the good conversion (except for the toilet in the rear luggage compartment) and then lost interest and bought a speed boat!!
After the Cobbers, it went to Ray Emery and then to myself (Alan Hartney).
*Information by Alan Hartney

*I recall John bought one in 1972 and Bob and I camped with you for several days using your Clipper as a base for meals etc.
“Your” clipper still exists! It was bought a few years ago by a chap in Bordertown (Bob and Annette Turner) and he very extensively rebuilt it and fitted a 454 Chev petrol engine (converted to gas) with about 450hp – your Dad would be proud of it! Bob is a hotrod guy, and the bus (coach) has flames down the side and a larger than life airbrushing of May West on the back. The Flxible Clipper club (I am the Vice-president) knows the history of “your” Clipper pretty much since John sold it.

*Clippers were an interstate coach that actually pioneered long distance passenger road transport in Australia (people generally couldn’t afford to fly in those days and travelled by train). They were a terrific vehicle, most did about 3 million miles with Pioneer before they were sold off to (a few to people like your parents but most to private bus )operators and were reliable high speed vehicles for many years, often going very long distances on unmade roads (e.g Adelaide to Perth mostly unmade, Adelaide to Alice Springs then Darwin mostly unmade etc. etc.)
*Information by Ian Williams

Hi Guys, I’m Bob Turner of Bordertown. We have A.F 122 which we bought from Alan Hartney in 1997. Your articles on John and the Vulture bus have filled in a few of the gaps to do with the life of our old coach since she came out of service. She was in a pretty dismal state when we bought her from Alan in 97. We spent about 8000 Hrs over a three year period doing her up. Mae has been back on the road for some 5 years now and we tow a trailer with our ute behind. She has a big block Chev on L.P.G. She has 5 tanks and holds 580 Ltrs of gas. We have 450 H.P and 500 Ft Lbs of torque. We have 450 Ft Lbs at 1800 R.P.M. and 500 at 5500 R.P.M. We run an Alison 4 speed auto and have her on Kenworth air! bags. We are hot rodders and this is a hotrod coach. The inside is decked out in pink and pearl white and resembles a 50s diner. She is still the most powerfull Clipper in the fleet and the fastest and the most economical. We have had her out to 140km but the road got a bit rough. Anyway, It was good reading of John and his achievements and the link to the Vulture bus.
Best Regards from Bob and Annette Turner

The King of the Mountain photo is how it looks today. It was owned by Dennis Maxwell in Tasmania and he was a tour operator in the Cradle Mountain region of Tassie for around 50 years, and when he passed away, his family painted it up in his Maxwell Coaches colours, and have kept it in the family.
*Information by Scenic Matt

The current story of the bus;

Bob Turner, who owned the Vulture Clipper, did the most extensive restoration of an old Clipper that we had ever seen at that time. Since then there have been other restorations of the same high standard. Bob was “Clubhouse Leader” for spectacular restorations for quite a few years. He had a super performance hotted up Chevrolet 454 engine. This was later replaced with a more standard 454 engine that still gave excellent performance. This engine still powers the bus today. It is still in excellent condition. As Bob stated the interior is done up like a 1950’s diner cafe. Something straight out the “Happy Days” TV show or the “American Graffiti” Hollywood movie. The interior looks stunning.

Going back to the Vulture days it was always a good performer for the time. It was originally built powered by a Deutz 614 V6 air cooled diesel engine. Later in it’s career at Ansett Pioneer it was repowered with a later more powerful model engine. This was a Deutz 714 air cooled diesel engine. This gave the bus quite a lot more horsepower. When you drove the bigger engine it felt like it had another extra half an engine. It wouldn’t have had an extra 50% more power however it certainly felt like it.

Bit more trivia… That larger Vulture Deutz diesel engine was removed from the Vulture Clipper and powered another Clipper, no AF 100, for a few years. It was removed from AF 100 and installed in another beautifully restored Clipper, No AF 95. No AF 95 and it’s Deutz engine reside In Western Australia these days. It is another fantastic restoration. This bus drove across to the East Coast a couple of years back to visit the Clipper Club still powered by it’s Vulture days engine.

So both the Vulture Clipper and it’s engine and mechanicals are alive and well. Mind you the Vulture engine has been pulled down and had had a bit of reconditioning work done to it over the journey. However it’s still the same engine.

The Vulture Clipper lives on… Very strongly!
*Information by John Clune

*Color photos are from the Flxible Clipper Club of Australia