| The model
- This was the second New World First Bus (NWFB) model to be released and
the first of a set of three Olympians, announced in early December 1998,
which carry cryptic banner adverts for the then new company. This model
carries the advert 'This bus has ears' in large lettering, and 'Our hotline
is 2136 8888' in small lettering, emphasising the high priority the new
company was giving to customer care. The nearside carries the same message,
but in Chinese. The model correctly represents an 11 metre vehicle and
was released in Hong Kong in December 1998. It was not issued in the UK.
Corgi initially allocated the product of
this model (43211) to Kowloon Motor Bus and the model, which was due to
be released in June 1978, was to carry Long Win 'Airbus' white/red/orange
livery. Further details on this topic can be found by following this link.
The bus
- VA54 was acquired by NWFB on 1st September 1998 when it took over the
franchised bus operations from China Motor Bus (CMB). It was new to CMB
in January 1998, being one of the final batch of 14 such vehicles.
After the initial batches of new NWFB vehicles
in 1998, which carried the full 'wave' livery (see 44401),
buses acquired from CMB were subsequently repainted, omitting the 'wave',
thus enabling greater advertising space between the upper and lower decks. |
